Hi all,

Just looking for a bit of advice or reassurance. The other day we noticed that our 9 year old had peed on the sofa, it was in an odd place and I have a feeling she has done it whilst asleep, we have had her for about 9 months now and she has never peed in the house.

This morning there were a few drops on her bed, unlike on the sofa which looked like she has emptied her full bladder.

Has anyone had any experiance with this?

She's at the vets tonight which leaves me all day to ponder!!

Thanks

Yes quite common in older ladies, our Mollie is quite dribbly these days when she is asleep so we have very washable bedding for her to sleep on. You can get medication to help and some people swear by it, we prefer not to use it for a variety of reasons and just cope with washing a lot as it isn't a problem to her just to us.

Thanks Molliepops. On the sofa it wasnt a dribble, it was a full on massive wee I'm pretty sure she was upset by what had happened, she sniffed the sofa, put her head down and slinked out of the room. I was talking to her but she wouldnt make eye contact with me - bless her.

Can I ask why you dont go down the medication route? For a dribble I dont think i would bother either. Is there something we should know about it.

I'm hoping its just a UTI and anti-biotics will sort it out.

I just don't believe in medicating for things we don't really need to, we don't vaccinate after 8 years old either . It's just a dislike of overly medicating them. We used the drugs with a previous dog and she was very thirsty all the time too which seemed to make her unhappier than the weeing did.

Mollie dribbles quite a bit and does sometimes do a full on wee lake, but wet wipes clean her up and everything is washable. So no harm done.

Wee lake Thanks for that, yep I understand about not wanting to medicate at the drop of a hat. I have read up a bit on the drugs that are offered and one sounds like a definite no-no where greyhounds are concerned. Will see what the vet says later on.

Thanks again.

Is she spayed? Spaying can sometimes cause incontinence in older bitches, either full on or a bit dribbly. Her age could also play a part depending on what breed she is.

Absolutely CW; happens with my 11 year old spayed poodle bitch. Vet prescribes incurin; a few doses and the sphincter tightens up and the problem goes away for months at a time. (Always wise to do a urine test first though, just in case there is an infection or kidney issue going on.)

Definitely, any sudden incontinence should be checked for UTI's or kidney problems first, but at 9 it could likely also be just a sign of ageing. My 12 yr old poodle's a dog, and he's the same, so he now sleeps in a crate with puppy pads, so much easier to manage. A quick fix solution if it only happens at night and the dog doesn't mind, is to put a baby nappy on it with a hole cut for the tail; simple but effective for night time.

In the older dog, incontinence can be a sign of Cushing's disease.

We put Murphy's behaviours - including incontinence - down to aging. Turned out to be Cushings. With medication he was like a new dog!

If your dog has a pot belly and it's fur has deteriorated, definitely get tested for Cushing.

Yep, she's a spayed greyhound. We have only had her since march and dont know her full history.

We managed to get a urine sample so that will be dropped into the vets first thing tomorrow. There has been no accidents since thursday, maybe it was a uti that has cleared itself up.

I looked on the internet and was directed to cushings disease - it looks scary!! There is no pot belly, but she is fur free underneath, think this is more of a greyhound thing though and she was this way when she moved in.

Our 14 y/o bitch has become increasingly incontinent in the last 3 years, diagnosed with Cushings around a year ago.
She does fine, has her meds, still raw fed but does leave the odd wet patch behind her.

It's most likely due to age and spaying.
Meds can be very effective, but it's personal choice.

We have 2 rescue Lurchers (aged 9 ish) , both have been spayed and both have incontinence problems. We have them on Propalin which stops it. Much happier and comfortable girls, but we are looking in to a holistic way of helping them as we don't like them being of drugs.

Thanks Lurchergirls and welcome

She looked so miserable when she realised what she had done. Not a happy girl. We have had a german shepherd and a heinz 57 in the past and both of them lived to be old ladies without any incontinence problems. This is a new one on us.

Thank you for the warm welcome. been lurking for years but had to join when I saw your post as I know how upsetting this can be for them

Our girls are very unhappy if the have an accident but the Propaline reduces this and I have washable beds for them, they still has the odd accident but that's only if I'm late with their meds. They are such princesses and hate to be unladylike, unless they are lying upside down on the sofa

Hope this help and good luck to your wee girl I'm sure she will be a happy girl again after the vets, there are a few different remedy on the market so have a chat with the vet as they will help her be more comfortable

One of ours became incontinent and the vet put it down to her arthritis affecting those nerves which help them control evacuation. I guess there can be lots of reasons for it It and as you don't mention your dog having arthritis I doubt this is the reason for your dog's problem.
For our dog it just got worse and we put her in dog nappies in the end.
Hopefully that won't be necessary for your dog, but its worth knowing that these things are available to manage the mess.

Thats quite intresting as I'm pretty sure she has arthritis as she's quite clicky.

Good to know about the dog nappies but as you say hopefully it wont come to that.

Ahhh yes, thats Chloe's favourite position, legs all over the place - Its a lovely sight isnt it

Hopefully the urine test will be back soon.

I have a 15 year old that does this occasionally and it normally turns out to be a uti, a dose of antibiotics always clears it up

A thread close to my heart!
My 13 yr old collie was put on a low (I was told) dose of oral prednisolone (steroid) for her chronic bronchitis. This can actually make them incontinent (as opposed to just weeing more because they are drinking more).
She was dribbling (and a bit more at night) and quite distressed about it. However she was happy to wear a special dog nappy - can supply the links.
She is now off the oral steroid but apparently this can go on for some time afterwards. The vet prescribed Incurin which is a low dose of estriol (1mg once a day) normally used for bitches with spay incontinence.
I hestitated to use it as I don't like medicating either.
But 7 days in and she is a changed dog. Plus after 7 dry days you can try halving the dose and so and so on. I wish I hadn't hesitated so long about it. But hopefully this isn't going to be long term anyway.
The only thing is it can possibly make them attractive to male dogs.
Just wondering if she will miss a few of her tablets..
Just to add she sleeps on the bed with me. I am now brave enough to leave the nappy off but for the moment I still have an incontinence sheet over the quilt but under an easily washable throw.

Why don't they tell you spaying can lead to incontinence in later life?
Our vet won't spay before the 1st season 'for health reasons' they say. I wonder if that's what they mean?
Some charities insist on puppies being spayed at 6 months, don't they, and I wonder if it's spaying too young that causes the incontinence problem?

I was taking my little dog age 6 mth to be spayed, but she dribbled a little bit when saying hello to the vet, so she advised me to wait until after the first season. Reason she gave was that she might get incontinent if spayed too early.

TBH the incontinence is far easier to cope with than the female cancers that can occur if a female is kept entire. Our late Rosie was our only entire female and how she ended her life with breast and vaginal cancer was pitiful, a bit of wee to clear up would have been far preferable.

The health reasons are usually to check the girls parts are working properly and to allow bones to grow in some breeds that are slow maturing (they need the hormones to grow strong and straight).

Over excited weeing is common in entire and neutered females and worse case I ever saw was a boy so not sure why that was a counter indication.

My 8yr old girl hasn't been spayed and she dribbles a little. It tends to be when she stretches as she gets off the sofa and a little dribble comes out. I always have some kitchen towel and carpet cleaner handy. She has never done a full on wee - just a dribble.

She has been the vets and they checked her over and we took a sample of wee - but there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with her.

One thing though, she has never done a full wee in one hit. I mean, my boy stands in the garden and can be stood for a minute weeing up a tree until he is empty, but my girl always does lots and lots of little wees. Its as if she never fully empties her bladder.

Bit late (I've been a way) but get a ruined ample to the vets, flooding is a sign of crystals in the urine, whichever an be controlled by diet easily, but can be painful. Hope she's ok.