It started last Wednesday.
She was leaking a bit in the evening. We took her to pee, she did, but leaked some more after. Stayed dry for the night, though.
The next day she was actually at the vets for her rabies shot. They checked her out thoroughly and check her pee region as well. She did squirt the vet a little. But nothing unusual was found and we thought it was going to be like before; it would come and go away.
It did seem to have gone away again.
There were no leaks we know of until Friday morning. This time it's been quite a lot. That was unexpected and unwelcome. Particularly right now as we have no amenities to speak of to keep things clean. And it was raining the whole day so no chance of putting things out to dry.
Fortunately, I still do have a stash of puppy pee pads which we got when it all started.
Since then it's been off an on. Not like in the past when she'd leak for a bit and than remain dry for a long time. In fact, it's been quite a while since it last happened before this.
Of course, as it typically happens for us, it was a long weekend and the vet office was closed. Since this isn't an emergency, we had to wait.
Cookie has an appointment for another exam, urinalysis and culture tomorrow morning.
Last time, only couple weeks ago, during our initial appointment with the new vet, we did discuss this as part of history. She did feel that it is likely a result of Cookie being spayed very early (we don't really know when but I can imagine it would have been quite early)
That part does check out for this being hormone-responsive incontinence.
This is, sadly, quite common in girl dogs.
Things that can cause urinary incontinence are
- Hormonal imbalance
- Weak bladder sphincter
- Urinary tract infection
- Urinary stones
- Spinal injury or degeneration
- Protruding intervertebral disc
- Presence of other diseases that cause excessive water consumption, such as diabetes, kidney disease, hyperadrenocorticism
- Congenital abnormalities
- Anatomic disorders
- Certain medications
Cookie does not have any other symptoms of a problem.
She drinks, pees, eats and acts normally and happy.
Some of the things about this do make me feel that there is something else to it than garden variety incontinence.
It doesn't happen when she sleeps soundly; it doesn't happen unless she moves. The urine doesn't dribble but squirts out with movement. Last night Cookie remained perfectly dry. When she was getting up to face a new day of adventures, she dribbled some.
Going to pee doesn't seem to have any effect on this.
If she's going to leak, she's going to leak before or after going to pee. No difference whatsoever.
I actually happened to catch the event on film (sorry, Cookie).
Cookie was in the office, awake, watching stuff outside the window. Then JD had found something and she was getting up to see what he's got. As she moved, that's when it squirted.
After seeing the video, our primary vet from Kitchener feels that the video does better fit vaginal pooling rather than incontinence.
Based on my description of events, Dr. Kay also says she'd wonder about some sort of structural anomaly that is retaining a small puddle of urine; perhaps in vaginal vault. Particularly since there were several times when Cookie was also leaking mucus during a walk.
The timing also doesn't quite fit to her.
It is also possible that there is a component of infection involved.
Hence the urinalysis and culture and all that to start with.
To Dr. Dan it also looks like a structural problem with a pocket of urine pooling. To Dr. Patrick it looks like typical hormone related incontinence. It makes sense to him that muscular control of the sphincters nor being as strong as they should due to her lack of exposure to female hormones like estrogen. Dr. Roxane feels that Cookie might have tweaked her lower back/pelvis. Wouldn't be surprising the way Cookie is flying through the tall grass.
Whatever it is, we need to get to the bottom of it.
If the initial work-up doesn't reveal anything, we need to look into ultrasound or vaginoscopy or both.
When and how it happens does confuse me. To me it doesn't fit with typical incontinence. To some of my veterinary friends it does, though.
- it does not necessarily happen during the night or when she's sleeping (she might be awake and try to lick herself clean so clearly not sleeping
- it does not seem to happen because of a full bladder because taking her out to pee does not put a stop to it
- it does seem to happen primarily when she moves (e.g. I was sitting there, watching with flashlight; everything was nice and dry and then she moved and urine squirted out) though sometimes it might dribble a bit on its own. Generally, though, it's squirts out with movement.
Did you ever have a problem like this with your dog?
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Your story can help others, maybe even save a life!
What were the first signs you noticed? How did you dog get diagnosed? What treatment did/didn't work for you? What was your experience with your vet(s)? How did you cope with the challenges?