Why is my female dog leaking urine
How To STOP Your Dog From Leaking Urine | Vet Explains
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finding puddles of urine around the
house is no fun
especially if it stained that new carpet
you just bought
and although we can easily get upset and
sometimes
even angry with our dogs we first need
to try and understand
why it is that a dog is urinating
inappropriately
so in this video i will explain exactly
what the clinical signs
causes diagnosis treatment and
prevention methods for urinary
incontinence in dogs are
so that you can have a better idea of
why it is that your dog is leaking
all the time
[Music]
hey guys dr pitcher i'm a veterinarian
from south africa
now urinary incontinence is the
involuntary leakage
of urine from the bladder basically
meaning that
the dog has absolutely no control of
when
and how much it wants to pee you will
often notice urine in places where the
bed is resting
such as in the bed or on the couch and
it seems to be
a rather large bottle now apart from the
undesired puddle of urine on the carpet
you may also notice moist yellowish
discolored hair on the dog's lower
abdominal area
or between the rear legs typically
around the dog's preppies or vulva
you may also notice inflammation and
redness of the skin around the genitals
and an increase in frequency of licking
at the genitals
especially in female dogs now your dog's
urinary incontinence
may either be due to a behavioral issue
or an actual medical condition and we'll
have a quick look at both of these
the most common medical causes of
urinary incontinence in dogs
are number one urinary tract infections
which will cause inflammation and
irritation
inside the bladder wall causing the dog
to leak urine
number two ural lifts or bladder stones
now if these guys are left untreated and
the bladder stones blocks the urethra
therefore preventing the dog to empty
its bladder the bladder may get
so large that the back pressure of urine
in the bladder
will force some of the urine to leak out
around the blockage
this is caused by overflow incontinence
when the bladder pressure
exceeds the erythrosphincter tone now
this can become fatal
within three days if left untreated
number three excessive drinking of water
which can be caused by more serious
diseases such as
diabetes mellitus diabetes insipidus
cushing's disease
and kidney failure number four obesity
number five spinal cord disease or
damage such as
inflammation trauma pain vertebral
abnormalities
paralysis or cancer number six ectopic
erythes
which is basically a physical defect in
the tubes that carry iron from the
kidney to the bladder
usually found in younger dogs and number
seven
a weakened bladder sphincter which we
medically refer to
as urethral sphincter mechanism
incompetence
this is the most common cause of urine
incontinence in spayed female dogs
and it is believed to be caused by lower
estrogen levels that can lead to a loss
of muscle tone in the urethra
causing it to not work as effectively
now it is important to know
that some dogs may have full control of
their bladders
but will still urinate inappropriately
usually due to some sort of behavioral
issue
these can include number one submissive
or excitement urination
this is usually when a dog urinates only
a small amount of urine
and often happens when is near person or
when excited about an event
such as going for a walk number two lack
of proper house training
some dogs may not have been properly
trained to eliminate inappropriate spots
and you will often find a normal amount
of urine
but this tends to be near door or
somewhere away from where the dog eats
sleeps and plays number three cognitive
changes
now some older dogs can experience
cognitive changes
which kind of alters the ability to
recognize appropriate places to urinate
you will often then see
normal amounts of urines in any place
around the house
and number four pain if a dog is in
severe pain
you may have difficulty moving to the
correct location to urinate you will
often notice him
dripping herein as he tries to make his
way outside
now your vet will start off with a full
history and you might
expect questions such as does your dog
drink more water than usual
does the dog show any pain when
urinating how long has it been going on
for
how often it happens how much urine
leaks every time and when the house
you've noticed the leaked hearing
he will then continue to perform a full
physical and neurological examination
where he will specifically feel the size
of the bladder
and how easy it is to express you may
also opt
to run a couple of different diagnostic
tests such as
urinalysis or urine culture that may
indicate urinary tract infection
blood tests that can rule out any
underlying cause such as
diabetes cushing's or kidney failure
x-rays to rule out bladder stones
and an ultrasound or cystoscope to look
for tumors or growths within the bladder
wall
the other treatment will depend on the
underlying cause with a urinary tract
infection
your vet may prescribe antibiotics based
on the results of the urine culture
with bladder stones a diet modification
with some medication to acidify the
urine
might help some stones such as truvite
but with other stones such as
calcium oxalate the stone will need to
be removed surgically
and in either case the dog may also be
put on pain meds as well
with ectopic ureters the best option
will be to surgically correct it
if any endocrine disease is diagnosed
then the best will be
to correct the primary condition as this
will often resolve
the incontinence as well if the cause is
neurological
meaning the nerves that innervate the
bladder is damaged
causing the bladder to get overfull and
therefore to overextend
your vet may prescribe medication such
as brazophin
or phenoxybenzamine to relax the
internal urethral sphincter
diazepam to relax the external sphincter
and bothanical to help
improve the bladder's ability to
contract now if your dog suffers from a
weakened bladder
meaning the muscles and sphincters in
the bladder and erythra
is not strong enough to contain the
urine causing it
to leak out then there are a couple of
other things that we can try
your vet may prescribe phenyl propanol
amine to
increase the erythrocyte tone to help
control the flow of urine
and incirin which is a form of estrogen
in females and testosterone
males to help increase the number and
sensitivity of the receptors in the
urethra
therefore increasing the resting muscle
tone of the erythrom now this is
important
the dog will need to come back for
frequent urine and blood tests
to monitor the effect of these drugs as
they can have some mild side effects
when used over a long period of time now
if the dog's inappropriate urine marking
is due to some sort of behavioral issue
then behavior modification by behavioral
specialist would be the best way forward
and as mentioned earlier if your dog
suffers from any physical defect
such as an ectopic ureter then we can
consider surgery where the ectopic
erector is physically moved back to its
normal location
in the bladder called the corpus
suspension or we can try the injection
of bulking agents such as collagen into
the urethra
or stem cell therapy these procedures
are usually
only performed by specialists though now
an
effective way to help manage the
cleanliness is to get your dog some dog
diapers
that will prevent the urine from
dripping on the floor just be careful
as a prolonged moist environment can
cause
urine scalding and skin infections so
make sure to change its diaper
frequently and keep the area around the
preppies or vulva clean and dry
you can also use waterproof pads under
their bedding
to prevent the urine from soaking into
the carpet
unfortunately there are currently no
known methods for the prevention
of urinary incontinence although
maintaining a proper ideal body weight
will prevent obesity which will not only
lower the dog's chances of developing
urinary incontinence
but also a long list of other dangerous
conditions
now dealing with a dog that has urinary
incontinence can become quite
frustrating we need to continuously
clean up the dog pee in the house
and this can often result in misplaced
anger towards the bed
but in general many dogs do respond
really well to therapy
and often enjoy a good quality of life
some of the meat may need to be given
lifelong to your dog
and because of this it is important to
take a dog back to the vet for
follow-ups
to see if the dose remains effective
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always have a lucky day
and i'll see you in another video next
week cheers
