Incontinence

[Spiritwind]

Ok.. so here is the deal. For off and on for about the last year I've had one of my Collies with incontinence issues... however, this is a young (was barely 3yrs old when I first noticed it) unspayed female (I show her).
But its not like she does it while she sleeps... well she does sometimes, but often I notice it while she is walking around.... as she will drip urine while she walks thru the house. Some days are worse than others... sometimes she doesnt do it at all, other times she just drips and drips urine...

I've taken her to the vet about it SEVERAL times, I've had her urine checked several times, and pretty much nothing shows up... we put her on antibitiocs just in case something was missed, still nothing... we have sent off urine cultures on her... and they still show nothing...

I know there are things like DES and Proin to use to control this, but I'm wondering if there are other options to try?? I'd really prefer to not put her on drugs.. before this I've never seen this issue in a young unspayed female.

Ideas?? suggestions??

[Catlady711]

We use the Proin at work with fairly good results. I don't believe I've heard of any side effects from using it, and we have ALOT of clients on it.

Don't know of any drug free alternatives though.

[chocolatepuppy]

My Layla has incontinence. She's on DES. We first noticed dripping before she was even spayed. Then she had an accident, while sleeping, before being spayed. After her spay at 6 months, it got worse, maybe 5-6 accidents a month. We tried Oxybutin, no results, then moved on to DES. She takes it once a week.It took months before she stopped having accidents completely.

[Glacier]

I use DES in two of my females. Sleet takes it once a week. She stopped having accidents after the second dose. She just had a bit of leakage, mostly when asleep.

Pirate had absolutely no bladder control when she got here. Urine just poured out of her! it was awful for her! She takes DES every four days. Within two weeks she had perfect bladder control.

I find it highly amusing that DES has caused me nothing but problems in my personal health(I am a DES daughter, my Mom was prescribed it when she was pregnant). But it has given my two girls back their comfort and dignity. In Pirate's case, it's helped save her life. I'd have probably had to let her go if it hadn't worked.

[Spiritwind]

Thanks for the info...

I guess I just don't understand why it comes and goes in this dog. Sometimes (like the last couple days) she drips urine all over when she is just walking around the house (doesn't have to be sleeping)... other times I do not notice any leaking at all... and she is unspayed 4yrs old now, but I've been noticing this off and on for atleast a year now... I can't even imagine what it would be like whenever I do spay her (I have plans to show her this winter and in the spring at the national) but it'll happen at some point in her life....

[chocolatepuppy]

That's exactly how Layla was. Not an everyday thing. If I remember correctly it was maybe 10-12 times a month before we tried the meds, not 5-6 times that I posted earlier, that was after we first started the meds.