Spay Incontinence in Puppy

by Maria
(Willoughby)

Hi,

My puppy has been dribbling pee (when sleeping or at rest) since the day I adopted her. The vet did diagnose her with a UTI and she has been on antibiotics for two weeks now. There has been some improvement but the problem still exists. A re-check of her urine shows that there is still bacteria and she is on her second round of antibiotics.

I have been researching this and I am very interested to know if it could be spay incontinence. Chloe is 4 1/2 months old and spayed 3 weeks ago. Most treatments for this are with hormones. My question is, will she have to be on hormones or some sort of drug therapy? Or do young puppies grow out of spay incontinence?

Thanks
Maria and Chloe







Hi Maria
As your puppy still has bacteria in her urine, it could well be that once this UTI is eradicated her incontinence will also disappear.

Spay incontinence does sometimes occur in dogs who are spayed early, and as you say hormone treatment is a popular treatment for this. As far as I know, it's necessary for the dog to remain on a low dose of the hormones to maintain normal bladder function.

However, there are other treatments available such as PPA (phenylpropanolamine), and alternative treatments such as acupuncture may also be worth a try.

As it is only a few weeks since your pup was spayed, she may recover more control over her bladder as she heals, this can happen. If not, your vet should be able to prescribe a treatment (or combination of treatments) that will control her problem.

best of luck.