Incontinence? Is it the end?

[Debs75]

I have an 8 year old Bassett Hound. A lovely dog, great temperament, good with the kids and other pets.
We have had her 5 years and have noticed this last 6 months she is slowing down a bit. Not so energetic on walks, she could walk for hours when we got her 3 years ago, now she like 2 30 min walks a day but will happily miss one out if it is raining.
This last week she has started being incontinent, only a few times and usually during the day, not overnight.
I was wondering does incontinence lead on to worse things or could it be a one-off thing due to stress?

not necessarily the end
could be hormonal
you can get medicine for it from vets, worked quite well for my dog

Only a vet can tell you. It could be due to any one of a number of things - aging, hormones, a blockage, or, quite commonly, an infection. Most can be treated and some can be serious, especially if left without treament, so best advice is to pop her down to your vet.

I hope all goes well for her.

Thanks I have heard so many other dog owners with elderly dogs saying that when they were incontinent it was the start of other things and it would of been kinder to put them down before they were in pain. She is a happy dog but can stress so maybe it was having the kids off all week.
She is due her booster next week so will check things out

My 15 1/2 year old dog started leaking about 2 years ago and is now on hormone tablets from the vet. I think it is quite common in older spayed bitches but the vet will be able to tell if it is hormonal.

She is healthy apart from that but like your dog she only likes a 30 minute walk a day especially when it is warm.
She much prefers just to potter around in the garden sometimes chasing squirrels.

It was not the start of the end for her if that is any help.

She didn't have any tests at the vet as she was leaking when she was lying/sitting down and he knew straight away what it was. The pills are like HRT for dogs and not too expensive, about £11 for 30 pills and she is on the dosage of one a day.

MY sil staff bitch is 12yo and been incontinent for about 3y but as far as I am aware she has had no further problems .

There are medications that can do a lot to help most dogs like this so certainly don't give up. You should ideally take a clean fresh urine sample with you to the vet for them to test, as sometimes an infection can cause similar symptoms too and the vet will probably need to rule this out before giving you any other medications.