Older dog has started weeing in the house

[StuntNun]

My 11-year-old Lab-Pointer bitch has started weeing in the house, three times in the past week and a couple of times I have caught her digging at the carpet and let her out. Even though there was someone in the house with her she hasn't whined or gone to the door, we don't know anything's up until we find a damp patch.

I assume that this is normal age-related incontinence, she just can't hold it as long, and there's nothing that can be done other than giving her more frequent access to the outside? I'm a little bit worried that it might be the beginning of the end for her as her back legs seem to be getting very weak and she stumbles a lot when walking.

It may be Cushing's. My 11 year old was weeing a lot, drinking a lot and was weak on his back end. Cushing's is quite rare (only one other dog at our vet's has it) and is hard to spot as the symptoms can be similar to other things. Have you noticed any hair loss? There's a test for Cushing's (blood tests - 3 over a day) then drugs. Mine has been much better since going on the meds two months ago. May be worth having a chat to your vet? The drugs are quite expensive (£50-£100 per month depending on dose - my 30kg dog was on £100 worth to start with then went down to £50). They then need blood tests after one and two months. Good luck!

We have a similar problem with our 13yr old male dog but more "dribbling" rather than full on wees. We've had investigations done and in his case, his bladder is "misplaced". Due to the fact that his incontinence is not too severe, we are trying medications to see if we can solve the problem that way before looking at whether we should risk an op or just deal with it.

According to our vet, the medications available for urine incontinence actually works better in females rather than male dogs.

Might it be worth a trip to your vets, especially since she's having other problems?

Thanks for your replies. I'm taking her to the vet next week anyway to see if there are any other pain medications available (she has a repaired cruciate ligament injury in one back leg and wears an Orthopets leg brace on the other back leg due to a ruptured Achilles' tendon. It would be great if there is something to help, I'm not sure it's incontinence as there have been puddles rather than dribbles of urine. I suppose I'm worried that this represents the end of her life with her back legs going as well.

My dog (with Cushing's) also had cruciate problems. He had TPLO in both legs. He's on high dose pain killers but they're working so we're happy.

Mitchell looking at the symptoms of Cushing's I will definitely get her checked out. I did notice I was refilling her water bowl a lot but assumed it was due to the warm weather. But she has started panting all the time which I thought was odd as she wouldn't usually pant unless it was very hot. Thanks for the tip.