13 year old dog has become incontinent and lost weight

[wonderwoman2012]

Hello and thanks in advance for any advice or thoughts.

My 13 year old dog has become incontinent (urine). This started of middle of November. He was drinking a lot and asking to be let out all the time. Plus one day noticed the puddle he made was pink.

I rushed him to the vet and like me vet thought he had very bad bladder infection. He put him on antibiotics straight away but took blood and urine sample to be tested first.

I thought that would be it.

Blood work came back clear but urine was very dilute. The vet is not sure why.

Over Christmas he was a little better but this January has been terrible. Wetting in his bed, on dinning room floor all the time. He is now baby gated in the dinning room and kitchen. I bath him nearly every day because the urine gets all over him from his bed. He really is a smelly mess.

The vet is now holding off on giving him incontinence medicine until yet more tests and scan results.

His weight has gone from 23.4kg in August (was weighed to check worming doses) to 19kg.

Despite all this he is still lively and fit in every other way.

My main issue is I am not sure how much longer we can live with the pee accidents and the smell. I know I should wait for the vets call with the test results and that the incontinence pills may work but starting to panic.

What if this is the beginning of the end. I am wondering if his kidneys are starting to give up. Or what if it is old age incontinence and the pills don't work.

I know it sounds horrid but wondering if he is not any better by end of month if I should start thinking about putting him to sleep. Horrid because he is still so full of life but we can't go on like this for to long. I have children (one is only two) that are also having to live with this. He would be so upset at living in an outside kennel. He hates being shut behind baby gate and not being with us in living room. When he has an accident being a larger dog it is a huge puddle.

Can't make any decisions until vet decides what the issue is but feel need to start thinking about what to do if this is not fixable.

Is he neutered? If not, has your vet checked his prostate?

When one of our dogs had similar symptoms (incontinence, blood in urine and weightloss) it turned out to be an enlarged prostate, having him neutered sorted it out.

Not sure with the very dilute urine though. I suppose that might be something more kidney related. Hopefully one of our Doghouse vets might be along soon to offer you some advice.

Kidneys would have shown on most routine blood tests. There are many causes of dilute urine quite a lot which cause excess urination that can be seen as incontience.
I would be asking you the measure water intake and be following up with other investigations.

Maybe worth checking out Cushing's? My boy was diagnosed with it in May. Look up the symptoms. My fella didn't have the pot belly but was losing fur and drinking a lot/peeing a lot/losing weight.

Lonecat - my dog had kidney failure and this, surprisingly, didn't show on the bloods at all I am still puzzled to this day why it didn't show up, yet when we scanned him, most of the structure of the kidneys had broken down, poor thing. He rallied when put on a drip but only managed 48 hours on his own. (just asking as i know you are a vet).

Might your dog have diabetes OP? could be diabetes insipidus

The signs we look at on bloods are blood urea nitrogen and creatinine, these can remain normal until over 70% of renal function has been lost. So you can have significant damage to the kidneys without being in renal failure.

that explains it, he had had two full met profiles in the weeks leading up to failure - it all just sneaked up on him. I don't think we bothered with any more bloods towards the end, i knew it was going to be his last car journey though when he vomited in the car on the way over and it stank of ammonia :( Everybody loved that dog, we were all sobbing.

Thank you for your replies.

He is castrated so vet said no prostate. His glands or whatever around that area are not enlarged or anything apparently.

I have been told to measure his water intake because I noticed it has been well up. He drinks between 2200 ml and 3500 ml a day. I think the vet said that she worked out for his size around 1800ml is correct. So water intake is not normal at all. Which I believe is why she has done scan and yet another urine test. Rather than just give him incontinence medication.

I think the bloods or urine tests would show diabetes. I remember them saying something when explaining tests.

Just read a little about Cushings symptoms (thanks). He has got some of the symptoms for sure but is still very much strong and fit rather plus no hair loss. Does any one know if they test for Cushings when doing a full blood works? I will ask vet what she thinks, if she ever rings.

Wish she would just ring!!! Worrying so much.

Even castrated there can be prostatic problems, certain ones are more common in castrated dogs.
Diabetes insipidus is different to regular diabetes and does not show up on standard blood tests. Cushings symptoms are not seen in all dogs though is more common in certain breeds.

Oh yes normally we would do an ACTH stimulation test, but currently there is world wide shortage of synacthen so we need to do a low dose dexamethasone suppression test which takes 8 hours so not on standard blood test.

Oh dear. So it could still be any of these things.
Really got the impression that castrated dogs never got prostate problems. Well can image the vet knows what tests she needs to do.

Do you think he drinks a lot for a springer spaniel?

Well it is just want and see time isn't it.

Our boy was fit and strong with Cushing's ... they need to do several blood tests over a day to check for Cushing's ... don't think it's that common. I understand your worry, hopefully you can talk to your vet soon.

Our old girl became faecally incontinent in her final few months (different to your dog, I know). I didn't take her to the vets because she had a heart murmur which meant she couldn't be knocked out and the vets terrorised her so much I wasn't going to put her through that, we managed as best we could amd she was unaware of the incontinence. She had a weakening back end, which affected her bum and ability to squat. She was still enjoying life though, not in pain, eating as normal etc. the day she was in pain and had very distinctly given up, we had to bring the vets out to the house....
On a practical note, buy puppy training pads (Poundstretcher have packs of 30 for £3:99) to put under his willy when he's lying down.
And hug him and kiss him and don't cry in front of him.

My old boy of 15 has cushings and has had it for years now.
Only signs he had initially was excessive drinking, he didnt have any coat problems, no fur loss and no pot belly. He wasn't incontinent but his urine was always really diluted whenever tested. He also never really lost any weight.

My vet eliminated everything else before diagnosing cushings and touch wood he has been fine since and is on daily meds.

Hope your vet manages to get to the bottom of the problem and manages to make him more comfortable x