Incontinent young (ish) dog

[Fibrous]

My four year old spayed greyhound (female) has suddenly developed intermittent incontinence. I thought it might be a UTI so took her to the vets but her blood results were fine and he said her bladder was empty. I said I’d monitor her and come back in after a couple of weeks. It’s got worse. It seems to happen when she’s very relaxed. He’d mentioned spayed dogs could develop incontinence at any age, and we could try medication.

has anyone had similar? We’re talking large amounts of pee here, not just a dribble, and she sleeps everywhere so it could be a real problem if we can’t get to the bottom of it. It’s not very nice for her, either, greyhounds are very clean usually and it clearly bothers her.

’m booking her in for another vet apt when they open on Monday. if anyone has been in a similar boat I’d love to hear your outcomes. Thanks.

Yes, had this in my female greyhound! Though she was 11 by the time it happened. I think I’m right in saying it’s one of the health issues that is more common in greyhounds than other breeds (like dental issues for example). She was then in a daily dose of Incurin for the rest of her life (it’s well tolerated) and that solved it. She lived til she was 14 and didn’t have an issue after starting Incurin.

Thanks for the response! Yes thought I’d mention the breed as there are so many quirks to greyhounds, and it seems I’m still learning them all. My last female greyhound was incontinent from steroid use but otherwise okay and it stopped when she came off steroids.

It’s good to hear medication worked for your girl. I was hoping it was something transient but well tolerated medication for life would be a good outcome too. At least it’s easy to get drugs down dogs, my cats are a nightmare.

Just looked up incurin and it’s an oestrogen type hormone so that doesn’t sound too bad, at least. I guess we try her on it and see how she gets on. Apparently vigorous exercise can exacerbate it and I took her on a five mile run this morning.
just realised I put blood test in my initial post, I meant urine tests.

My 13 year old greyhound has been on Propalin since I got her. Problem sorted immediately. She gets it twice a day and is fine.

I going to caveat my comment by saying not only greyhounds get spay incontinence, but our female greyhound also had this.

But a daily dose of propalin sorted it out.

It's a very cheap medicine but is on prescription. Hopefully you can find a vet that will let you get it online.

Okay I’m spotting a trend! Yes she’s insured, but if it’s cheap we’ll prob just buy it directly as we’ve done with our other greyhounds arthritis supplements. Our vets is good (and with four pets we see them a lot) so will enquire about online sourcing.

She was only 18 months when we got her and she’d just been spayed by the greyhound trust. I wonder if that’s too young.

Not a greyhound but I also have an incontinent dog on Incurin. Works perfectly.

I have a Working Cocker who's been on Propalin since we got her. She was 3 then, is 11 now and only has the occasional 'leaky tap' incident - usually when she's had a busier day than normal so isn't the deepest of sleeps.

My girl was two when I got her the vet thought she'd been spayed too young(was at their practice🤷🏻‍♀️). She's now on a cheaper version of Propalin called continence, works perfectly well.

Thanks everyone, that’s really reassuring. I’ll ask the vets for a prescription tomorrow.

Our Spaniel has been on Incurin for a couple of years. It has been a game changer. Unfortunately she is now irresistible to all the male dogs but she doesn't mind so I guess it's all good.

ha okay, don’t think she’d mind that, she’s a big fan of other dogs, but our male grey gets very jealous but as he’s a big wimp he just looks on really awkwardly if dogs give her any attention and maybe stamps his foot like a ewe.

She started on incurin one tablet a day a couple of days ago. So far, so good. Will give it a few weeks then look at tapering to half a tablet.

thanks everyone for the advice. I’m looking forward to taking the incontinence pads off all the soft furnishings.

Hmm seems I spoke too soon. She's still incontinent. I guess we give it a couple more weeks then ask for more tests. An ultrasound, some blood work, and a lab culture to check further for infections.