Post by AnnB (NE) on Aug 2, 2006 9:09:48 GMT -5
I'm quite frustrated this morning -- although we've been dealing with this problem for quite some time, it's getting worse.
Brandy is a Boxer/Pitbull cross, 4-1/2 years old, 65 lbs, physically fit, beautiful, very well-behaved dog -- learns quickly and only wants to please her people. She's the only dog I know that has killed chickens and attacked calves and went on to be trustworthy around both.
She was also spayed when she was 5 months old. Within a year of her spay, she became incontinent -- due to the lack of estrogen resulting from the spay. There's even a name for it - Spay Incontinence.
What really irks me is that this problem isn't publicized at all -- spay/neuter is all over the place, but there's nothing said about Spay Incontinence. Run a search on Google though and you find that it's a very common problem -- 30% of large breed females will become incontinent within 2 years of their spay.
They've got medication for it -- Proin, which is actually the old Dexatrim! It's used at a "microdosage" to create tension in the bladder muscles.
Brandy is at the highest dosage and is leaking -- my couch this morning is a pool of urine. And the poor girl is so ashamed of herself. She's a very clean dog, perfectly housebroken, and it just kills her when she realizes that she's wet.
When I talked to the vet about the fact that her problem is "outgrowing" the medication he says "the problem always outgrows the medication and most people just put them down". I asked about estrogen therapy, since this problem is caused by a lack of estrogen, and was told that estrogen therapy would cause certain cancers.
There is no way that I am going to put this dog down because she can't hold her urine, and I also will not banish her to our outdoor kennel. I'll put her in diapers first.
And that brings me to another point that I wanted to make -- when reading the reports put out by the HSUS (Humane Society of the United States), they claim that one of the top 5 reasons for dogs being surrended is "failure to housetrain" -- could it be that these poor dogs that "fail to housetrain", are really incontinent due to their spays?
Anyway, what I really need to know is what works best to remove urine from furniture and fabrics that can't be just thrown in the washer?
And, since we do have a couple of vets on the board -- any advice? Any exercises that we could do with the poor girl to give her more control? Any other medications that are being used for this problem?
If it's a matter of building tolerance to the med, what about taking her off the meds completely for a while, then starting back?
Ann B
Brandy is a Boxer/Pitbull cross, 4-1/2 years old, 65 lbs, physically fit, beautiful, very well-behaved dog -- learns quickly and only wants to please her people. She's the only dog I know that has killed chickens and attacked calves and went on to be trustworthy around both.
She was also spayed when she was 5 months old. Within a year of her spay, she became incontinent -- due to the lack of estrogen resulting from the spay. There's even a name for it - Spay Incontinence.
What really irks me is that this problem isn't publicized at all -- spay/neuter is all over the place, but there's nothing said about Spay Incontinence. Run a search on Google though and you find that it's a very common problem -- 30% of large breed females will become incontinent within 2 years of their spay.
They've got medication for it -- Proin, which is actually the old Dexatrim! It's used at a "microdosage" to create tension in the bladder muscles.
Brandy is at the highest dosage and is leaking -- my couch this morning is a pool of urine. And the poor girl is so ashamed of herself. She's a very clean dog, perfectly housebroken, and it just kills her when she realizes that she's wet.
When I talked to the vet about the fact that her problem is "outgrowing" the medication he says "the problem always outgrows the medication and most people just put them down". I asked about estrogen therapy, since this problem is caused by a lack of estrogen, and was told that estrogen therapy would cause certain cancers.
There is no way that I am going to put this dog down because she can't hold her urine, and I also will not banish her to our outdoor kennel. I'll put her in diapers first.
And that brings me to another point that I wanted to make -- when reading the reports put out by the HSUS (Humane Society of the United States), they claim that one of the top 5 reasons for dogs being surrended is "failure to housetrain" -- could it be that these poor dogs that "fail to housetrain", are really incontinent due to their spays?
Anyway, what I really need to know is what works best to remove urine from furniture and fabrics that can't be just thrown in the washer?
And, since we do have a couple of vets on the board -- any advice? Any exercises that we could do with the poor girl to give her more control? Any other medications that are being used for this problem?
If it's a matter of building tolerance to the med, what about taking her off the meds completely for a while, then starting back?
Ann B