Spay Incontinence

[MolassesLass]

Who has a bitch suffering from this and what meds is she on (how much, how often, cost etc pretty please)?

Is there anything natural that could be tried first (given infection has been ruled out and kidney's are fine) to tighten the sphincter?

Edited June 3, 2007 by molasseslass

[~Anne~]

Who has a bitch suffering from this and what meds is she on (how much, how often, cost etc pretty please)?

Is there anything natural that could be tried first (given infection has been ruled out and kidney's are fine) to tighten the sphincter?

Isn't the sphincter located in the anus?

Sorry, can't help you on the other q's though. I have had a few with infections after being speyed but a week or so on anitbiotics and they are fine. I have never had anything perm.

[MolassesLass]

It's not just anuses that have sphincters. At least stomachs and bladders do too.

I have never had anything perm.

Me either, but it looks like I do now.

[~Anne~]

It's not just anuses that have sphincters. At least stomachs and bladders do too. :D

Do they!? Thanks, never too old to learn!

[MolassesLass]

A sphincter is a structure, usually a circular muscle, that normally maintains constriction of a natural body passage or orifice and which relaxes as required by normal physiological functioning. There are over 40 different sphincters in the human body, some of these sphincters are microscopic in size.

Categories of Sphincter

Anatomical Sphincters:

Type one: A thickening of a smooth muscle that functions as a sphincter, for instance: internal Anal Sphincter.

Type two: A specific skeletal muscle that functions as a sphincter, for instance: External Anal Sphincter.

Physiological Sphincters:

A structure that controls an internal passage but is not anatomical, for instance: Cardia/lower esophageal Sphincter.

Examples of sphincters

* The sphincter pupillae, or pupillary sphincter, belonging to the iris in the eye.

* The orbicularis oris muscle, a muscle around the mouth.

* The upper esophageal sphincter

* The cardia/lower esophageal sphincter, or cardiac sphincter at the upper portion of the stomach. This sphincter prevents the acidic contents of the stomach from moving upward into the esophagus.

* The pyloric sphincter, at the lower end of the stomach.

* The sphincter of Oddi, or Glisson's sphincter, controlling secretions from the liver, pancreas and gall bladder into the duodenum.

* The sphincter urethrae, or urethral sphincter, controlling the exit of urine from the body.

* At the anus, there are two sphincters which control the exit of feces from the body (see internal anal sphincter and external anal sphincter). The inner sphincter is involuntary and the outer voluntary.

Sphincters prove effective in the mediation of the entrance or release of liquids and fluids; this is evident in the blowholes of numerous marine mammals, for example.

- Wikipedia

Bodies are so interesting! :D

Edited June 4, 2007 by molasseslass

[Cala]

Dr Harry........ was on television discussing the problem the other day, think it might of been on last Fridays Better Homes and Gardens....... bitch on there with 'leaking problems and he said there was a medication available and it was well worth a try, but he didn't mention the name of it only that it worked on their bitch, after a week or so.

Sue

[~Anne~]

Bodies are so interesting!

They are, aren't they!

[MolassesLass]

Dr Harry........ was on television discussing the problem the other day, think it might of been on last Fridays Better Homes and Gardens....... bitch on there with 'leaking problems and he said there was a medication available and it was well worth a try, but he didn't mention the name of it only that it worked on their bitch, after a week or so.

Sue

I saw that too, that's what got me wondering what people are using.

[morgan]

Can't help there - the one bitch I had who developed spay incontinence wasn't helped by anything - drugs or otherwise. Poor thing would get so distressed...

[poodlefan]

ML, my friends two poodle bitches are both on Stilboestrol tablets.. one pill once a week. I don't think it costs much.

[jellybean]

Hi Molasseslass

My old Boxer had this problem, she was desexed at six months and developed the problem at about 4 from memory( she is 13 now) The vet prescribed Stilboestrol(sp) can't remember the exact dosage but it was higher at the beginning then just as needed. I only used the drug a few times over the years and haven't used it now for approx 6 yrs. She still leaks occasionally but not like she did back then. I don't recall that it was very expensive but my memory is not that good.

Karen

[rugerfly]

I do ML

She was desexed around three and developed incontinence as a result shortly afterwoods. Normally after heavy exercise or sillyness and then when she relaxed, she would wet her pants.

My vet at that time at Vineyard, put her on Stilbestrol and it did seem to work.

After having quite a few problems with Fly of late, she is now approaching 8, she is drinking a lot and peeing a lot. Blood tests ruled out everything but her urine is very dilute.

She will be put on new meds this week for it with a different vet, i'll let you know what we are on.

[MolassesLass]

Thanks PF, JB and Rugerfly.

I've found one natural possibility:

All the same herbs traditionally used for human stress incontinence are suitable for dogs even through the cause of the sphincter weakness may be different. A typical mix would include the following herbs;

Couch Grass: Specific for sphincter rehabilitation.

Horsetail: Assists in strengthening wasted or damaged tissue.

Comfrey: Speeds up healing even of old trauma.

Mugwort: Supports repair of nerve fibers along with the herbs above.

Saw Palmetto: Specific for muscle wastage and lack of tone.

An initial course of three months ($49.50) of such a mix will often be enough to reverse completely a structural incontinence problem if identified early. Longer-term maintenance doses may be required to maintain the result in more serious cases.

- Source Edited June 4, 2007 by molasseslass

[morgan]

Good ol' Robert!

Have found everything we've used of his has worked, so hopefully this should too!

[Rebanne]

ML, my friends two poodle bitches are both on Stilboestrol tablets.. one pill once a week. I don't think it costs much.

I had a GSD bitch on one stilboestrol a week for several years. It didn't cost a lot and worked wonders. We started off on a higher dose and worked down. If she didn't get her one a week she started leaking again. This was a few years ago now.

[Staff'n'Toller]

Stilboestrol - cheap, but you have the dilemma of adding synthetic hormones.

Propalin- Newer drug that works on the sphincte, it's a syrup, it's a fair bit more pricey.

Incurin- Same again but a tablet (not sure if it has any synthetic hormones..??) and pricey like propalin.

I have yet to see a dog that couldn't be controlled on Propalin, these were dogs where the Stilboestrol wasn't working.

Mel.

[MolassesLass]

I could kiss you S&T, that's great, thank you!

[Erny]

Is there anything natural that could be tried ... to tighten the sphincter?

Pelvic floor exercises.

If you can teach your dog to do these, please share your methods.

PS - there are tabs you can get from your health food store, designed for these probs in children. But I've forgotten what they were called. Sorry - that's not much help, but maybe if you pop into your local health food store and ask they'd point you in the right direction?

[monsterpup]

Here's a link to a site that lists a number of natural remedies. Cornsilk is one remedy that she suggests, and that people I know from another board have tried with success - but it takes a little while.

http://www.katberard.com/hea_incontinence.htm

[Wyhldher]

My 10-year-old Dalmatian, spayed at around 2, started getting incontinent about 12 months ago and I was ASSURED by vets that the only thing that is effective is daily hormone tablets for the rest of her life (at 40 bux a month, I might add!) I thought that this must be complete bullshit and yet another avenue for veterinary science to keep the money vacuum cleaner going. FORTUNATELY, I did a fair bit of research and discovered that a LOW PURINE DIET is the answer (yay!) and Spot the Dog has returned to her non-leaky, happy-not-humiliated self. What she no longer has in her diet are things like oats, sardines, liver, heart, beef, peas, and yeast.

I also found that "Bach Flower Remedies" seemed to work (just pick one that sounds like the symptoms to suit your doggy).

Anyway, give it a go; you can find a list of high, medium, and low purine foods easily enough via the mightly www!

Good luck with it all - I'm with you..try everything that doesn't involve medication first. I did try the hormones (I mean on her, not me!) and they work for a bit, but then you have to bugger around with the dosage, and poor Spotty put on weight and became very lethargic. Personally, I think the extra weight (that no amount of exercise will reduce, being hormonal an' all) puts more pressure on the bladder, and voila! Back to where you started, basically. Anyway, she just refused to take the daily medication after a few weeks, immediately dropped the weight, and made me get onto my serious search for solution. So she's back to being the princess, without the pee!