Incontinence Caused By Nerve Damage

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Has anyone experienced a dog with urinary incontinence caused by nerve damage?

I was wondering if you'd had any success with something like acupuncture? Medicine has been tried and hasn't worked.

All tests were done (ultrasound etc) that ruled out all other causes.

The dog is not with me or my rescue, I'm trying to help someone.

Edited January 13, 2015 by Her Majesty Dogmad

[Brookestar]

Damage to nerves is usually the result of an IVDD (Intervertebral Disc Disease). It can occur at the very end of the spine, impacting only on the nerve endings. You should see other signs as well, such as occasionally sort of falling over, but then being totally fine, less than a minute later, perhaps hunching legs up, occasionally, etc. The only way to truly diagnose it is via an MRI. Treatment is very strict crate rest for 6 weeks, usually with some sort of pain med, anti-inflammatory, etc.

Acupuncture can help with nerve regeneration and with pain relief. I would however really want the cause confirmed. Saying nerve damage without knowing what caused the nerve damage is not going to help. Nerves are not damaged for no reason. While I agree that all tests in relation to the urinary incontinence could very well have been investigated, I would want to know everything else that is happening for the dog as well. Acupuncture without knowing what caused the damage and rectifying that is not going to help, as the damage could be continuing in the dogs day to day life.

[cavNrott]

Dogmad, I'm not sure how ultrasound would pick up the nerves in the spine and they're the nerves that can be responsible for incontinence. I think I'd be having a myelogram done on the dog. It's way less expensive than an MRI and would give an accurate picture of any damage to or misalignment of the vertebrae that would impinge on the nerves that cause incontinence.

I figure if spinal nerves are the issue then then must be some spinal damage there.

If the dog has had an MRI or Myelogram and the diagnosis is definitely due to spinal damage I doubt there's much chance of treating the incontinence unless the spinal issue is dealt with.

It would be worth trying acupuncture but I don't know what the success rate would be if the spinal issue is untreatable.

[mita]

By coincidence, I know someone who was recently having their older female dog investigated for urinary incontinence. I don't know the outcome, nor if they'd tracked a cause (which as others said, would be necessary). But she did mention that she was intrigued that one developing therapy was collagen injections (but again that'd depend on cause).

http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/urinary-incontinence-dogs