# 11 Month Old Female -- Possible Incontinence?



## Alan (Jun 17, 2013)

Our 11 month old, female Vizsla has recently started urinating while asleep. She is otherwise totally house trained and just generally very well behaved. I have had her at the vet twice for this: the first time we did a urinalysis and ruled out UTI; the second time they prescribed a very low dose of Proin (1/2 pill, once a day) under the assumption that it must be spay incontinence.

We have started the Proin, but I'm not quite convinced we're dealing with a case of full-on incontinence just yet and was wondering if anybody has experienced anything similar. A few facts, maybe related:

1. She only does this in her sleep, and has only done it 5-6 times--all of which were in the last month

2. She eats Taste of the Wild and has been since about 4 months

3. I gave her her first full dose of Frontline Plus about the time this started (though the vet is sure this is unrelated)

4. She was spayed at 6 months, did not have a heat cycle prior.

5. Very reputable breeder has no known other cases of this.

6. She is very happy and has her usual energy level, so I don't think there's any general health issue (other than runny eyes).

That's about all I can think of. We're following the vet's advice, but I can't help but think we're missing something with this otherwise very healthy dog. Any ideas or experience is greatly appreciated.

Alan


----------



## Darcy1311 (May 27, 2012)

Alan I was sorry to read about your Vizsla pups incontinence, you mention that she has been spayed, do you or your vet think this could be where her incontinence stems from?? Darcy was spayed at 6 months as well, but also had an umbilical hernia so the vet spayed her via the umbilical while he repaired her hernia,she is now a crazy 2 year old and has had no problems. I do hope you can help her,please keep us all up to date on the forum about her progress...


----------



## Jrod (Dec 12, 2012)

This has happen once for Miles. However we do not think it was due to a UTI but to him being so tired he was litterally out cold during this nap. After researching I found that if your pup has a very active day they can become so relaxed during their sleep they lose control of their blatter. 

The day it happen for Miles he had an obidience class in the morning, puppy play time in the afternoon, went with us on errand runs, and his normal walk in the evening. He was 13 weeks old at the time and didn't take any of his normal naps during that day.

How active are your pups days? Does she take naps or get to take naps during the day? 

I'll try to get a link to the post I found discussing this. Hope this helps.

Jrod


----------



## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Hi, Alan... Welcome to the forums!! 

I had a Bluetick Coonhound in the 1990's (Elly Mae) who experienced spay incontinence. She did go through one heat cycle before her spay, but it happened anyway. The good news is, after treatment with low dose hormones (as I recall) for a few months, the spay incontinence resolved completely, and it never happened any more, for the rest of her life. Hope it goes that way for your girl, too. Be patient, because it might take a little time to stop. 

What's her name? How about posting a couple of photos. ;D ;D


----------



## Alan (Jun 17, 2013)

Jrod, I think being really, really worn out does have something to do with it. It seems to happen after a couple days of going everywhere with me, going for runs, and maybe a little off leash time. It could be just a cumulative effect and I don't appreciate how worn our she is since she's always ready for more.

Darcy, the vet didn't ever say spay incontinence. He did ask me if she was spayed there...when I said yes, no more talk about that. Her procedure and healing went really well though.

I think it's just going to be one of those things we have to manage and maybe medicate for a few weeks. We'll try to drop the Proin again on her 1st birthday or so and see what happens.


----------



## abatt (Jul 10, 2012)

It happened to our pup Isaac couple of times when he was super tired. Also, he was very young. So when we brought it up with the vet, he was not worried at all. One time it even happened when Isaac was very tired but still awake. He was lying on the sofa on his side, then lifted his leg and just started peeing while still laying on his side. We were shocked. But it seems he grew out of it months ago. He is now almost 13 months.


----------



## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

Abatt- you made me giggle just picturing that whole thing.


----------



## jld640 (Sep 29, 2010)

Alan - if it is exhaustion, remember that in addition to the cumulative effect, the heat will also play a part. Savannah is exhausted far more quickly in the summer than in the winter, spring, or fall. I usually schedule more down time for her anytime the temperature rises.


----------



## GoolsbyMD (Jan 29, 2012)

I know this is an old thread however i wanted to chime in. My girl Zoe came spayed from the breeder at 10 weeks! This was one of a few things she never disclosed with us and we didn't find out until we got her out of her kennel at the airport and she had stitches on her belly. Very mad that someone would be so wreckless. Anyways our girl who is 19 months now still has incontinence issues and is on the above mentioned proin medicine. It works for her and every time we try to take her off she will still lose control at night. She sleeps for about 14 hours out of the day due to bed time and work but when in come home shes my running partner so she gets worked out and plenty of sleep. I just think its a problem we will always have. Very happy girl though.


----------



## Coltgnr (Oct 9, 2013)

Hello,

Yes, our girl developed it this problem at about age 4. She would only "leak" while sleeping, and she seemed surprised at it.

We give her the medication as infrequently as possible, and it completely solves the problem.

It's only been given to her about once a week now.

She was spayed before her first heat cycle as well.


----------



## jujuli (Sep 20, 2012)

We too experienced this at about that age. The vet said it was due to her being spayed early and gave her the hormone tablets. We did manage to reduce and then totally stop them and have had no issues at all since. However I did always suspect that she may have been overtired because it was always after an agility class or if she hadn't had as much daytime rest. Good luck. Hope it can be solved.


----------



## solefald (May 16, 2013)

And this is exactly why I am not sold on the "Spay/Neuter or Die" narrative.

There are sooooo many health and developmental issues caused by these procedures that many dogs end up having to be put on some kind of medication for the rest of their life to fix something that was caused by "fixing" them as if they were broken, yet neutering and spaying is still being shoved in our faces as some kind of magical solve-all-problems procedure that has no side effects whatsoever and once it's done, its all rainbows and unicorns from here on...

We don't really see parents lining up to chop off their boys testicles at young age so they don't father an unwanted child, to lessen the chances of testicular cancer or to prevent future behavioral issues that may or may not arise in the first place. 

Take circumcision, for example. Relatively painless and minor procedure, to remove a piece of "unwanted" skin, right? Yet there are literally thousands of medical professionals speaking out against it, because they say it is inhumane procedure and should be considered a body mutilation. So how come it is considered OK to remove actual *organs* from perfectly healthy dogs and at very young age? Is is because they are "just" dogs? Or is it because it became a de-facto standard of removing responsibility from pet owners, so they don't have to pay as close of attention to their pets?

Sorry for the rant, but this topic has been really bothering be for a while....


----------



## Ksana (Mar 30, 2013)

In contrary, I have signed a contract with the breeder agreeing NOT to neuter/spay my V. until at least two years old age. This is to prevent possible known problems arising as a result of early spaying/ neutering, such as cardiac, bone and prostate cancer, abnormal bone development, hip dysplasia, behavioral problems, etc.


----------

