Ask the Veterinarian/leaking urine

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Expert: - 12/12/2009


Question
We have a 2 year old female doberman who from time to time leaks urine w/o knowing. She is spayed.
What causes this and what can be done to stop this? she is very healthy, weighs about 80 lbs., and is very active and playful.

Answer
This is a very common hormone (or lack of) related problem. Very common in spayed females and the occasional male gets it.

Being neutered means no hormones which in turn can cause a slacking of the bladder sphincter muscle, which then causes incontinence.

In dogs this happens most often while they are asleep and in humans when they sneeze!
 
Most vets use a drug called phenylpropanolamine to help with this problem. Phenylpropanolamine is able to increase sphincter tone in the urethra thus curtailing inadvertent urine leakage.

It comes in the name of Prion and others. Sometimes this will tone the bladder enough that after a while you might be able to discontinue the drug but you need to leave that up to your vet.  

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Jana Connell RVT, CVT

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PLEASE READ BEFORE SUBMITTING TO ME: I am NOT a vet and do NOT diagnose diseases. That is only for a licensed Veterinarian to do. I will give you suggestions and steer you toward calling your vet for help. You can call the vet's office and talk to the technician there or the vet at times. Don't be afraid to call them! If you have a serious issue with your pet please post it to one of the veterinarians in here- I will tell you the same thing in my answer. IF your pet is injured or in an emergency situation, CALL YOUR VET- Do not wait and post in here. Just call the vet's office and get them in to see the vet right away. Critical treatment time is lost if you seek answers here when you should have your precious pet at the vets!! Don't sit at home waiting for an answer when your pet is critically ill or injured!! I can answer most questions about small animal and wildlife care as well as small animal nutrition. I can also answer questions about all phases of dental care for small animals. I DO NOT answer questions about birds (unless it is wildlife or songbirds) or HAMSTERS/GERBILS/CHINS/GUINEA PIGS/REPTILES/FROGS/RABBITS/PET BIRDS OF ANY KIND so please submit these questions to the appropriate sections. I, as well as other experts in here, do NOT do homework questions- that is for YOU to do! Please respect these rules for all of us. Thanks!

Experience

I have over 35 years experience in the field of veterinary medicine. I specialized in small animals and did wildlife rehab for over 25 years, mostly raptors, squirrels and opossums. I am a Small Animal Nutritional Consultant with 6 certificates from Hills Pet Foods, CNM and Purina. I also specialized in Small Animal Dentistry which is a field I truly love.

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Audubon,World Wildlife Federation, American Society of Veterinary Dental Technicians.

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Licensed with California and Oregon, RVT and CVT. Certified Veterinary Dental Technician Have over 500 logged hours of Continuing Education Credits(that means I keep up to date!).

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Nominated for Expert of the Month for the last 5 years.

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