Urinary Incontinence in Dogs: Causes and Treatments

Urinary incontinence in dogs is a condition when a dog, specifically a housetrained dog loses his control of his bladder. This condition leads to the leaking of the dog’s urine.

As a result, dog’s owner might find and need to clean up the dog’s pee in the house. You need to be careful of dog’s urine as it might give diseases you can catch from dog urine and feces.

If you experience this problem, you might have felt angry to your dog as what you train to him fails. Get the ideas on how to toilet train your puppy. It’s very important to train the dog as early as possible. However, getting mad at your dog is not a solution.

You need to understand this condition by getting all the information you need to know. The good news is this condition could be treated once you understand the causes and the appropriate treatment to it. So, here they are the causes and the possible treatment of urinary incontinence in dogs.

What Causes a Dog to Have Urinary Incontinence?

There are various causes of urinary incontinence in dogs. Before getting to the causes of urinary incontinence, you need to notice about the time you find the urine in the inappropriate places and how much urine found there. You need to observe your dog while he is urinating to get the clues about the roots of the problem.

Here are the causes of urinary incontinence in dogs:

hormonal imbalance
urinary tract infection
urinary stones
weak bladder sphincter
spinal injury or damage (caused by inflammation, trauma, pain and paralysis)
excessive drinking of water (caused by diabetes mellitus or kidney failure)
anatomic disorders
other medications

When your dog is having urinary incontinence, he would experience and show some symptoms. Dripping urine might irritate the skin. As a result, you will see some redness on the dog’s skin. Besides, the dog would also do excessive licking of the area of vulva or penis. Pet parents would also notice that the area where the dog sleeps is contaminated with urine.

What Can be Done to Treat a Dog with Urinary Incontinence?

The first thing you can do once you realize your dog is infected by urinary incontinence, you should consult with the vet. Your vet will do some diagnosis and determine the cause.

The treatment of urinary incontinence in dogs depend on the cause. Some medications are effective to manage this condition and prevent worse conditions.

Some treatments such as phenylpropanolamine, will be able to control the urine flow. However, if the cause of the incontinence is bladder stone, your vet might recommend your dog to have surgery.

Here are some treatments that can be done based on its causes:

Bladder stones: It can be treated with diet and medication. If you are looking at the ways on how to manage diet for your diabetic dog can give you an idea of it. However, most urinary incontinence caused by bladder stone is treated with surgery.
Urinary tract infection: If the cause of it is urinary tract infection, then your vet might prescribe antibiotics to clear the urinary tract infection.
Diabetes and Cushing’s disease: Urinary incontinence caused by these disease can be treated by treating these diseases first. If you need some suggestions related to diabetes, you can see the idea of exercise for dogs with diabetes.

Regarding to how you would manage your dog with urinary incontinence, there are some ways to do it. Here are the things you need to do to manage your dog:

Prepare clean blankets and towels in your dog’s sleeping spot. Alternatively, you can also put some waterproof pads under his bedding so they would be able to absorb any moisture.
Regarding to water intake, please consult with your vet. Your vet will tell you whether you need to limit your dog’s water intake.
Walking in the morning and shortly after your dog wakes up is suggested. If you also need to exercise your dog, see these simple exercises for your dog to maintain its health.
If your dog keeps urinates in the inappropriate places, consider putting on diapers on him. You can buy it in the nearest pet stores.
Maintain your dog’s hygiene, especially after he urinates. This will prevent him from getting redness or skin irritation. Also see these common skin problems on dogs.