Incontinent male puppy

[ralphsmydog]

I am a veterinarian, but this experience is outside of my realm of expertise! I took in a 5 week old golden puppy for hind end paralysis. PT, acupuncture and time resulted in an ambulatory guy, but still with significant deficits. At 4.5 months old he had a CT revealing 2 abnormally formed vertebrae. The spinal canal was small in this area and the surgeon felt that a laminectomy would help. So he had surgery. Which resulted, sadly, in a completely paralyzed dog. He is no 6 months old, and he is making progress again, but is still weak and ataxic. He is also more or less incontinent. I, and my family, love this dog. But the incontinence is going to drive us wild. I read through a bunch of posts here and can't find anyone with the same trouble I have. I can't get a belly band to stay on him. He stands hunched through his back with his knees tucked up under him. The bands slip so he urinates outside of them. I've tried several versions of bands, including one with a strap that goes around his chest to hold it in place, but have not had even one successful experience. He is able to hold his urine for periods of time, but seems unable to control when and where he urinates, so we are talking about large volumes of urine.

If anyone can make a suggestion about a specific product to use of a way to more appropriately use the ones we have, I would be eternally grateful.

[slshepherds]

Hi!

I'm Joanne and I have exactly the same problem with Patroclus (aka Tiny) one of my paraplegic dogs. Tiny (GSD mix) has a displaced spinal fracture at L1-L2 and while he can stand and almost walk, he hunches his back/tucks his pelvis under. I too have tried different belly bands, using suspenders to try to keep a diaper in place, having him wear a diaper as a human baby would, even getting a onesie for him, all to no avail. When Tiny hunches up his penis slips out of the band and urine sprinkles everywhere. Unfortunately my solution is less than ideal - I pulled up all my flooring and replaced it with vinyl that I mop several times a day. If you find anything that works please let me know!

Kind regards
Joanne

[CarolC]

I am not sure I really understand the mechanics of what is happening, so these links may not address the problem, but here are some alternatives to malewraps.

http://www.yoyopetwear.ca/
http://www.tinkletrousers.com/
http://www.bestdogdiapers.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXBkez3jxB8 start at 7:15 for diapering (he is a powerplant engineer in Japan)

[Bobbie]

Can you express him? As you probably know, sometimes the injury creates a retentive bladder and in these cases, it will fill up (seemingly he is holding it) until full and then- usually- release spontaneously. This can appear to be control, but isn't really. That's how my male corgi is. If I express him the urine problem goes from major to just drips. (Still an issue but a lesser one.)

I saw something recently that looked like it might actually keep a male wrap on- I'll see if I can find it again. If I remember correctly it was something like a neoprene body suit, so not sure how it would work long-term.

[Bobbie]

This isn't the one I was thinking of but something like this might work.

https://www.poochiepants.com/shopping-m ... -male.html