Question - has anyone retrained a dog who was incontinent?

[Bizzysmum]

Hi, first post from Newbie here, but I would like to say I have had the most fantastic useful information from this site, and without you I don't think I would have managed as well as I have til this point <3

So I have a female dog who is incontinent, six months down the line from a spinal infection which caused paralysis of the rear end. She's very young, she was probably about a year old in June (she's a rescue so not sure) I've managed to get her from being completely down, dragging her back legs behind her, to walking again, after a fashion, but with a whole load of foot protection because she drags, her back legs no longer bend, so that is the current work in progress, and she's having massage and acupuncture.

She's wearing a nappy in the house, and I'm almost certain she has some sensation. Also think that there is a smell trigger thing that goes on in her head to make her release some urine, but her bladder is very weak, sneezing or pressing on it will make it empty very easily, but she can also go quite long periods without being wet. I take it off when we go out to walk, and she does tend to dribble when excited.

Also she poops in the nappy if she's so inclined, but nearly always when we are out, and I am CERTAIN she can feel this, so I suspect maybe we have just gotten into the habit of using it now??? Would be great if we could move away from the nappies, because she's had a few UTI's...so I had a thought to maybe trying a pad on the floor? But that was an epic fail, because she still drags her back legs, and just kind of towed it round the room LOL

Of course she can't squat anymore, so I don't know if that is relevant.

Be interested to hear your thoughts.

Kate

[critters]

Have you tried meds to help the pee problem? Bethanechol can help tighten a floppy bladder, and phenoxybenzamine (PBZ) can loosen a tight one. It sounds like Bethanechol might be worth a trial for her. As for the pooping, have you tried Poop on Demand? If you could get her pooping on a schedule, MAYBE there wouldn't be any, or as many, nugget surprises. She can't drop what she doesn't have.

[Bizzysmum]

Thanks for reply.

No we havent tried any actual meds for the bladder, apart from a homeopathic one early on (Jury is out on that for me to be honest, but vet wanted to give it a go) She's been so poorly with this last bout of UTIs although some drug (a hormone?) was mentioned at the vet it never happened. Vet is giving her acupuncture which should support this too at the moment, and she's such a baby I'm loathe to start down the hormone track just yet.

If she's not wearing a nappy I can see a poop brewing, so I'm just keeping a real close eye on her today... I got the vet to prod her nether regions this morning and she says she's also pretty sure there is good sensation in the area.

Kate

[CarolC]

You might experiment with having her not wear a diaper, and expressing her bladder and bowel several times a day. If she can hold it and not wet between expresses, then she could go without the diaper. If you ensure there is an adequate tail hole in the diaper for the stools to fall out, it helps prevent UTI, you don't want waste collecting inside the diaper where fecal germs can contact the female area and cause an infection. If her diapers already have an adequate tail hole, then I would think she may need to be expressed to ensure she is completely emptying. Dogs with partial bladder control may urinate without getting the bladder quite as empty as needed, and the stale urine remaining in the bladder can set them up for a UTI, I don't know if this might her situation. If you want to try the potty pad idea again, you might try getting a frame to put the pad in so she does not drag it. I always feel like the frames I see in the stores are not big enough, they seem to be a small size for small pads, don't know why, but maybe you can find a better one where you are.

Here are articles demonstrating ways to express the bladder and bowel. It sounds like you may be expressing her bowel already, right? On both articles there are videos at the bottom if you scroll to the end.

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