# Urinary incontinence noticed after swimming/exercise



## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

Has anyone noticed this with their dogs? A couple months ago Molly developed urinary incontinence, this was about the same time we taught her to swim. We found a safe place for her to swim and she loves it now. She is 6 yrs old. After the second outing, she had incontinence not only in her sleep but urine pouring out all the time several days after the swim. Asked the vet if the incontinence was any relation to the swimming and he felt not. We put her on Proin. We tried a dose of 50/day for two weeks, that was not completely effective then increases to 75/day. Molly is 87lbs.This seemed to work. After about 2 weeks on the increased dose, one morning we noticed Molly was panting more, seemed a little excited. We thought the excitement was due to beach outing with other GSDs, but then she threw up. I thought it was related to the Proin, reduced the dose to 50/day again. She was better. No leaks. Thought I'd try to reduce dose again by 1/4. Again no leaks, but we also had no major exercise. Started to add a small dose of a natural product, Bladder Strength. No leaks. We are having our fall heat wave, so we took Molly swimming to cool off. Right away major urine leaking, but only on the day of swimming. Because Molly has had 2 TPLO surgeries, we don't do heavy running or jumping exercise that would stress her joints so we don't know if its only swimming related or exercise in general. Any thoughts? Can dogs eventually get off the Proin?


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Could she be inhaling to much water while swimming? My dogs, especially my golden pee a lot more after they swim. If he has a bigger ball I notice it less because less water gets in. On days they swim I let them out way more often to avoid accidents and they literally will pee every time like they haven't gone out in 8 hours.

I never thought incontinence and never treated it as such because I can actually see that they are taking in water when they swim.

They also have a brace that goes around the neck so that water doesn't get into the ears and it also helps them keep their heads higher up while swimming.


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

llombardo said:


> Could she be inhaling to much water while swimming? My dogs, especially my golden pee a lot more after they swim. If he has a bigger ball I notice it less because less water gets in. On days they swim I let them out way more often to avoid accidents and they literally will pee every time like they haven't gone out in 8 hours.
> 
> I never thought incontinence and never treated it as such because I can actually see that they are taking in water when they swim.
> 
> They also have a brace that goes around the neck so that water doesn't get into the ears and it also helps them keep their heads higher up while swimming.


We thought the water intake might be a factor, but the one time the incontinence lasted for a couple weeks. We thought of using a swim vest, she floats more and drinks less. 
You have a great pool for your dogs!


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Gretchen said:


> You have a great pool for your dogs!


Thank you. We spend a lot of time outdoors and swimming.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Keeta had spay incontinence; a raw diet kept the incontinence about 95% under control - maybe one or two leaking incidents a month, if that. I did notice that they leaking was related to her being tired after heavy exercise, especially after swimming. Probably a combination of drinking lots of water, and being very tired afterwards.


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## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

The balls with the holes in it collect water they will swallow the water that collects in accidentally. I do not use these at the beach as we found this out. Swallowing large amounts of salt water can be lethal.


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

Castlemaid said:


> Keeta had spay incontinence; a raw diet kept the incontinence about 95% under control - maybe one or two leaking incidents a month, if that. I did notice that they leaking was related to her being tired after heavy exercise, especially after swimming. Probably a combination of drinking lots of water, and being very tired afterwards.


OK, that's good to know. Molly gets close to a raw diet: The Honest Kitchen and raw for dinner. I'll experiment with the Proin, I'd like to reduce it a bit more. Many of the vet techs said it was safe, but I am concerned about the risk of high blood pressure and/or anxiety, it also had a side effect of making her drink more water. I'll just remember to do what llombardo does and take her out to pee frequently after swimming.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Sounds like spay incontinence that gets worse with excessive water intake. Deja is intact and when she drinks a lot she pees more but is not incontinent.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

When Keeta was diagnosed with the spay incontinence, we tried the hormone replacement, but that didn't work. Like you, I was concerned about the long-term effects of Proin (Keeta was only about a year and a half when she started being incontinent, just a few months after her spay), so that would have been a lot of proin over the years. I decided to not medicate, and just live with it. 

It just so happened that I was in the process of going raw with her, and when we got to 100% raw, the leaking came under control. I experimented to see how it would hold with some kibble added in, cooked diet, fancy canned dog food, etc. Basically, as soon as she went off the raw, she started leaking again. One day of no raw, and she was back at it, constant leaking. 

Others on this board have commented that they tried the 100% raw diet with their spay incontinent bitch, but it didn't help, so you might just need to stick with what works for you.


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

Castlemaid - thanks for your insights. And the next time I see the vet I'll let him know the swimming can exacerbate spay incontinence.


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