Is incontinence in young female dogs possible?

Original Question: Question about my 3-year-old female Giant Schnauzer: about a year/year and a half ago she started having pee accidents in the house (on her bed, our bed, couch etc.). She is very well potty trained so this was definitely unusual and she wasn’t squatting to pee, it would literally leak out of her while she was laying down and she almost wouldn’t even really seem to notice. We don’t believe its incontinence – we tried giving her estrogen (1mg stilbestrol) but there was no change. We thought it might be some sort of back injury as it seemed to coincide with her more rigorous off-leash playing but that doesn’t seem to be the case either as the accidents can happen even when she hasn’t had hard play. She has a normal gait, no limp and shows no overt signs of injury. She is spayed which we waited to do after her first heat (around 12 months). The accidents are very sporadic! Sometimes once or twice in a week, then nothing for a few weeks and then it happens again. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance! - Jay & Züri

Apr 26, 2018

Hi Jay & Züri,

I wouldn’t quite rule out incontinence yet. There are different mechanisms to treat it and the episodes you describe sound like incontinence is possible. I would suspect a urinalysis has already been done to rule out infection and crystals. Revisit your vet for a re-check and ask about a drug called phenylpropanolamine for dogs.