1 Year Old Peeing in her sleep

[Dennis Thomas, DVM]

Since it only occurs when she is sleeping, she is displaying symptoms of urinary incontinence. It is not natural for a dog to urinate in its bed. If it were a UTI, she would be showing symptoms of increased frequency of urinating (squatting and peeing) with small amounts of urine coming out, standing and eventually hematuria (blood in her urine). What is happening is after exercise she is sleeping very deeply and her body is overall more relaxed. She may have also drank more water due to her exercise. The combination of increased volume of urine in the bladder while sleeping deeply is enough for the urine to leak out. This is still not normal.

I am assuming that your dog has been spayed. When we spay a dog, we remove the entire reproductive tract, including the ovaries. The ovaries are responsible for producing the hormone estrogen. In females, estrogen plays a role in the strength of the trigone (sphincter) of the urinary bladder. When the dog is no longer producing estrogen, the sphincter can get sloppy and urinary incontinence can occur. This occurs in some female humans post-menopause for the same reason. If this is the case and it continues, your vet will do an exam and also do a urinalysis. If the urinalysis is normal, which it will probably be, the vet will diagnose her as having estrogen-responsive urinary incontinence and want to put her on a drug called Proin. Prone (phyenlypropalamine) acts to tighten the sphincter and usually does a good job of controlling the incontinence. Unfortunately, you will likely be told that your dog will need to stay on the drug for the rest of its life. I wouldn't go there.

Phenylpropanalamine (PPA) is not without potentially serious side effects. Your vet, like I used to, will say, "It is either using the drug or her having incontinence. Which do you prefer?" PPA is a cardiovascular stimulant and can have immediate serious side effects (I had a client last week that put her dog on it and within 24 hours had a tremendous increase in blood pressure and detached both of her retinas, causing blindness. It will cause increased blood pressure and agitation as it is a stimulant. They used to put PPA in sports drinks to give the consumer a buzz when they drank it. The government pulled the drug when a bunch of kids fell over dead with cardiac failure. No more PPA in sports drinks.

If your dog ends up having this problem, consult an alternative vet who does Chinese medicine. From a TCVM perspective, this problem is due to an imbalanced kidney. It usually responds with a combination of acupuncture and Chinese herbs. I have treated many of these dogs (some veterinarian's dogs) with acupuncture and totally resolved the problem. It is certainly worth a try. Two good herbal formulas are Suo Quan Wan and Mantis Cradle. Good luck.

[ZZSW7Y]

We learned that Aowyn had this issue around 2 years and has been on PROIN since then and she is now almost 13, but like Dennis said it does have side effects. We had to have her liver enzymes checked on a regular basis. My vet did say that labs are prone to incontinence. At this point we are giving her two 25mg pills right before bed.

[BuggerMom]

Update.. So since I posted this Gracie has had 2 more accidents while sleeping. I took her to the vet last night and they have ruled out a UTI (FYI getting a sample from a pupply is a nightmare!) and they seem to think it's incontinence from spaying. He said it can happen immediately after spaying, months or years after. They put her on a medication called Proin. Has anyone had any experience with this medication or any side effects? Also, does this sound like a reasonable diagnosis? I'm not convinced that this is the problem but we are willing to give it a try.

[doubledip1]

Update.. So since I posted this Gracie has had 2 more accidents while sleeping. I took her to the vet last night and they have ruled out a UTI (FYI getting a sample from a pupply is a nightmare!) and they seem to think it's incontinence from spaying. He said it can happen immediately after spaying, months or years after. They put her on a medication called Proin. Has anyone had any experience with this medication or any side effects? Also, does this sound like a reasonable diagnosis? I'm not convinced that this is the problem but we are willing to give it a try.

Female incontinence is definitely a risk of spaying.

I find it easiest to slide a shallow Tupperware container (I have a ton of these: https://www.amazon.com/Fitpacker-Meal-Prep-Containers-Microwavable/dp/B00VWJHFTM) and Luna will just keep peeing in to it.

We should add "practice sliding a container under your dog" on our puppy prep post replies. It would come in super handy, now that I think about it

[SunDance]

Update.. So since I posted this Gracie has had 2 more accidents while sleeping. I took her to the vet last night and they have ruled out a UTI (FYI getting a sample from a pupply is a nightmare!) and they seem to think it's incontinence from spaying. He said it can happen immediately after spaying, months or years after. They put her on a medication called Proin. Has anyone had any experience with this medication or any side effects? Also, does this sound like a reasonable diagnosis? I'm not convinced that this is the problem but we are willing to give it a try.

Since it only occurs when she is sleeping, she is displaying symptoms of urinary incontinence. It is not natural for a dog to urinate in its bed. If it were a UTI, she would be showing symptoms of increased frequency of urinating (squatting and peeing) with small amounts of urine coming out, standing and eventually hematuria (blood in her urine). What is happening is after exercise she is sleeping very deeply and her body is overall more relaxed. She may have also drank more water due to her exercise. The combination of increased volume of urine in the bladder while sleeping deeply is enough for the urine to leak out. This is still not normal.

I am assuming that your dog has been spayed. When we spay a dog, we remove the entire reproductive tract, including the ovaries. The ovaries are responsible for producing the hormone estrogen. In females, estrogen plays a role in the strength of the trigone (sphincter) of the urinary bladder. When the dog is no longer producing estrogen, the sphincter can get sloppy and urinary incontinence can occur. This occurs in some female humans post-menopause for the same reason. If this is the case and it continues, your vet will do an exam and also do a urinalysis. If the urinalysis is normal, which it will probably be, the vet will diagnose her as having estrogen-responsive urinary incontinence and want to put her on a drug called Proin. Prone (phyenlypropalamine) acts to tighten the sphincter and usually does a good job of controlling the incontinence. Unfortunately, you will likely be told that your dog will need to stay on the drug for the rest of its life. I wouldn't go there.

Phenylpropanalamine (PPA) is not without potentially serious side effects. Your vet, like I used to, will say, "It is either using the drug or her having incontinence. Which do you prefer?" PPA is a cardiovascular stimulant and can have immediate serious side effects (I had a client last week that put her dog on it and within 24 hours had a tremendous increase in blood pressure and detached both of her retinas, causing blindness. It will cause increased blood pressure and agitation as it is a stimulant. They used to put PPA in sports drinks to give the consumer a buzz when they drank it. The government pulled the drug when a bunch of kids fell over dead with cardiac failure. No more PPA in sports drinks.

If your dog ends up having this problem, consult an alternative vet who does Chinese medicine. From a TCVM perspective, this problem is due to an imbalanced kidney. It usually responds with a combination of acupuncture and Chinese herbs. I have treated many of these dogs (some veterinarian's dogs) with acupuncture and totally resolved the problem. It is certainly worth a try. Two good herbal formulas are Suo Quan Wan and Mantis Cradle. Good luck.

We learned that Aowyn had this issue around 2 years and has been on PROIN since then and she is now almost 13, but like Dennis said it does have side effects. We had to have her liver enzymes checked on a regular basis. My vet did say that labs are prone to incontinence. At this point we are giving her two 25mg pills right before bed.

I'd have her urine tested specifically for protein...that can cause incontinence.

[ZZSW7Y]

Update.. So since I posted this Gracie has had 2 more accidents while sleeping. I took her to the vet last night and they have ruled out a UTI (FYI getting a sample from a pupply is a nightmare!) and they seem to think it's incontinence from spaying. He said it can happen immediately after spaying, months or years after. They put her on a medication called Proin. Has anyone had any experience with this medication or any side effects? Also, does this sound like a reasonable diagnosis? I'm not convinced that this is the problem but we are willing to give it a try.

Aowyn has been on it for about 11 years. We never had any health issues with her because of the Proin. We gave her one 25mg pill evry other day and she didn't have any problems. Because of her cancer and the predinsone she is up to 50mg every night with her food now. To be honest the only issues we really had was when i forgot to give her a pill for a couple days..... In the washer her bed cover would go.

[ZZSW7Y]

Female incontinence is definitely a risk of spaying.

I would agree with this statement. I think the vets push for us to get our dogs spayed much too early. There are studies now showing that its best to wait until they are 18 to 24 months old and have had at least two cycles. It ensures the girls develop properly and etc. Apparently with the hormones removed their growth plates can and will close too soon. Plus there is some evidence that waiting will reduce the chances for some cancers like MCTs and etc. Last, the argument that vets will use is that if a dog goes into heat that it increases their chance for mammary cancer, that may be true but the studies are showing that only goes up 2%. I know my next girl we are going to wait until she is two.