Incontinence

We have been struggling with Sailor for a while now. He loves going outside & earlier this year we thought he was getting wet & muddy & therefore suffering with a dirty bottom. However, as time hs gone on & with lots of trips to the vets, especially as he is getting worse, we have concluded that he now has urinary incontinence.
He back end is very smelly (urine), with some hair loss. However we are (touchwood) on top of his skin & currently his skin is intact & he has no sore bits. We feel so guilty because he looks such a mess
Really looking for any additional advice on maintenance both of Sailor but also their home area.
We have changed his bedding to woodshavngs (the soft sort) off hay that has helped, more absorbent & therefore he's not sitting in damp bedding. It is really difficult as he's peeing everywhere & anywhere so keeping areas dry & smell free is a challenge.
Is there any dietary changes we can try? Any other suggestions or ideas great fully received. Thanks

I have an incontinent 11 year old mini-lop and I put him on vet bed and just keep washing it. I put puppy training pads underneath it - they are very absorbent and draw the urine through and hold it in the pad. He was on straw and woodchip underneath, but I found he was constantly wet and gave up with this in the end. The vet bed is easy to wash and dries really quickly, even in the winter. You could also ask your vet about Oxycare tablets, which do help with incontinence - I did try these for a while and they did help, but because my bun now has arthritis, he has giving up using his toilet area altogether and just wees wherever he is sitting! Hope I've been of some help!

Thank you that's been helpful.
Do you restrict where he goes? What sort of dose of Oxycare did he take?
One of the problems we have is her has the conservatory & we would have to cover everywhere though we concentrate on his toileting areas

My Inca is not 100% incontinent but she does wee all about the place due to her arthritis. It varies from time to time how bad she gets. Sometimes I go home and she has peed all over, then others she can be fine for days on end.

Is it definately total incontinence, just wanna check that he has been treated for a Urinary Tract Infaction to rule that out.

As far as the area, well I have my Inca indoors, I use washable rugs for her. I find these great http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/80094047/ they are quite large and they are decent enough looking. They have an anti-slip back and seem to soak up pee pretty quickly......they fit in the wasking machine and for spot cleaning vinegar spray gets the urine right out of the rug no bother at all. I use the vinegar spray when Inca has only slightly soiled the rug, then I put it in the machine if she has done a lot of pee. I use offcuts of vetbed too, but the rugs are cheaper for a larger area.

It is good that his skin seems ok just now. If he starts to get sore then just keep the fur as short as possible, spot dry him off with a towel and clean him with dilute iodine and apply sudocrem or similar. Works well for me

Good luck x

Muesli has incontinence issues, he has arthritis but also he has mild kidney problems. He had EC ruled out, and blood tests and x-rays/ultrasound to check his kidney function. These were useful as then we knew what we were dealing with. He is on daily metacam now for his arthritis, but we have also changed his diet. He only has low calcium veg - mainly celery, a little bit of cauliflower (as he can tolerate small pieces and its his fave) and also herbs/flowers from the garden or shop bought ones, but we avoid parsley as that is high in calcium. I think spring greens are also high in calcium. If you do a search on here for calcium you will hopefully find some threads with lists of calcium values in veg.

We also have part moved him on to Supreme Vet Care Plus Urinary forumula - he has about 40% of this to 60% of Allen & Page. It has a formula in that is supposed to help with urinary tract problems and is low in calcium, although it is expensive and Allen & Page is low in calcium too, so we just give him a combination to save money but also give him some of the benefit, if that makes sense.

Bedding-wise, he and Starbuck still have megazorb in their litter trays, but we also use puppy pads around their indoor pen (with lino underneath to protect our carpet), and we also bought human incontinence sheets from a care company, and these can be machine-washable. We use neat vinegar on any accidents outside their pen area. We get his puppy pads up as soon as they are spoiled, otherwise he will sit on them sometimes and get wet underneath, even though they are absorbent, the top stays wet.

As for keeping him clean underneath, most of the time now Muesli is ok, occasionally we have to use cornflour to dry his fur up, this is soothing as well. But if its really bad we have to bathe him, preferably with cotton wool and warm water if we can, otherwise we have to gently put his rear end in a small bowl of warm water to clean him properly but we only do this as a last resort as he doesnt much like it and its really difficult to get his fur fully dry after. A touch of sudocrem helps with any sore bits. We try and trim his botty fur so that it doesnt get too bad.

First of all, though, I'd probably work with your vets to see if there is a reason as to why the incontinence might have developed, and if there is any treatment he might need.

pipkoi said:

Thank you that's been helpful.
Do you restrict where he goes? What sort of dose of Oxycare did he take?
One of the problems we have is her has the conservatory & we would have to cover everywhere though we concentrate on his toileting areas

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Hi again

I'll check to see what the dosage of Oxycare tablets was (am at work at the moment). Yes, he is in a restricted area - he has an area off the shed where he lives during the day, which is quite large, but he tends to sit on his vetbed and not move around much, I think mainly because he's a bit unsteady of his legs now at his age (11) and he has arthritis, which makes moving a little difficult. He also has vetbed in his hutch, inside the shed, where he is at night. The puppy pads are a good idea, as they do tend to hold the urine in and stop it going through to the floor underneath. Some people also put old towels down, which you can wash, but obviously it is difficult the more room they have roam around and pee on! Maybe you need to think about restricting the area a little bit?

Ah forgot to mention, if Sailor is getting wet underneath, don't forget about extra flystrike precautions.

helgalush said:

Ah forgot to mention, if Sailor is getting wet underneath, don't forget about extra flystrike precautions.

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He has been "Rearguarded"!!

Thanks for all the great advice