Zoe was in the vet 2 months ago for her check up. I was worried because when I collected her urine sample, it was very dark yellow. Ever since she got sick - about 4 years ago, she's had some minor problems with peeing in the house. There is no rhyme or reason to it. I always blame it on her separation anxiety because it usually happens when I'm not home but not always. I DO NOT think it's a house training issue. I do think it's anxiety and possibly a medical problem. Remember she had liver, kidney and pancreatic problems after her illness. She hasn't been on any steroids for three years.

She's peed in the house big time in the last two months, since she's been to the vet. What is concerning me the most is the few episodes of her doing it while lying down or sleeping. It just happened again today, there was a wet spot when she got up from the couch.

The vet's report is that he thought things were deteriorating in her digestive tract. Her anal glands were infected and he's blaming this all on eating commercial dog food. The results of her anal glad culture showed three kinds of bacteria (Protues Mirabilis, Klebsiella pnuemoniae, and E-Coli - ICK!) which she was treated for. I can not cook or do even pre-made raw for them. There is too much going on, we don't have any storage and with taking care of three adults downstairs, their two dogs, our two dogs and ailing cats, it's just too much.

But the peeing! And the peeing in her sleep! Her BUN:Creatinine was low 10. Her urinalysis showed PH of 5.5 and high specific gravity 1.054 everything else was fine and no crystals. She wouldn't have developed any this quickly.

Her hemoglobin, hematocrit and WBC levels were all on the low side of normal (very close on the low side of normal).

Her thyroid function now that she's stabilized on soloxine, is pretty good. The T4 is slightly high at 4.2, the T3 is 80 and the free T4 is .90.

I just know that something is up with her. He said she was becoming anemic but chalking that up to the bacterial infection. Oh, also her ALT was on the high side of normal at 80.

Any thoughts? I need to take her to the vet. I currently don't have a vet in town, so I'm not really sure who I trust and not sure what to do.

Maybe diabetes? That's what a dog of mine (since passed) was doing just before her diabetes diagnosis. Or some infection in the bladder, UTI?

Poor Zoe!

I'm going through the same thing with my senior...now he's old, so it could be a number of things. I just had a blood test done so hopefully we'll find something out soon.

Indy used to be a big "leaker" - likely spay incontinence. I put her on a grain free diet and she's had no issues since. She's on Honest Kitchen or cooked now, but she did good back when I had her on Evo.

Don't have any other suggestions, but I feel for you!

Thanks. Since I'll be in NH the week after Labor Day, I can take her back to Dr. Kruesi for a recheck on the anal glands. They'll take care of a new urinalysis and whatever other tests she needs.

Since her illness 4 years ago was auto-immune related and her immune system a bit kablooey, that's probably part of what's going on.

I'll keep you posted but keep the ideas coming so I can talk to them about it.

I hope it's just a matter of getting her systems back in balance. You have a lot on your plate right now & deserve those few days away to relax.

Aw.

Urinary incontinence can be normal as females age, but of course with other the stuff it's better safe than sorry I know!

If nothing resolves you might want to recheck the thyroid. Ben's had a couple of times when he had "mystery issues" that turned out to be a forewarning of his thyroid levels dropping. It seems like, from my experiences, that you can see problems before the tests can detect anything significant.

Just one guess. I hope you can find something simple and easily remediable (er, if that's a word).

Did they check a bilirubin with the LFT's? I wouldn't expect the urine to look that dark with that spec gravity.

that's a pretty high spec grav - the urine should look dark with that, and there would've been mention of bilirubin spilling in there on the urinalysis also.

No ideas, just sending healthy healing vibes for your girl.

I feel so bad for you and Zoe.

Cassie my Sisters 12 year old Newf started going through a time fram of incontinence (leaking in her sleep etc) which cleared up once we took her completely off kibble. We switched to all canned first, then canned and dehydrated now complete home prepared which she is doing excellent on. We had to take her completely off kibble we always did half canned half kibble it just seemed the kibble was not for her at all even in small amounts. We also used herbs and some homeopathy for Cassie, but, what Zoe is going through sounds much more serious than what we went through with Cassie. Cassie was completely due to diet with normal blood tests.

Since you are having a difficult time finding a Vet I wonder if this Vet may be able to give you a consultation. I don't know anything about him, only a local groomer who has asked his advise and was very pleased.

John B. Symes, D.V.M. (aka "Dogtor J")



Website: www.dogtorj.com

Email: dogtorj@bellsouth.net

Consults: 1-888-DOGTORJ

Sending good thoughts Zoe's way.

Her blood report shows high Biliruben - .3 In the urninalysis, it was +1. Both are in range but high. That's liver, right?

I'm just wondering if this is all due to the anal gland infection, like he thought.

the bilirubin sounds like it's fairly normal - i've seen that depending on when the subject last ate. the key is that if things don't improve, you'll need to recheck that along with other liver function tests. bilirubin is an indication of the biliary system and whether there is obstruction/inflammation in there, not necessarily just the liver - so the pancreas and intestines could play a part also.