Don’t get flushed if your pooch has pee problem

MAISIE is a dear old lady who has been part of the family for 13 years.

She has helped her owners rear two litters of puppies, all of which went to lovely homes who still keep in touch, and two handsome children, now teenagers, who simply cannot remember life without her.

Nowadays, most of her time is occupied by lying in front of the fire but, like all true Labradors, she rouses vigorously whenever anyone comes to the door, either barking or wagging her tail happily, depending on whether the visitor is a stranger or a well kent face.

And that’s when the problem was first noticed. Urinary incontinence (UI) describes the loss of the ability to control urination, so that there is involuntary leakage of urine from the bladder.

This is usually indicated to owners by the discovery of damp patches on bedding but some dogs will drip urine as they walk, cough or bark, especially if the bladder is full. UI should be distinguished from dribbling of urine straight after urination, which is more likely to be caused by infections, tumours or abnormal ureter position.

With UI, the urine is often quite dilute and does not smell strongly. Affected dogs are still able to pass urine normally.

Urine is produced on a virtually continuous basis in the kidneys and then drains from them to the bladder, via tubes called ureters.

The bladder, which is expandable, stores urine until such time as it needs to be voided, generally when it has filled to an appropriate size, and there is, of course, some voluntary control involved.

Urine is then emptied through the urethra, which is shorter in females than in males. Under the influence of the nervous system, receptors in the bladder wall cause the muscles in it to relax, so that the bladder can fill, while the muscles of the urethral sphincter are contracted. When animals urinate, the opposite occurs; the bladder muscles contract and the urethral muscles relax. When sphincter mechanism incompetence occurs, UI is the result.

It would appear that UI is more common in Labradors than other breeds but recent research shows that only three per cent are affected. (Compare that to 32.3 per cent of Irish Red Setters, or 15.8 per cent of Dalmatians.)

It is simply that there are more Labradors!

Happily for Maisie, and her family, treatment with phenylpropanolamine syrup or Estriol tablets is usually effective, although some individuals also need antibiotics to treat the cystitis that resulted from bacteria ascending the open urethra.