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16887106 tn?1452143091

Incontinence and UTI after FCE (stroke) - Help!

My Molly an 8 year old pitbull suffered from an FCE 5 weeks ago. She is steadily improving. She goes to rehab 2xs a week and we walk every day to strengthen her back legs. We saw the neurologist today and she is expected to make a full recovery. Actually the neurologist was surprised at how quickly she was coming back from it. Unfortunately, she is still incontinent. Although she sometimes can tell me when she has to urinate, she often has dribble and sleeping issues. She also has fecal incontinence but that is really easy to deal with as long as I do not use a diaper on her.

I am open to suggestions for how to continue to deal with the urinary incontinence. I've tried:
Doggie diapers disposable - she takes them off (its funny to see the diaper perfectly unfolded and untaped without a chew mark in sight)
Doggie diapers cloth - takes her longer to take them off
Meds are not an option because they might actually harm her chances of becoming continent again.
Confinement - she is my service dog and an attention hound. Most of the time she is in my room (where I work and sleep) with me and I've decided to rip out the carpet and put down tile which I've been trying to find an excuse for anyway.
Puppy pads - too slippery on the bottoms and they slide out from under her
Human pads - she tries to sleep under them
Blankets - see above
Trash bags with blankets - see above

She gets a dry bath as often as I can - she hates it but its better than skin breakdown. She showers with me once a week while it is cold so she gets a water bath with gentle shampoo once a week. I also expel her bladder as much as I can when we go outside.
Is there anything else anyone would recommend I try?
The smell is miserable, the uti's are miserable (clavamox resistant), and it is starting to drive me crazy.
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16887106 tn?1452143091
Thank you so much for your response. I will put her on echinacea for a bit of added help. She's already on antibiotics and yogurt. She's my baby girl so I don't mind the endless laundry. Right now she is doing much better with letting me know when she has to urinate but we are still working on bowel.

I found taping trashbags down with a blanket and sheet over it. She hates the sound.where she lays works for a little while when she sleeps (sometimes her bladder doesn't wake her up.)  I tried the tarps after you suggested it but she just would not walk on it. (yeah she's spoiled) Thanks again for the suggestions they were great!
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675347 tn?1365460645
COMMUNITY LEADER
I can just feel all the love and devotion you have for Molly in this post. Bless you. You are trying everything you can.

She is doing very well in her recovery from what you describe. Dogs are amazing!

I am afraid I can't think of any suggestions you haven't tried. Let's hope someone else here will have more ideas. My first thought -doggy diapers.....well that one wasn't such a great idea....

My dog had a brief period of incontinence due to early stage kidney failure. Otherwise she was well and happy at the time, but used to bed-wet for a few weeks until her medication and new diet kicked in. I put incontinence sheets under every single cover in the house, figuring that a sheet was easy to wash, even if I had to do it every morning ....but a whole mattress or cushion, etc was NOT. The incontinence sheets saved so much furniture and our bed. They were quite cheap, from ebay. But you can buy stronger ones which cost a little more.
Or you could use a small size cheap tarpaulin. These are also useful for any carpeted areas. With Molly you might have to pin them down with furniture though, as she might burrow under them, and think that's a great game!

I removed the wet sheet each morning, wiped down the incontinence sheet with anti-bacterial stuff which dried quickly, and put on a clean sheet. It wasn't too bad.
But with my dog is was only during sleep that happened. She didn't dribble around the house, and as we spent a lot of time outside, she peed normally out on the grass. It was a different situation.

UTIs can often happen when the urine isn't fully expelled (as you probably know) and Molly's problem is mechanical, so that may often happen.

Echinacea Angustifolia is a herb which can often give good results even with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It can have good healing effects even on diabetic foot ulcers which do not respond to antibiotic treatment! But although it is safe for most dogs I don't recommend just giving it to Molly without a consultation with a herbal or holistic vet. There is always the possibility it wouldn't suit her for some reason, and it would be better monitored by a professional.
Most vets have either never heard of it or wouldn't know about it. I think Cranberry is also okay for dogs....but please do verify that and mention all treatments to your regular vet. Those would only help against the UTIs, but couldn't give a quick fix to the incontinence issue, which is neurological in origin.

I can see you are doing your very best with Molly and love her very much. She sounds like a lovely girl! She has made good progress in some ways.
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