One of the highlights of my day is going for an evening  walk with  Skai .  It is  my reward after a day of  working with  clients,  writing, teaching  or  working on one of my many projects.  Sometimes I have a clear idea where I want to go and  other times, I just “let me surprise me…”

First I though I would pick up Millie;  a dog that  we  fostered when  Skai  was  growing up. She is a  wild girl and Skai and her  a great time together running  in the woods.  However, my friends Christen  and Mike had just come  back from a walk and Millie was tired, so  we jumped in the car and decided to go for a walk in the East part of North Vancouver.  As soon  as we drove out of  the back lane,  an ambulance sped by so  I  turned my  car around and  avoided getting stuck in miles of  highway congestion.  We started heading for the other bridge towards Stanley park, our  other  favorite place.  The line up of cars for the Lions  Gate Bridge was longer  than ever.

I looked at  Skai, asking him jokingly for an answer.  “Do you want to go  to  Capilano Canyon? What shall we do Skai? Shall we go to Capilano Canyon? “ He cocked his head  from  side to side trying  to understand what  I was saying.  I took  it  as  a  yes, turned  around one more time and headed for Capilano Canyon, a place where the city feels miles and miles  away.

Suddenly,  I was  very  grateful  that I didn’t  need to drive a long distance and wondered  did I even  think of going elsewere.  It  seemed like everything  was perfect, the air, the temperature,  and Skai was all charged up for a set of  tricks that  he loves to perform along the way. He loooves jumping  on the logs, running through a hollow tree tunnels and drink from the crystal clear  streams.

We often pause in the middle of  our  favorite forest – one of those  places where time doesn’t  matter and the presence of  huge trees, fallen logs, ferns and moss make it all  look and feel just right.  (No  surprise that film  companies so often choose this part of the forest for  filming.)

It was almost  dark and I  decided to  take  a path  that  led to an ancient fir;  a giant,  that  was  here long before George Vancouver discovered  his promised land that he,  likely under the influence of his ego,  named  after himself.

As  I was  admiring the incredible  site for the thousandth  time,  a lady with  her German Shepherd  crossed our  path. She appeared  so  quickly that it  felt like she came from another dimension.

”Hi, “ I said,  hearing my “little voice” in the back of my mind: “You should gently tell  her  that  her dog  is  too heavy and that  he will end up in trouble  if  he doesn’t loose  weight.  He is a German Shepherd and you  know how often  they get paralized.”  “Come on, I  am on a  walk and people are not interested in being lectured,” I argued.   “But  you could make a difference” my little voice got back at me.  “Do you care more about  what people say  about  you than a dog that can’t speak for himself… ? “Too late,  I am  sorry , she is  gone,”  I  replied  regretfully and  almost  out loud.

We started to  head for  the car  when only about 100 meters ahead, there they were again,  the lady and  her dog.

“Hi, nice dog.”” I  said with  shyness.  “Thank  you” she  smiled.  “How  old  is  he?”  I  asked, to enter the conversation. “ He  is  two and a half but  people  think he is older because he is a little chunky. He will eat  anything so the vet put him  on a  special diet  for weight loss. He gets tons of  exercise  but  he is still not  loosing  any  weight.   It is frustrating.”

We  chatted  for a few  minutes and then I suggested home  made raw  diet.  “Your dog would be much slimmer  without  the grain and other carbs.  Just try it.”

“But  my vet  told me that  raw diet  is not  good for my dog; or is it? “

“Well  it depends  on who  you talk to. I  always  ask nature for  the answer when people can’t agree.  What do you think  a dog  would do in a  field of  wheat;  eat the grain  or chase the rabbit?”

“I happen to be a vet too and I used to believe the same “processed food story” years  ago.   I saw that  most of my  patients were heavy and not  exactly a  picture of health and I  decided to try real food. I could not  believe the difference.

“Oh ,  you are  a vet?  I am  Lorri and this  is Eddie,”  her  hesitation  seemed to have melted away.  “This is Eddie’s   favorite walk,”  she smiled, “Is it ok if I  ask  you a question?”

“We  have just had a challenging time  with Eddie,  he has  come down with urinary incontinence. He is  just 2  years  old. We had  4  different people  look at  him.  We have done  blood   and urine tests, an ultrasound, X  rays and no one  can find  anything.  Now  they are saying that we should consider  exploratory  surgery.  I  am worried” ,  Lorri said sounding very concerned.

“Does he swim or  jump” I asked.  “What does  he  like to do?”  I inquired  wondering if he had  injured or strained his  lumbar  area.

“Oh yeah,  he loves to  leap  in the  water down  by the river.  He was doing a lot of  that  when  the incontinence  started.  Wait….  Could it be…?”

I was relieved that  she was getting  my  point.  “Yes ,  Laurie,  it could be and most likely  is the cause of his incontinence.   I have seen this  many  times before.”

Laurie  still  looked   a little  puzzled.

I  continued  with  the explanation:  “Imagine the bladder; it  gets its nerve  supply from the lumbar spine,  just in front of the  hips.  Dogs that are incontinent,  have often sprained, strained or injured the muscles and joints along the lumbar spine.”

“What happens  is that the nerves  have to  pass through the tight and inflamed  muscles  and get  constricted or pinched.  The more severe this is the  less nerve  impulses  reach the bladder sphincter which  simply  “numbs  out.” It makes sense that Eddie leaks  especially after  strenuous  activity.

“This  makes total  sense  because it  usually   happens after he  leaps in the water!”  Laurie points out with excitement.

“Does  that  mean that  I could  avoid  surgery?”  her  eyes  light up.

“I can’t   promise  anything  for  certain but  it is highly  probable.”  I replied.  “Here is my  contact,  just  send me an  email  and  I would love to tell you what  to do.”

We said  goodbye  to  each  other.  “I was  glad  I listened  to  you” I  said  to my  inner  voice.  “You sometimes bug  me  so  much  but  often, you have  a point.”

“Just  make  sure, that  your  ego  doesn’t grow  too big.  There are still many things that  you don’t  know,” the cheeky bugger  replied.

“I have to write a blog  about incontinence.”  I thought  as  I was hopping  over  the speed bumps on the park road.   “I  am sure that  there are more dogs  like Eddie in the world.”

How did I figure this  out?

It  was Cass,   a lovely female Ridgeback cross  who brought me a deeper insight into this common problem.

Cass  was frequently incontinent  and her owner , Pat  and I struggled with her condition for months.   It was back in 2001.  I rarely give up in a search for a solution.  Because Cass usually leaked urine right after her exercise, I suggested to Pat that  we  go  for  a walk together.   This way  I could  observe exactly what happened.   There I  learned that she  was a ball  addict and she would chase it  in the park  for  30 – 45 minutes until she was totally exhausted.  The fast  sprints  and stops put a lot of stress  on the lumbar  region  and  there it  dawned  on  me  that her incontinence may be related to her exercise.

I gave Cass a homeopathic  remedy that I knew worked well in releasing the muscle  tightness. We  also rested Cass with  no ball play for a few  days.

Like a miracle, she  stopped leaking!

Since then,  I have  treated  many dogs  with incontinence and learned that more than 80 % of dogs respond  with the reliability of a Japanese  train.   Of course we have to first  ensure that there is no  urinary infection, stones or other common  problems.

The  dogs that  do not  respond,  appear to have more chronic changes  or  true  hormonal  imbalance but these  situations are much  less common.

What can we  learn from this  story?

1. Urinary  incontinence doesn’t  always need to be  treated with hormones  and  is often  related to  overextension and  injury of lumbar muscles and  the back.
2. Because these muscles become tight,  the nerves originating at the spine and supplying the bladder sphincter get  constricted.
3. The bladder  numbs  out  in a very similar way  as your  arm does  when you sleep on it and wake  up  in the morning not  being able to lift it for a  few  minutes.
4. Numbed  out sphincter turns  into a leaky faucet and the circle is  closed.

Three steps to treat incontinence:

1. Prevent  your dog from any activity that puts excessive  stress on his or  her  back.
2. Massage the lumbar area with Zoom Groom  or another massage  brush.
3. Administer 1 dose of  Incontia (homeopathic  formula for incontinence ) and repeat another dose  in 2  weeks.
4. Repeat a dose  as needed  but  not  more  frequently than once a week.
5. Eventually the need for this treatment  will reduce to once every several months or years.
6. And don’t   forget  to tell  others and make a difference.  One dog  at a time.

Yours,

Peter Dobias, DVM