Urinary Incontinence in Dogs

My Dog Leaks

Question: My dog leaks. Is there anything natural I can give because Phenylproanolamine (Dexatrim) makes her really jumpy.

Answer: Yes, Black Cohosh or Nature’s Way Change-O-Life usually work great, although it takes a few weeks for visible results. It would be hard to be exact on the dosage without testing, but for smaller dogs it’s about ½ capsule per day and for giant breeds 2/day. Once the incontinence has stopped, you can try cutting back to half a dose. They most likely will need the product for the rest of their life.

Larger breeed dogs are more prone to urinary incontinence and this is usually from lack of estrogen. Black cohosh is a natural estrogen replacement. If this treatment doesn’t work it’s best to take your dog in for a  urine test to rule out bladder stones, diabetes or a chronic urinary tract infection although I often wonder if there is an allergic factor involved sometimes like in human urinary incontinence.

Dogs don’t usually like having cranberry concentrate extract syringed down their throats (I admit it does taste horrible) and the capsules don’t work very well but this often works for humans.

We do carry homeopathic drops for all of these issues. I use muscle testing to see which drop would be appropriate after taking a good history. I know for myself that the first two weeks in June some pollen is responsible for urinary incontinence. When I take the Tree Mix drops the incontinence is immediately mediated.