His and Her Health

On a lighter side, I wanted to share this story. My 15 year old dog recently has become incontinent periodically. After blood tests the doctor determined she was remarkably healthy but experiencing symptoms of menopause. The Vet put her on estrogen therapy. It is to early to tell if the estrogen is helping her but I never heard of dogs entering menopause. Hope that this story gives someone a giggle. I know it made me laugh.

Hi Marley, Thanks for logging onto our site. You brought up a good point about the use of estrogen in dogs. Urinary incontinence is a condition that happens in mostly spayed female dogs. The reason behind this incontinence is due to lack of estrogen in female dogs, and in male dogs, it is due to lack of testosterone. The medication is usually given once daily over 5-7 period, then tapered down to 3 times per week. So, your vet's recommendation is quite the norm to help urinary incontinence. It's just something our bulletin board readers may not have heard about. I hope that your dog feels better soon, please let us know.