[Urinary incontinence in castrated female dogs. 2. Therapy]

Several methods can be used for the treatment of urinary incontinence due to urethral sphincter incompetence in spayed bitches. The most commonly applied medicaments are either alpha-sympathomimetics or estrogens. Because of their high effectiveness and little side effects alpha-sympathomimetics should be preferred. A clinical field trial showed that ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine are highly efficient (ephedrine 93%, phenylpropanolamine 97%) and had very little side effects. It has proved to be valuable to apply 1.2-1.7 mg/kg/day (ephedrine) respectively 1.5 mg/kg twice a day (phenylpropanolamine) as an initial dosage and to reduce this step by step to the lowest dosage that keeps the dog continent. When urinary incontinence does not respond to conservative treatment several surgical techniques can be performed.