Surgical Management of Urinary Incontinence in Dogs

Urinary incontinence is a relatively common problem in small animals with a variety of etiologies. One of the more familiar and frustrating conditions is probably urethral sphincter mechanism incompetence (USMI), which most often occurs in adult spayed female dogs. Surgery is not the first or even second line of treatment for these animals. The first thing to do is to rule out other possible underlying conditions that would cause or contribute to urinary incontinence such as ectopic ureters, vaginal strictures, redundant epivulvar folds, chronic urinary tract infection, and neurological disorders. The second course of action is medical management primarily consisting estrogen therapy, phenylpropanolamine, or combination therapy. When dogs are unresponsive to medical treatment or if there are concurrent problems that limit the use of appropriate drugs, surgical intervention may be considered ...