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  #1  
Old July 26th, 2014, 06:54 AM
Kally Kally is offline
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Incontinence and phenylpropanolamine

Hi everyone,

My 10 year old dog started leaking urine a few weeks ago. It's not every day, but on the days she leaks, there's not keeping up with keeping the floors clean.

I took her to the vet, and they did a urinalysis, and some blood work. The urinalysis came back normal, and we are still waiting on the blood work.

The vet is pretty convinced that it's just bladder incontinence because of age. She prescribed phenylpropanolamine 50mg twice a day.

I haven't started the medication on her yet (although I was told I could). I would rather wait on the remaining blood work to come in... but also, I'm kind of afraid to start her on this medication. I've read all these horrible things about dogs having strokes, behavior changes, anxiety, urine retention, etc. It's really hard to convince me that it might be safe, especially when it was taken off the market for human usage because of stroke risk. :/

I'm also worried about the dosage. Mags is 65lbs, so this seems to be a fairly high dosage. Isn't it better to try the smallest dosage, and increase if it isn't working?

Does anyone have any experience with this medication, especially using it with a similar sized dog?

Am I worrying for nothing?
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  #2  
Old July 26th, 2014, 12:15 PM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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Hi, Kally.

We have four spayed females on PPA and when we started them on it for incontinence, we thought the dose was pretty high, too. So we experimented. We started out with half the recommended dose, determined if that was working or not, then adjusted up or down accordingly. You'll be able to tell pretty quickly (a day or two) if it's having the desired effect.

Belle is about 50 pounds and gets about 38 mg of Proin (a chewable form of PPA) a day (a half 25mg tab in the morning and a whole one at night). Cass and Macie are about 45 pounds each and they get a half of a 25 mg tab in the morning and the other half at night; and Grace is dinky, about 35 pounds--with her, we found she can get by with a quarter tab in the morning and the other quarter tab at night.

Despite its bad rep for humans, it seems that PPA doesn't hold near the danger for dogs. We've had no problems with side effects in the dogs, and we feel comfortable giving them the doses we do even longterm since they're pretty low. We have noticed that they occasionally need an increase in dosage, but never a big one. Cass is almost 13; Belle is almost 12; Macie is 11 and Grace will be 9--so their doses are pretty consistent if you factor in weight and age.
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Old July 26th, 2014, 09:54 PM
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Sylvie Sylvie is offline
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We had our Shadow on the medicine for years and did not see any side effects. It worked. We did experiment with the dosage, unfortunately, I cannot remember how much we gave her. Good luck.
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Old July 28th, 2014, 10:02 AM
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Dog Dancer Dog Dancer is offline
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I was prescribed this but never got it, it was prohibitively expensive here. $200 for a four day supply.
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  #5  
Old July 28th, 2014, 09:40 PM
Kally Kally is offline
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Thank-you everyone for the replies.

I'm glad to hear of people having success (and no problems with this medication). I just started my dog on it this morning, but at half the prescribed dose.

Just a quick question though - did everyone get this medication in chewable form? The pills I was given for her are tiny and red. Mind you, that's not necessarily a bad thing, considering they are small enough to hide in a piece of food (without her catching on to me).

@Dog Dancer... ouch, how big is your dog? And here I thought the medication was kind of pricy at $40 for 14 days (56 pills - but that's the 25mg... they were out of 50mg). I was told the cost would go down when I picked up a larger supply, but by how much, I'm not sure.
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Old July 29th, 2014, 12:47 PM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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We use a chewable form called Proin. They're big and easy to break if you need to.
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  #7  
Old November 29th, 2014, 11:25 PM
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SuperWanda SuperWanda is offline
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I know this is an old post but for anyone wanted to try something holistic for incontinence. I seriously was skeptical but our 16 year old who has hind end weakness started having urinary accidents mainly during sleep and I have heard about medications and estrogen being the common route but I recently tried a homeopathic remedy called incontia which has completely stopped her urinary leakage. I wasnt sure if it would do anything but it had a guarantee for a full refund if it didn't help. In older dogs the lumbar spine becomes very tight and this can cause the nerves to send the wrong message to the bladder so the incontia which is simply phosphoric acid granules works to relax the muscles of the lumbar spine therefore preventing the bladder from numbing out. I wouldn't have believed something so simple would help but we have been accident free now for two months!
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Old December 1st, 2014, 10:35 PM
MaxaLisa MaxaLisa is offline
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That's pretty neat - so glad it worked!

http://peterdobias.com/products/cani...-pack-incontia

How often are you giving the phosphoric acid?
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  #9  
Old December 1st, 2014, 11:22 PM
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SuperWanda SuperWanda is offline
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You only give it once a week for two weeks and than once a month for two months. If you still need it once every 3 to 4 weeks. Very small amount so one vial of this stuff lasts for awhile. I was pretty skeptical but no accidents so far. We went from her having accidents about twice a week to no accidents in the last two months! Can't be sure if this is the reason but a small price to pay if it is indeed helping. That is the site I ordered from and where I ordered my hair tests. I am also trying his greenmin supplement which is basically alga calcarea and spirulina for increasing mineral levels since both dogs were deficient.
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  #10  
Old December 2nd, 2014, 12:38 AM
MaxaLisa MaxaLisa is offline
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I follow that vet on FB, so I'm familiar with his products. I've been trying to give jazz here a supplement wwith spirulina in it, and she hates it

That dosing sounds about right. That's a high potency for a homeopathic remedy, so I was curious how he was using it. That's fantastic to know!
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  #11  
Old December 7th, 2014, 02:15 PM
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SuperWanda SuperWanda is offline
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Yes, he seems like a good vet. Some people question him but he seems genuine to me and gives a lot of his time to try and help and answer your question.

With Timber, I can mix the greenmin in cottage cheese and she eats it but Shiloh doesnt like it. Sometimes I can mix it in her meat but other times I think she can detect it. I tasted it myself and it is slightly sweet and gritty but doesn't have too much flavor although I'm sure to a dog it tastes and smells much stronger.
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  #12  
Old December 11th, 2014, 12:16 AM
MaxaLisa MaxaLisa is offline
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I have problems getting Jazz to eat most things, I have to put it in a capsule, which doesn't work if they are supposed to take a lot. I hope you can keep them eating the greenmin and that it helps!
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