441. 11-month-old Cocker Spaniel could not control her bladder

Toilet Training Your First Puppy in Singapore

American Cocker Spaniel, F, Buff, born May 1, 2006
Young working couple

"For the past 3 weeks, the Spaniel dripped urine in the living area for 3 to 4 times. Could it be a urinary tract infection?" the lady owner in her early thirties put the dog on the consultation table. Today was a sunny Sunday morning.

I palpated the bladder. It was as round as but bigger than a golf ball. The rectal temperature was normal. However, the private parts were 20 times swollen although the onset of heat was 1 month ago (see picture).

This vulval swelling was due to continual licking. A yellowish-brown stain was present when I checked the inside of the private area with a piece of tissue paper.

It was the start of a lower urinary tract infection (LUTI)? How to resolve this problem?

HISTORY OF TOILET TRAINING.

This female dog was paper-trained. Her routine was as follows:

7 am breakfast.
Had peed and pooped overnight on newspapers on the common bathroom near the kitchen.

1-2pm. Pees once.
Poop if given food treats when the lady owner was home. Now she is working.

7pm dinner. Pee once. Poop sometimes.

11pm Sleeps inside the common bathroom. Pee and poop overnight.

She had never dribbled urine in the living area for the past months. She was a very clean dog. So, her continual cleaning of her private parts led to LUTI.



PAPER TRAINING METHOD.
100% newspapers in the kitchen, reducing the area covered by newspapers. Then 100% in the common bathroom including the shower stall. After a month, the puppy just went to the papers for her toilet location.

"Which area of the toilet is used?" I asked.

"She positioned herself in the centre of the toilet floor, just behind the door and in front and between the shower stall and W.C. This location was spacious.


STOOL EATING.
"Your advice worked" the lady owner laughed. "We sprinkled hot chilli powder on the stools. She stopped eating after a while. We also gave her more food."

HEARTWORM BLOOD TEST. The owners had some heart worm medicine. They just wanted a heartworm blood test. I placed the dog on the elevated table. Groomer Mark held the fore leg vein out for me the take the blood.

"Pinch the skin near the vein for a minute," I said.

The cephalic vein skin area was pinched for a minute but blood suddenly gushed out. It was worrying for the lady owner. It was not a serious problem as I stopped the bleeding.

The heartworm test was negative for heartworms. It was good news. It was pleasant and nice to have educated owners.

On day 3 after antibiotic treatment, the Cocker Spaniel was able to control her bladder.

WHEN TO SPAY?

Female dogs can be spayed during the heat period. Sometimes, delays lead to loss of a client as other veterinarians provide immediate service.

In the interest of the female dog, my recommendation to all owners is 2 to 4 months (3 months) after the heat period as the blood vessels of the womb and ovaries would have shrunken back to normal. There would be considerably less bleeding during surgery and much safer for the dog. The owners accepted my advice.

However, the next heat comes around 6 months after the previous one. So, a delay past 4 months would lead to the same situation of possible profuse bleeding during spay.