I have a 13 /2 year old, male standard poodle who is in generally good health. Good appetite, good hearing and eyesight, capable of 3/4 mile walks. Within the past year he has become incontinent, urinary and occassionally will defecate while in a deep sleep. Vet found bladder stones and removed them 6 months ago. His urinary incontinence subsided for a short while, but came back pretty soon. I have him in diapers along with Depends pads. Now we have a new problem. His penis comes out of the sheath for 20 minutes to an hour or so. Probably happens a couple of times a week. This makes the diaper a bit useless as his penis is no longer contained inside the diaper and thus he has urinated around the diaper. Why would this old dog be losing control of the penis ?
Optional Information: Pet's Sex: MalePet's Age: >12
Has the vet checked him for this new issue?
Is he neutered?
neutered - yes
for new issue - no.
Sometimes the penis pops out like this due to an enlarged prostate.
You can see a diagram of the anatomy here
http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ClientED/anatomy/dog_ug.aspx#lower%20urinary%20and%20genital%20tract
and an enlarged prostate can also press on the rectum causing some incontinence.
In a senior dog sometimes spinal problems, including arthritis and disc disease, can also lead to less control of the sphincter muscles and the muscles that keep the penis in the sheath. So this could be due to that sort of an issue also.
And an itchy infection in the sheath can lead a dog to extend the penis out to help resolve the itch. Dogs can get yeast or bacterial infections in the sheath area. It may be he needs some help keeping that area clean now that he is in the diapers to catch the 'drip'.
So a vet visit to check and see what the problem is may let you resolve it.
Hope this help syou!
Experience: 30+ yrs dog home vet care & nursing, rescue, behavior&training, responsible show breeding, genetics
thank you - I will try to keep area clean for him and see how that goes.
You are welcome.
You can keep the area clean with sterile saline or even a mild betadine solution or a chlorhexiderm wash to rinse the sheath area out.
Thanks for the above accept!