Fecal incontinence in dog

volchitsa

Hi,

Sorry for the horrible thread title but does anyone have experience of this?
It's not actually my dog, she belongs to a friend but it hadn't occurred to them that it might be illness so they've been scolding her (because she stops when they shout at her, which I didn't think seemed like proof that she knows what she is doing but they do)

She's an 8 year old mixed breed, some Staffy in her I think, sterilised. Very anxious when separated but a lovely dog and while they would never have her put down for that, it is poisoning their lives, so any helpful information would be great.

Thanks.

omicron

Bring her to a vet, there's a large number of medical issues can cause faecal incontinence.

volchitsa

Sure but it's not my dog - I was hoping for some information about different forms or causes so as to give them an idea about why they need to take her and whether the vet can do anything.

kathleen37

Honestly, they just need to take her to the vet. It could be so many different things, some of which can be sorted, so the sooner they take her the better.

Poor pup

tk123

Vet would be my only advice too. The fact they haven't gone already and have been scolding the dog would make me reluctant to give any advice in case they decide it's not worth getting it checked/treated or try and treat it themselves. At 8 years old the dog is due a senior check if she hasn't had one already.

aonb

Incontinence in dogs, as in humans, is caused by a medical issue.
Your friends need to bring the dog to a vet to be examined.
There are so many things that can cause this problem - it could be a simple as
an issue/reaction with the food, but with an 8 year old dog, indeed at any age, if an animal show new/different physical symptoms/behaviour, the vet is absolutely always the first port of call.

Also, Scolding a dog, who has been toilet trained, is so unkind - no dog who has been toilet trained, would 'CHOOSE' to toilet in her house... even worse for an anxious dog 8-(

volchitsa

aonb wrote: »

Incontinence in dogs, as in humans, is caused by a medical issue.
Your friends need to bring the dog to a vet to be examined.
There are so many things that can cause this problem - it could be a simple as
an issue/reaction with the food, but with an 8 year old dog, indeed at any age, if an animal show new/different physical symptoms/behaviour, the vet is absolutely always the first port of call.

Also, Scolding a dog, who has been toilet trained, is so unkind - no dog who has been toilet trained, would 'CHOOSE' to toilet in her house... even worse for an anxious dog 8-(

I'll need to ask but I don't think she does it inside the house, or not the way I think of a dog going in the house - they say it's when she's walking along, she doesn't seem to feel the need to stop and push, it just comes out of her as she's walking, the way a cow or a horse does. So it can happen anywhere at any time, and she doesn't seem to notice. Unless they shout at her, and then she stops.

DBB

As others have said, the only pertinent advice in this case is for the dog to be examined by a vet. The dog isn't stopping the pooping when they shout at her because she knows she has done wrong... she's stopping because the shouting is frightening her into an involuntary contraction of her sphincter muscles. Really unfair on the dog, and so undignified for her.
There are medications available that will help restore normal sphincter and muscular tone for her. Please, for the poor dog's sake, advise the owners to go to their vet, ASAP.

volchitsa

I know it's not always considered good etiquette to bring old threads back up, but I happened to notice this one of mine from back in the covid times and thought maybe the posters who gave advice on this would be interested to know that the dog in question did indeed turn out to have a serious neurological problem which sadly got worse since these early symptoms.

It's what I suspected TBH, but I was hoping that someone with experience of having had many many dogs over their lifetime might have been able to suggest some more minor cause. Alas not.

That's all really. I guess if a mod wants to close the thread there's no reason not to.

DBB

Thanks volchitsa, for the update, sad as it is 😔