In Reply to: My 14yo beagle is having some problem which just started this evening.... posted by Beagle Mom (sm) on August 23, 2006 at 23:31:41:
The vet thinks she has something called vestibular syndrome which is common in older dogs. It's an inflammation or infection of the inner ear that causes them to feel off balance. She had most of the classic signs: head tilt, wavering on legs (looks like she's drunk), nystagmus. He wanted to put her on antibiotics and steroid (I think prednisone) and treat empirically. I read up on this and some say that nothing can be done, that it usually resolves in 3 days to 3 weeks or so. However, the article did say some vets will treat with antibiotics. This vet did say it could get better on its own or not, and the question is whether I wanted to do something right away or wait and see. He wanted to do blood tests and UA before giving her medication in order to be sure everything is fine that way (because some meds, for example, wouldn't be good for dog if it has liver failure). I've done blood work over the years, the last about a year ago, and my dog has always been fine. Of course, it's possible she has developed something in the meantime. Again, she is 14. My DH and I decided to take a wait-and-see approach with this as she doesn't seem uncomfortable.
Yesterday I couldn't take her out on her normal morning walk because she was too unsteady on her feet. This morning, she was rarin' to go, still a bit unsteady at times, but she kept a good pace. I only did about 1/3 our normal distance, just enough to get her out, exercise her a bit, give her time to smell the roses (so to speak). She was a lot better this morning.
However, we're finding she is having incontinence without seeming aware of what has happened. The vet wanted to do x-rays for arthritis, and I forget if he said arthritis of spine or hips could be responsible for the incontinence. We talked about so many things that the incontinence didn't get covered as fully.
My question -- would a UTI cause incontinence? Normally my beagle is very good about letting us know if she has to go out. We also have a dog door that she has always used faithfully. She doesn't want to pee inside, that I know. But in these instances, it seems she doesn't even know she's doing it. She was dry all night last night after having one accident in the house earlier in the day. This morning, however, we found she'd gone in her dog bed in the living room where she'd just been sleeping.
The estimate for blood work, UA, x-rays, meds was minimum $460. We love our dog but we don't go to town on tests and such, which is just our style. We prefer to watch her for a few days. The incontinence, however -- would it be best to get the UA done to see if that's the problem?