The prevalence, probable causes and treatment effect of urinary incontinence in male dogs compared to female dogs.

Abstract

Urinary incontinence is a disorder of micturition and is characterized by the passive, involuntary leakage of urine. Urinary incontinence is a common disorder among bitches, but it also occurs in male dogs. Based on underlying causes, dogs with UI can be divided into five groups, respectively: congenital disorders, urethral sphincter mechanism incompetence, neuromuscular disorders, urge disorders and idiopathic incontinence. This research focuses on the prevalence, probable causes and treatment effect of urinary incontinence in male dogs compared to female dogs. This retrospective study screened the medical records of 112 patients with urinary incontinence presented at Utrecht University Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals between 2020 and 2025. The most common cause of urinary incontinence was urethral sphincter mechanism incompetence. The severity of urinary incontinence before treatment between male dogs (n=39) and bitches (n=73) was the same (p=0.976). The severity of urinary incontinence with treatment between male dogs and bitches was different (p=0.027), male dogs had a more severe incontinence with treatment. There was also a distinction found between the incontinence before treatment of castrated dogs (n=84) compared to intact dogs (n=28) (p=0.021), being worse in intact dogs. However, this distinction was not found in the incontinence with treatment between castrated dogs and intact dogs (p=0.885). Three castrated male dogs were treated with a combination of phenylpropanolamine and testosterone. All three dogs seem to respond well to this treatment. Further research could focus on the effect of adjunctive treatment with testosterone in castrated male dogs when phenylpropanolamine treatment alone is not sufficient.