Even though the smaller dogs are the main attraction around here I still have others to care for. One is the goobery, “bull in a china shop” devoted German Shepherd, Cajsa.

During the winter months she spent a lot of time inside and I started to notice wet spots on the floor when she got up. At first, I figured her face was wet from drinking or she was drooling. (She sticks half her face in the water bucket to drink!)

But then one day there was an actual puddle on the floor. Weird. She is totally housebroken and I don’t think even had an accident as a puppy.

And then one day I noticed a large puddle at her back end (so now I knew for sure which end the wet spots were coming from!) She was soundly sleeping and didn’t even know what had happened. I had to get her up and hold onto her ever-wagging tail then quickly get her outside while I mopped up the mess.

A call to the vet was made and she suggested we first do a urinalysis.

But as the weather warmed up and Cajsa wasn’t inside as much, the puddles weren’t there to remind me to get a sample. Or I’d think about it after I’d take puppies to the vet, etc.

Finally on a day I had another appointment, I remembered! I followed her outside in the morning. I wonder if she wondered why I was stalking her every move around the yard and following her so closely behind her when she usually got to potty in private. Thankfully she finally decided to squat and relieve herself and I quickly stuck an old rubbermaid container under her behind and collected a sample.

*Important to note, if you ever have to get a urine or stool sample on a pet, it needs to be refrigerated until you can drop it off at your vet’s office. And since I have a long drive, I also put the sample in an insulated bag with an ice pack.*

Always remember to let your family know what’s in the refrigerator and double bag it. 😉

I dropped off the sample and waited for the results. They called to tell me everything was normal. Okay, so we could check UTI off the list of possibly causes.

The next step was an appointment with exam and lab work. I also asked for an X-ray to rule out bladder stones.

So this week she had her appointment. Her labs were normal. Her X-ray was normal (no bladder stones, but man was she full of poop! lol). So the probable cause is hormonal. Spayed females can have hormonal issues which can affect the sphincter muscle at the opening to the bladder. Normally this happens if a female is spayed really early. And you  don’t see the affects until they are usually an older dog .

And despite me waiting until she was almost two years old to spay her and the fact that she hasn’t even turned six yet, we’ve got hormonal issues. *Sigh

The vet prescribed some medication for her to see if it doesn’t help the problem. And in the meantime, I’m also going to do a little research on some more natural remedies as I’m a bit of a hippy-mom. 😉