A couple meds, including lasix.

Lasix is a diuretic, so its probably part of the problem.

You didn't mention the other meds that she is on... are either of those a diuretic also?

I certainly would ask the vet before I just stopped the medication. Perhaps they can lower the dose?

Was your dog experiencing other heart problems, congestive heart failure type symptoms, short of breath etc?

joepyeweed;

The lasix is because it's a diuretic, it's supposed to help keep the fluid volume down (if I understand correctly). They also put her on enalipril which I believe is supposed to help the heart function but I don't think is also diuretic. The other is theophylline, not diuretic. She developed a cough, they did a chest xray, saw the heart was enlarged. Sent me to a doggy-cardiologist, who did an echo, confirmed the enlarged heart, and that the valve was leaking, causing significant backflow, which was causing the enlarged heart. At this point, it has not progressed to congestive heart failure, the idea of starting the lasix and enalapril is to decrease the volume/pressure from the backflow and hopefully delay/prevent progression to CHF. Since there's no sign yet of CHF or any fluid in the lungs, they think the cough is because the enlarged heart is pushing up against her windpipe a bit, causing irritation. The theophylline is for the cough. I would not stop the lasix w/o asking, but I suspect I could do so for a relatively short time without hurting her, since she's not in heart failure.

Between the heart xray, the echo, then another xray w/ the uti because by the time I realized there was a problem (and yes I feel horribly guilty) she was urinating blood and they wanted to check for stones, i have spent a LOT of money on vets in the last month, and was thinking I might float some ideas here before heading back in. Although I'm also wondering if I should have them do a urinalysis to confirm the UTI is completely cleared up... probably a good idea...

Well, in people, Lasix makes you go pee more often. It's a diuretic as you know. Duiretics make you expel water out of your body, having to pee more often.
Enalipril is not a diuretic- you are correct. I think it's similar to the Ace inhibitors in people, which expand the vessels so the blood pumps better.

At times the kidneys are affected with heart problems. Did your Vet say anything about that?

My guess is that your doggie has to go badly while you're gone or at night because of Lasix. Although, maybe he'll get used to it and stabilize after a bit. Human beings don't know if doggies being on Lasix get the urge and have to go badly and immediately. If only they could talk.

We truly don't know how it affects them. We can only guess that it may be similarly to people.

You don't say what breed your dog is. For large dogs 13 is old. Some dogs start peeing in the house at that age and continue to have accidents, especially with a medical issue. I'm not saying that is it. I'm just wondering.

The lasix reduces the congestion in hearts. Do not stop that medication.

Can you possible walk her really late and then early morning?

It may be a combination of age and the lasix, but one never knows the side effects of the other meds. One of my previous dogs was on the same meds and she had a terrible problem with controlling her bladder. Like your dog my little gal never had accidents in the house but after being put on all the meds she would suddenly pee (huge amounts) wherever she was standing. It was obvious she had no control and didn't even have time to ask to go out. Poor thing was miserable.

I would not stop the lasix unless you talk to the vet first. Her heart problem could worsen and you'll be dealing with more than just some urine.

I'd also have her checked again and make sure the meds took care of the UTI. It's not uncommon to need 2 different meds in order to knock out a UTI infection.

Ask the cardio vet about the dosage. My dog was able to eventually come off her meds but her heart problem wasn't as complicated as your dog's. The point is.......after she came off the meds she returned to her normal self with no more accidents.

Its quite possible, its a behavior issue, particularly if she isn't getting any negative feedback for the behavior.

However, that being said, I would have a hard time reprimanding her too, considering the peeing was, and may still be, beyond her control.

When my dog got old and started to decline, he also seemed to "forget" about potty training. When I talked to my vet about it, he did say that older dogs can get "senile" and they may seem confused and forgetful. And this confusion can be exaggerated by an illness. I have plenty of stains on my bedroom carpet from my geriatric dog.

I just don't think I would be reprimanding a geriatric dog on diuretics for the potty training.

I'd probably try doggie diapers, or fashion something myself using baby underwear and a poise pad with holes cut out of the tail. They are not 100% effective, but at least they help... and I would spend as much time as possible outside with her...

I don't think she's unlearned her house training. I really think it's all side effects of the meds since they can affect a animals mental state as well as their physical. As dabunch mentioned, the incontinence could be related age,

Since her accidents are happening at night and while you're at work, my guess is she's just not able to hold it any longer than 'x' number of hours. If she had truly 'unlearned' her housetraining it seems she'd be going in the house 24/7.

I know what you're going thru isn't easy. I've been there, as have others here. My dog reached a point where she couldn't control her bladder during her sleep. And that was pretty tough when she slept on my pillow at night!

If the incontinence isn't an age/bacterial issue, I think she just needs time to see if her system can adjust to the meds.

I would be highly surprised if she has 'unlearned' her house training. With this past UTI and the Bladder stones, my beagle was literally having atleast 15 accidents a day in the house, because she was unable to hold any urine at all for any amount of time. I never gave her heck for any one of them because I knew she was in pain and couldn't help it. I pretty much just followed her around all day with cleaner and a rag - she'd go outside, pee, pee again and again, come inside and pee again. Didn't matter how often we let her out.

She was peeing consistently in the house for almost a week - all day long. As soon as she got her surgery done, she was fine. And she is much younger, so she hasn't been housetrained near as long as your dog has.

Did they put her on special food ontop of the antibiotics for her UTI?? If so, they add salt to the food to encourage dogs to drink more, so they pee more. Combine that with a diuretic and that could be the problem.

Definitely have another urinalysis done. IF the urinalysis comes back that she still has an infection as for a culture and sensitivity test - if they didn't do one the first time. This will ensure that she's on the right antibiotics this time, instead of taking another guess.

Also, all this said. We have a 13 year old male, who has incontinence problems. He's not always able to hold it, and will often go inside - he has accidents about 3 or 4 times a week. He still asks to go out when he can - but if we aren't around at the right time, he has to go. It's something we have learned to live with, as we know he can't help it and he won't be around much longer, we don't want to spend the rest of his life frustrated and angry with him.

I think it's the combo-Lasix and older age.

I don' think that UTI alone would cause the peeing in the house to continue.
My sweet dog who lived to the ripe old age of 18, had two UTIs. One at age 8, and the second at the age of 17. She NEVER peed in the house, until old age and the medical issues combo. During the UTI at age 8, she never had an accident inside. I worked very part-time, so I was at home a lot. She would go outside and squat like thiry times in a row. When the UTI was over, she was completely normal. BTW- we thought she had the UTI either from allergies, or the Thyroid.

Well, the UTI at 17 was not exactly a UTI, but her bladder was affected from an immune mediated perivulvar rash/irritation. She had bad allergies, immune system shot due to that and old age, etc. At the same time she started getting separation anxiety. Many dogs that never had separation anxiety will get it close to their expiration date. It's like they know. She had a few accidents on a wee-wee pad by the door. She would drop a couple of drips almost as soon as we left. This is right after we took her out. We figured that it was actually not senility, but separation anxiety. I watched her from a window once. She never peed inside while we were home. Coincidently, she started having a few accidents by the door at the time of her vulvar rash/bladder issue, old age, and separation anxiety.

I have never heard of dogs needing to relearn peeing outside after UTIs. That is why my guess is that the Lasix works on dogs like on humans. When they gotta go, they gotta go.

I would definitely get a urine culture to determine if the UTI is gone. A urinalysis is not as sensitive as a culture. I just did a U/A on a dog and didn't see ANY bacteria, sent the sample off for culture and he had TWO kinds of bacteria!

Also, the culture and sensitivity will tell the vet exactly which antibiotics would be useful in curing the UTI. In cases where we don't have a culture, or don't have the luxury of waiting for C&S results due to the patient's condition, we guess which antibiotic to use. In the case above, I would have chosen a completely useless antibiotic for both kinds of bacteria. The dog would still be feeling bad, and the owner would be out a lot of money for useless antibiotics. Especially in cases where the UTI is so bad as to be causing bloody urine, I ALWAYS follow up with a culture. It's not worth taking chances on having not completely eliminated the infection, only for it to recur.

It very well could be the Lasix. Same thing happened with my dog when he was on it. He was housebroken at 6 weeks old ... never had a accident in the house, ever!, until he started the Lasix. Lasix is a diuretic.

Meghane is the expert in this forum and she also gave you really good suggestions.

Thanks for the input. I did take her back to the vet to confirm the uti is cleared up and the vet also agreed the problem is the lasix vs. bad behavior. Unfortunately.

Last night my boyfriend was over and asked about the old blanket I had by the back door; I explained the problem and that it was something she could soil and I could just throw in the wash. He didn't think that was the best solution in the world. Well, I agree but it's better than her peeing directly on my pretty hardwood floors, and she can't help it, so what else am I going to do?

Him: well, why don't you just put in a doggy door?

I have a patio door which opens to a fully-fenced back yard. Duh. Duh. Duh.