Hi Everyone,

Sorry in advance for the wall of text...

Does anyone have experience with an incontinent husky puppy and did the puppy grow out of it, or what did the issue/resolution end up being?

I have a 3 month old husky puppy that’s been having some medical issues, but the primary concern is whether it’s congenital. She’s had a UTI for the past month which includes urination multiple times an hour and incontinence especially after she drinks water. Even though she has a confirmed antibiotic resistant UTI per her urinalysis + culture, the vet is convinced that it’s a congenital issue (i.e. ectopic ureter) based off of her incontinence and “recurring” UTI, and due to having these issues at her age.

I read that incontinence is a side effect of UTI and I don’t think her UTI is recurring since I don’t think it ever went away…her symptoms just alternated between getting mild when she was on antibiotics then worse when off. I think her UTI is antibiotic resistant since she’s had bad luck with her health so far and has been on a lot of antibiotics:

1. When puppy was less than 4 weeks old the breeder had her on convenia due to life threatening pneumonia but she made a full recovery
2. 2 days after I brought her home from the breeder for the first time, she was lethargic, vomiting, hemorrhaging blood when going #2 and was put on convenia again and albon by the ER vet. The vet does not know what caused these symptoms and she tested negative for parvo and had a negative fecal. Her urinalysis tested positive for UTI and the antibiotics were supposed to treat it. She made a full recovery apart from still having mild UTI symptoms
3. 2 weeks later she still had UTI symptoms, so her vet put her on a 5 day course of amoxicillin and this did not clear the infection. Afterwards her culture came back with antibiotic resistant e. coli.

The vet is putting her on a last resort 7 day course of nitrofurantoin since the culture's test result showed that the bacteria was resistant to multiple types of antibiotics except for the nitrofurantoin. If her incontinence does not go away despite the UTI getting resolved after this round of antibiotics, they are going to start testing for congenital issues which they already quoted will be thousands of dollars just for diagnostics, and I cannot afford that.

I have an 8 year old husky that I raised from a puppy from the same breeder. I have not experienced anything like this and am getting very desperate. Does anyone have experience with this and what did the outcome end up being? Most importantly – has anyone had experience with an incontinent puppy “growing out of it” with time or did it end up being congenital?

If it’s a congenital issue I really don’t have the funds to have the vet diagnose and do surgery since it will be several thousand dollars for something that may/may not work. The breeder offered to take her back but this would be completely devastating to me, my adult husky, and husky puppy since we are all attached to each other and I will be out thousands of dollars from everything so far.

Thank you for any help or advice you can provide!

I'm replying only to let you know I've read your post I have no experience with this other than to know ectopic ureter is a real thing. I'm so sorry you have to experience this. As a last resort, have you considered diapers?

Thank you for your kind words and acknowledgement. This has been an unreal experience!

I started to reply just after you posted but our situations are quite a bit different.

I have a female who's "leaked" ever since I brought her home about 11 years back.  The only thing that helps is Proin I've taken her for rides in my Jeep and when I go into a store / restaurant I come out to find nickel->quarter sized spots on my drivers seat.  No big deal, just know it's time for another round of meds.

I have no idea, given all your problems, if something like this might help ... but I might talk to my vet for opinions.

ETA: So I had to go look up ectopic ureters and my pups leakage is a clinical sign of one ... and one of the recommendations given by VCA Hospitals is Proin (phenylpropanolamine) to assist in control.

At this point even if the strain is antibiotic resistant the pup has no immune system left to assist. It has been on way too many antibiotics from a seriously young age when the immune system is at its most crucial development point. Amoxicillin is a more general antibiotic so I'm not surprised it didn't do anything especially when only for 7 days. When my boy had a bad UTI it was a two-week round of a doxycycline combo. The nitrofurantoin should be a little more precise but 7 days might not be enough. Whether congenital or just hard to fight off you will be dealing with an iffy immune system the rest of this dog's life likely so I would get started on a routine of doing what you can to boost any amount of immune system she might have left. Probiotics, prebiotics, high quality diet, vitamins, etc. Antibiotics destroy gut health and you want to build up that immune system to help her medical routine as best as possible, especially since she is still a growing pup.

It's unlikely that she would grow completely out of it but since she is a pup and has a lot of growing still to do if given really good care and nutrition it may become milder as she matures. The ability to diagnose should get easier and less costly as she gets bigger as well. I would hold off on spaying until after a year to make sure she gets as much growth hormone as possible through her system to regulate development. A second (and third) opinion is never a bad option either, just make sure you keep a copy of her records so if taken somewhere else they know exactly what the other vet did.

While you may not want to give the pup back to the breeder, asking for a refund of whatever you paid I don't feel is out of line to assist in dealing with this issue (that frankly is probably her fault).

Sorry your going through this. Totally not your situation, at least i dont think but its relevant. Spider got sick several months back with what turned out to be drug resistant clostriduim and helicobacter. It took a combo of antibiotics for a 21 day run to finally kick it. But several 7 day runs of antibiotics she would improve then a few days the bloody diarrhea would come back worse. Anyway spider is parvo positive (as a pup but will always be parvo pos)so im constantly checking her for diarrhea and some days i think about trimming her. Yesterday for example she was getting her butt rinsed in the bathtub different times.

It also took several hundred dollars of labs that were sent out to get the accurate diagnosis.

Thank you all for your replies, advice and experience! It is helpful and I really appreciate it!!

Please keep us up with what happens. One of the ways I learn is by reading other people's experiences.

Quick update -- Shes on her last day of nitrofurantoin today and isnt really improving. I took her to another vet this morning for a 2nd opinion and she also said it's highly likely to be ectopic ureter due to her heavy incontinence. Both vets agree that the expensive diagnostic testing is the next route to go. Thanks everyone again for your time and have a good December!

Good luck with your pup. Hopefully they can diagnose and treat with as much precision as possible to keep costs down.