My dog had spinal surgery. Will she ever regain bladder/bowel control?

Unfortunately urinary and bowel incontinence from spinal damage is often permanent. Switching to a high fiber/low residue prescription diet such as Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Fiber Response may help reduce the amount of stool that is produced. Odie looks very sweet. I wish you the best.

If he regained ability to walk (did not understand if he had surgery or not), there are good chances that urinary incontinence and tail movement will improve up to a point were he will be self sufficient. Time and treatment options would depend on what he had as treatment so far so please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation to give us further details about him.

Wow, I'm so sorry he has hit by a car! How horrible for him and you. Dogs can recover from nerve damage, but it can take months for full function to be restored. I'd give it a couple of months to see if things improve.

Please contact your vets office to discuss her progress as without a full history of all of her injuries and wounds, how much she ate or drank when she was in the clinic and how well she had been toileting before she went home it is impossible to guess whether this is expected or if it is a set back from how well she had been doing. Tehy may need to adjust her pain medications, or assist her either with enemas or manual expression of the bladder which would require an extended hospital stay until she is more stable or they may be able to demnostrate some handling and exercises to help support her balance and encourage her to toilet normally

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Zoey! What a rough time she has had! I think it is a good sign that there is no evidence of urine leaking in to her abdomen 4 days after the 2nd surgery! Her bladder went through a lot of trauma because of that there is inflammation. She will take longer than an average cystotomy for that to occur. I would want the straining with small urine production to improve every few days. It may take 7-14 days for the straining ti subside. I would expect similar for the incontinence. As long as she is eating, drinking and happy be patient! Good luck!

Hi and thanks for posting! It can take anywhere from 10-14 days or sometimes a little longer before the bladder can heal after surgery and regain normal stream of urine. It is not uncommon for there to be a shorter urine stream or for patients that have had bladder surgery to urinate more frequently than usual. This should subside in about 1-2 weeks.

The problem with Camelia's back is likely affecting the nerves leading to his bladder and bowels, causing him to be incontinent. Depending on how bad this disc is, he may need surgery to fix this problem. I'd talk his vet about it.