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My IVDD dog is incontinent. How can I help his bladder and bowels?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

My 80 lb. Swissy is recovering from ivdd. When it hit him, he became completely paralyzed from abdomen down 2 months ago. Today he is regaining strength and walking/running again pretty well. He still has no tail function and is urine and fecal incontinent. Has passed 2 UTI's and I keep him on cran+plus Vitamin C urine support and joint supplements. Is there any supplement or procedure that can help his incontinence? He goes through the motions but nothing comes out voluntarily. Thank you

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Davis

Veterinarian

Published on August 6th, 2017

My practice does rehab for animals like yours that are recovering from paralysis. I find doing laser like you are doing in the photo helps, also acupuncture. For my acupuncture treatments I start with three treatments several days to a week apart then every 2-4 weeks. This can help the nerves start functioning again. The incontinence may improve with time also, I generally continue to see improvement over the first 4-6 months after the paralysis. Make sure you are fully expressing his bladder and repeating a course of antibiotics to cure a low grade urinary infection may help also. To manage the fecal incontinence you can learn to stimulate him to poop twice daily which helps control accidents in the house. Check Dodger's List for other ideas on how to manage him. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you get answers to your veterinary questions.

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    Answered By Cara, DVM, cVMA

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    It looks like he has been getting laser and acupuncture, which is a good place to start! There aren't really any other treatments that may help outside of surgery to remove any compression on his spinal cord. It may just take more time for those nerves to regain function, but it sounds like he's made a lot of great progress already.

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