Jun 10, 2021
how and when does oestrogen help urinary incontinence in dogs?
vet-and-wild here.
The most common type of urinary incontinence in dogs is urinary sphincter mechanism incompetence (USMI). Estrogen increases smooth muscle sphincter tone, which decreases the symptoms of incontinence. The reason that USMI occurs in spayed dogs is that a decrease in circulating estrogen is associated with a decrease in lower urinary tone. When we spay a dog, we are removing the ovaries AKA the source of estrogen.
