I know there have been a few threads on incontinence lately but am after a bit of advice on which medication to try. 

My vet has offered two types of tablets but did not give the names, the first she said has a side affect of increased flight or fight response and the second makes them more hormonal but I'm not sure what that means.

My girl is a nearly 10 year old Doberman who personality wise is a bit of a muppet.  She has never reached any kind of mental maturity, still tears through the house and garden like a 12 week old pup, bouncing, trying to force the other dogs to play with her.  A real zest for life. 

However, (this is the muppet bit) she has a huge flight response, panics over the slightest thing.  For example, when the other dogs refuse to play with her she will invite some inanimate object to play instead, like the washing basket and will have a great time. If I pick this 'best friend' up to use it for it's intended purpose it turns into a monster and she will be in such a panic trying to escape that she can't get a grip on the kitchen floor, legs going everywhere, falling over and literally dragging herself from the room by her front legs.  Even something as simple as me dropping a pen on the floor will panic her.

We took her in at 5 years old when she was experiencing a terrible phantom pregnancy which we were told she had had every season.  She was terribly emotional and had teats swollen with milk, it was hard to believe there were no pups.  She had medication to dry up her milk and was spayed a couple of months later.

So, my question is, what medication?  I really don't think any more flight response is needed but she has obviously had hormonal problems in the past as well.  I don't know whats best for my girl.  I'm going to take a sample down next week to rule out an infection first but just wanted a bit of advice.

Thanks, Mel

The majority of spayed Doberman bitches that I know (and I know quite a few) have all done well on the oldest incontinence medication, Propalin syrup.

So if this hasn't been tried I am wondering why the vet is proposing these other medications with the side effects.

I found that Propalin drops didn't help my incontinent bitch, but that Incurin tablets did, and her personality didn't change a bit. Sometimes it takes a combination of medications to work; a client's bitch needs both the drops and the tablets to stay dry, and since then she's become more relaxed because the wetting was making her anxious and unhappy,

I'm not sure why propalin wasn't mentioned as it's the one I've read on here about the most. 

As for her suffering anxiety because she is leaking, that just doesn't happen, she's not even aware that she's doing it. 

The only thing is she's not keen on is a smelly bed but it's a nightmare to keep clean.  It's a giant beanbag with a waterproof cover, however the cover is fabric on top with the plastic underneath so it does absorb the urine on the top layer.  I wash and dry it, struggle to get the beans back in, she lies on it and leaks just a few drops. Then one of my male dogs comes along and smells the pee and has to tinkle over the top of it, second male dog comes along and isn't happy that first males pee is there so adds his contribution too, she leaks a bit more, first dog comes back and notices he's been over marked and 2 days later the bed needs washing again!

If I told anyone non doggy about this they would be horrified I know but I love her and just want her to have a nice clean bed (she really loves her beanbag).

From my dobe breeding/showing/owning friends it does seem that a large proportion of spayed dobe bitches become incontinent, and as I said the majority seem to do well on Propalin, it is the cheapest I believe too, so worth a go first I would have thought..

I recently started my 11 yr old girl on Propalin for incontinence.  She leaked a little to start with but got increasingly worse over time(I just used to clean her and the bed in the morning) so I took her to the vet.  He gave her a course of AB's just incase it was an infection(it wasn't) and we started the meds too.  It started working straight away and has been great ever since.  We even managed to cut it down to twice a day (but not the amount yet) which is much more managable.  Their is no difference whatsoever in her behaviour/anxiety.
Totally recommend using it as we save a fortune in electricity now from not washing her bed everyday.

I had a spayed Dobe bitch that was incontinent from about 2 until she was pts at nearly 14, so had to deal with it for about 12 years. :(

She was on propalin which worked to some extent, but she was never completely dry. The best method I found for managing it was a waterproof bed topped with vetbed, as the bed could be wiped clean and the vetbed replaced at regular intervals. Luckily (fingers crossed) my current 2, aged 7 and 10, are showing no signs of incontinence and I hope it stays that way!