Anyone else's dog on Propalin?

downshifter

My 9 yr old spayed !!!!! (female dog - good grief, can't we use proper biological terminology in context?) has been prescribed Propalin for an intermittent incontinence problem. As soon as she started on it, the problem ceased and hasn't returned which is great. However because it was an intermittent problem and not constant, the vet said if I liked, after a bit, I could try reducing the dose to 2 times a day, rather than 3. This is great as I'd rather not have loads of chemicals in her system if it isn't needed. So yesterday I cut her down to 2 doses and so far so good, though she might not have weed inappropriately anyway. However I am wondering if anyone knows how long it takes for her system to settle to the new dosage? Does it have an effect immediately? Or does it take a while for the higher amount to work its way out of her system? The vet did warn me that I would need to up the dose if the lower amount didn't work so I'm hoping she will do well on the two doses, and maybe even go down to one, though I'd go back to the vets before trying that as I suppose it might need to be spread over the day or something.

Has anyone else any experience of Propalin, and especially how long it takes to make a difference?

Thanks

DS

getthemax

Our girl that we lost this year was on propalin from when she was about 7 years old until we lost her at 15.

What we found is that it's best to experiment in reducing the daily drops gradually until you find the level that works. We also found that if she had too much then it spaced her out like a zombie. We tried taking her off the drops but the problem returned - she was spayed and the vet put it down to having a weakened sphincter. We didn't bother going backwards and forwards to the vets, as it's very easy to experiment by gradually reducing the dosage and the vet was happy for us to sort it out that way. Also we just needed to dose her twice a day by adding the drops to her meal believe that the common recommendation is now to dose three times a day..

From our research we gathered that it was a very safe drug and there were no long-term side-effects.

Hope this helps.

downshifter

Thank you - that was quick! I'm so sorry to hear about your loss - I must say this is the first time she has ever been remotely unwell and it has come as a shock to me and made me aware of the fact that one day I will lose her. She's getting on abit now, although she shows no sign of slowing up thank goodness!

She's on it for the same reason as yours, weakened sphincter in spayed female dogs is common apparently, and the vet says I can experiment with the dosage like you. Fortunately there haven't been any side effects apart from the fact that she's drinking less, - obviously as she's not losing as much fluid. I'm spreading the 2 doses over her breakfast and her evening meal and I so hope I can keep it like this, or even less, even if it is a safe drug.

Thank you for sharing your experience, it has helped me feel a bit more secure about experimenting like this.

DS

teachergirl

hi downshifter . One of my girls is on propalin as her heart medication makes her incontinent. She has two drops a day, one in the morning and one in the evening with all her other meds. This works for her, she has had them for about two years now with no adverse affects. I hope you get your girly sorted out

downshifter

Thanks teachergirl. How big are the 'drops'? Mine was originally prescribed 0.4mls three times a day, now down to 0.4mls twice a day.

Oh dear, she's just heard the packet rustle, associates it with food, and has come running - so greedy!!!

teachergirl

Small confession here which I don't recommend:o We have a syringe thingy which we are supposed to measure out the tiniest amount which I think is based on weight. Anyway the syringe kept getting blocked so we literally put one drop onto her pill. She is a small cavalier and it works. So I am sorry if this doesn't help too much.

tizerbelle

Big dog is on propalin for intermittent incontinence, with her it was a case of she leaked when laid on her side, something to do with bladder alignment. The effect when we started using it was amazing and the problem stopped virtually overnight. She's about 35kg so was prescribed 0.7ml three times a day - this has been reduced to twice a day now and all still dry!

The dosage is based on weight (0.1ml per 5kg) and I get the large (100ml?) bottles now (rather than the smaller 45ml with the dropper) as I also used a syringe with the smaller bottle and it was a pain due to the narrow gauge and ending up with the syrup all over the place. The bigger bottle comes with it's own syringe that is specifically designed for that bottle and is a lot easier to use as you pop the syringe in the top of the bottle, turn the bottle upside down and pull the syringe plunger to the required dosage - much simpler and a lot less mess.

elsien

Mutt's on propalin (it was urilin till a few weeks ago, which is the same thing only cheaper, but there's a manufacturing problem at the moment so the vet can't get hold of any and we've had to do a swap.)
I reduced down to twice a day, but found after a couple of months she started getting lots of urine infections again, so we're back on the full dose and planning to stay that way. Having tried to cut down a couple of times, it's not worth mutt getting poorly for the sake of a few drops.
Hope it works out better for you, but for us it wasn't a quick process. I thought it was going well, but mutt doesn't "leak" so I only knew it had gone too low when it was too late. She's been on it for years now with no problems.

chookmom

My old dog has been on Propolin a few times for bladder leakage. Each time, after a few weeks, we have been able to slowly reduce the dose and then stop it. On one occasion the symptoms returned as we reduced the dose but we just put it back up for a while longer. There have been long periods,years, in between the episodes.
She is now 12/13 ish and her bladder is currently good.