I have a well trained 6 year old brittany spaniel that is fixed. We recently got back from being out of town and she fell asleep early with my husband in bed. She wet the bed while sleeping. I know that this is a behavior that could notify us of a health problem, but is one time enough to warrant a visit to the vet? I am worried about her, but I don't want to seem like the "paranoid mother" if it was just the stress of moving around on vacation etc.

Thanks

Immediately...

It is sort of a judgment call. I would keep a very close eye on her, and if it happens again, or you see other signs of trouble such as frequent urination, or straining to dribble a little, get her to the vet Monday. It is not something requiring an emergency visit over the holiday weekend.

I agree with labman. Most likely cause is a urinary tract infection, which with time could cause a lot of problems, but Monday is soon enough to catch it before it gets worse. In the meantime she will likely have similar problems so make sure to potty her often

-Beth

If she is doing it in her sleep I would think incontinence is a high likelihood. But getting her to the vet and get checked for UTI and other factors that may be the problem. See the answer to a similar question answered by a vet.

Incontinence is not unusual in older female dogs. It is probably occurs at a slightly younger age in spayed females and may be a little more common in them. The history is typically exactly what you have seen, urine leakage while laying down or while asleep. It is best to rule out bladder infections and causes of increased urination such as diabetes and Cushing's disease as contributing factors. Your vet may feel that this was accomplised during the recent exam but it would be best to check with him or her on this. Incontinence responds well to treatment in most cases. Usually the first medication tried is phenylpropanolamine but estrogen supplementation is sometimes also used first. Whichever medication is used, the other one is available if there is treatment failure. In many instances we find that treatment for a couple of months will often stop the problem for some time and that going on and off medications doesn't seem to make them less effective when it is necessary to use them again. Let your vet know this is happening and I think you'll find that treatment works well.

Mike Richards, DVM

The only reason I said immediately is because that happened to a dog I had growing up. She had a tumor that was pressing on her bladder. She would fall asleep and her muscles would relax which caused the tumor to weigh down and put pressure on the bladder causing the urine to leak out. She was only 3 years old, my mother took her to the vet for it, but it was to late.
It could very well be the stress or something easy to cure like a UTI.
Hope feeling better...
Kae

Yes, bladder tumors do have similar symptoms - problem is that there is very very rarely anything that can be done about a bladder tumor...

And 99% of the time it will be an infection or the like that can be treated... Especially since this dog is not old enough to have any constriction in the spinal cord that is a pretty common problem for sr citizens

-Beth

There is also something called a spay incontinence which causes a spayed to leak urine while sleeping. A medication called DES will stop it. Urine test first to make sure it isn't an infection