Urinary Incomptence a week after bilateral patella surgery

Hello , my dog Male, Pomeranian, 3yrs old, 7kg had bilateral patella surgery last friday (6 january 2024) a week after the surgery  (13th) all of a sudden he has started peeing himself around every 2 hrs or so, its not big amounts but wee puddles, we did finish his antibiotics yesterday (cephacare). He is still on previcox and paracetamol. Before this he did not want to pee at all and he would only pee once a day so this is quite a change. I think that he doesnt realise he is peeing himself but does get up when he feels he is getting wet. He also doesn’t want to drink at all however is eating normally and behaving like his usual self. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Hello - I'm sorry to hear that your Pomeranian is having this problem -obviously, you are attending a vet's clinic so they are definitely your first port of call.  Ordinarily, I would start talking about sphincters and bladder disease and crystals / stones and prostates and so on, even cancer - and I can't rule any of these out.  However, first and distinct from all of these, it might be somewhat difficult / sore to go outside and squat to urinate after bilateral patella surgery, and this may completely explain what you are seeing.  Given that you have a surgeon involved, we would reccommend calling asap for their input on this case; they may advocate something to keep the skin comfortable to prevent urine scald, alter the pain releif, check that they are not concerned about back-pressure on the kidneys from an overflowing bladder, discuss ways to help with the mechanics of urination (is a catheter necessary?)   You may need to take him outside a lot and even support him with a towel underneath while he pees.  If your vets are closed, they might have an out of hours service who can triage the case now and give you advice in the short-term.  Please will you let us know how things go?

Hi , thank you for the reply we ended up getting his urine tested. The tests came back and they have detected white blood cells red blood cells , bacteria and the ph is 6 and no crystals. He has been put on 5 days of antibiotics (cephacare) (100mg x2 a day)  as they do suspect he might have just got a uti. However he was on antibiotics before so they arnt 100% sure. He is still peeing himself  mostly when he is sleeping however we have resorted to diapers and he definitely feels more comfortable. He is drinking and eating as normal again but we will only see if the antibiotics are effective by Thursday if not the vets said they will have to explore different options. (He is also neutered so the vets ruled out prostate issues)  Also unfortunately the surgeon that performed the operation is off for 3 weeks as he had an operation himself so I don’t have any contact with him right now. Would you be able to suggest any test or further examination which might be helpful incase the antibiotics don’t work?