At 4.5-months-old, Sugar the yellow Labrador had struggled with incontinence her entire life, meaning that she struggled to control her bladder. It was normal for Sugar to dribble urine while awake, in her sleep, sitting down, and standing up.

“She had a severe UTI, lots of scalding around her genitalia, and she dribbled urine all the time,” said owner Jacqueline Corridor. Jacqueline had tried putting Sugar on an antibiotic commonly used to treat incontinence in dogs, but to no avail. “We ended up at MSU after our hometown vet recommended surgery once we realized medicine was not working to control the dribbling.”

After a phone interview, Sugar landed in the skillful hands of Dr. Daniel Langlois at the MSU Veterinary Medical Center. Dr. Langlois had suspected that Sugar suffered from an ectopic ureter, meaning that Sugar was releasing urine from a secondary location where she was unable to control the flow, so she would leave dribbles of urine around the house without realizing it. Dr. Langlois recommended and performed a minimally invasive surgery that required no incisions by using a special laser. The MSU Veterinary Medical Center is the only facility in Michigan to offer this veterinary procedure.

During the surgery, Dr. Langlois repositioned the ureter. Now, instead of emptying into Sugar's urethra where it was too late for her to control the flow of urine, the ureter emptied into her bladder like it should have in the first place.

Since this minimally invasive surgery, Sugar's incontinence has completely disappeared. It's been a wonderful change for Sugar and the entire family. Today, Sugar is footloose and fancy free.

“Sugar is doing great!” said Jacqueline. “She has had no complications from surgery and is a healthy 17-month-old.” Sugar's only lifestyle change is that she no longer has to wear doggie diapers, which is a huge plus for everyone.