I ran this past Heather and we thought it could be UTI but I took Storm to the vet and he came back negative for cushings, diabetes, and/or liver/kidney infections.

Here's what's been happening....

About 4 -6 weeks ago, Storm started this weird behavior where he would drink lots of water at one time, and then later will pee it all out. His urine also looks 'diluted' or light in color. And I also noticed that he 'cleaned himself' less than usual. One day when hubby and I left to go out, we came home to a big puddle of pee on the floor. That's when I talked about this with Heather and took him to the vet. However, all tests came back negative. So I started to give him cranberries to see if that would help.

A week later, we left the house again, and came home to pee on the floor again. Since we were gone for about 4 hours, we thought with all the water he drinks, he just had to go because we left the doggy door closed.

A week later, same thing even if we let him out before we left the house.

At this point, we're not sure what is going on because he can hold his pee through the night and when we're home, he doesn't have any accidents, and if we leave the doggy door open, no accidents.

Now that Storm is staying with Heather while we're out of town, within the first 48 hours, Storm has snuck upstairs and peed in the same area in her house when he has gone to pee outside and knows where to go.

He still drinks lots of water at once, and Heather still thinks he may have crystals in his pee which I don't remember my vet saying anything about that, however, she did say he did not have UTI. (Maybe it's the same thing).

I'm thinking of taking him back to the holistic vet for a second opinion....

Has anyone experienced this type of behavior before?

Is he still getting the cranberry supplement?

It could be a whole bunch of stuff. Is the doggy door open at night when he's at home?

I wonder if anything would change if you restricted water during the day, only allowing him a "normal" serving and keeping him within eyesight during the time he's inside. It could be an anxious thing combined with drinking a lot of water. Or it could be a medical thing combined with behavioral.

If you want a more reliable urine test i'd withhold water (not completely, just not letting him suck it down and try and catch the first morning pee which would be the most concentrated. Getting a 2nd opinion (or just running a 2nd urine sample) would be beneficial. Seamus is having the same issue with Megan but he's leaking during the night.

arooroomom wrote:

Is he still getting the cranberry supplement?

It could be a whole bunch of stuff. Is the doggy door open at night when he's at home?

I wonder if anything would change if you restricted water during the day, only allowing him a "normal" serving and keeping him within eyesight during the time he's inside. It could be an anxious thing combined with drinking a lot of water. Or it could be a medical thing combined with behavioral.

If you want a more reliable urine test i'd withhold water (not completely, just not letting him suck it down and try and catch the first morning pee which would be the most concentrated. Getting a 2nd opinion (or just running a 2nd urine sample) would be beneficial. Seamus is having the same issue with Megan but he's leaking during the night.

No, he's not getting cranberry supplements anymore. I did that for about 7 days when I first took him to the vet.

The doggy door is NOT open at night, and he has no accidents overnight.

I'll try limiting his water when I get home and see what his urine looks like first thing in the morning.

If it's a behavioral (or part behaviorial) thing, who or what would I do to correct it?

Thanks!

Claudia,
have you miss ALL my bitching about Sierra doing this? i all most think its a stress thing. She can hold her pee ALL DAY and when we get home at night we can feed, walk and let out to pee but if we then leave the house to run somewhere and only be gone 2hrs and she will pee on the floor. she even peed on the floor this weekend with us being home, she never came to get us. we have just put a towel on the floor in the spot for easy clean up since she will not go in any other area. we have never had her checked for any thing as she only does it if we are at work all day and come home and leave again, only sometimes does it happen on a weekend if we seem to be coming and going all day, the water bowl is always full still so she is not drinking it all...
if it makes you feel better go have him checked again, if not do what we are and chalk it up to old age and revenge for leaving them.....

jbealer wrote:

Claudia,
have you miss ALL my bitching about Sierra doing this? i all most think its a stress thing. She can hold her pee ALL DAY and when we get home at night we can feed, walk and let out to pee but if we then leave the house to run somewhere and only be gone 2hrs and she will pee on the floor. she even peed on the floor this weekend with us being home, she never came to get us. we have just put a towel on the floor in the spot for easy clean up since she will not go in any other area. we have never had her checked for any thing as she only does it if we are at work all day and come home and leave again, only sometimes does it happen on a weekend if we seem to be coming and going all day, the water bowl is always full still so she is not drinking it all...
if it makes you feel better go have him checked again, if not do what we are and chalk it up to old age and revenge for leaving them.....

We haven't tried to leave him again without the doggy door open, since the last incident, but he does drink ALL his water - he drinks at least 2 bowls full plus some of Ginger's water when his bowl is empty and us not noticing it to fill it up.

He also goes when no one is watching or around. At Heather's we thought new surrounding...

JD thinks it's for attention and for leaving him for more than a few hours....I just didn't think dogs were capable of being that way....but maybe they are now that your mention this about Sierra.

Maybe I'll get a second opinion for ease of mind....

cmanding wrote:

jbealer wrote:

have you miss ALL my bitching about Sierra doing this? i all most think its a stress thing. She can hold her pee ALL DAY and when we get home at night we can feed, walk and let out to pee but if we then leave the house to run somewhere and only be gone 2hrs and she will pee on the floor

JD thinks it's for attention and for leaving him for more than a few hours....I just didn't think dogs were capable of being that way....but maybe they are now that your mention this about Sierra.

Maybe I'll get a second opinion for ease of mind....

I would get him checked out again also...just to make sure it's nothing, but I too think it's stress related or a revenge thing. Asia's done it a few times. She'll hold it all day long and the times that we've left again (once to the grocery store and the other to walk Mya and Kody) she peed in her crate. She had just gone out too. Crazy dogs!

If it is completely a behavior thing, how or what can I do to correct this? He did not have any accidents the entire first year we had him.

cmanding wrote:

If it is completely a behavior thing, how or what can I do to correct this? He did not have any accidents the entire first year we had him.

still working on it, im not sure how to correct it since the act is done when were not home to "punish" right away, we could crate her but thats not something we want to do, we have tile floors and the towel and for now we just accept it as it is. i have used all the cleaners on the planet as well and she still picks that spot, is storm going in the same place? i would start with limiting the water, is he still on his meds? could that be making him want to drink more? with summer i would feel bad limiting the water intake but you could do that as a start to see if it helps, and get a 2nd pee test to see if anything has changed

The only way to work around it is just to bring them back to basics. Tether him when you're home and confine or crate him when you're gone. I think I remember him not liking the crate but you can always baby gate him off somewhere. Limit his water, and be sure he goes before you leave.

That coupled with a more concentrated urine sample to the vet is the only thing you really can do.

Thanks Ladies!
As soon as I get home, I'll follow-up on this - another concentrated pee sample and urine test to rule out any medical issues!

We dealt with this with Delilah.

SHe was CONSTANTLY peeing in the basement, for no particular reason. We took her in, and all of her tests were negative. I then had her tested for Endocrine problems, at the suggestion of my father, a schnauzer breeder. He said that a lot of Endocrine issues present themselves with excessive hunger and thirst. Thankfully she didn't have any issues.

We have decided it must be behavioral. We blocked off the basement and did our best not to leave her alone.

Since having Cato, we have opened the basement up a few times, just to see if her separation anxiety has gotten any better. She hasn't peed on the floor since.

Claudia, was storm tested for Cushings or any other endocrine problem? Have you seen an increase in hunger as well?

Embry had this issue a few months back. There were crystals in his urine and they did a ton of xrays to rule out stones. They gave us 2 weeks of medication and then he was fine.

mheath0429 wrote:

We dealt with this with Delilah.

SHe was CONSTANTLY peeing in the basement, for no particular reason. We took her in, and all of her tests were negative. I then had her tested for Endocrine problems, at the suggestion of my father, a schnauzer breeder. He said that a lot of Endocrine issues present themselves with excessive hunger and thirst. Thankfully she didn't have any issues.

We have decided it must be behavioral. We blocked off the basement and did our best not to leave her alone.

Since having Cato, we have opened the basement up a few times, just to see if her separation anxiety has gotten any better. She hasn't peed on the floor since.

Claudia, was storm tested for Cushings or any other endocrine problem? Have you seen an increase in hunger as well?

Yes, he was tested for Cushings, Diabetes, liver/kidney and UTI - all came back negative. He still drinks a lot and his urine still looks diluted. However, Heather has left the pups alone once for about 2 hours with no accidents.

When I get home, I'll limit his water so I can get a concentrated sample and take him for a second opinion just to make sure no medical issues have developed since. I'll also start with leaving him for an hour with the doggy door closed and if no accidents, go from there to 're-train' him.

Phew, good! I was nervous.

I hate to ask but did they do a CT scan to rule out Endocrine tumors? I know it's a long shot, but it does happen in dogs as they get older and can cause a lot of the same issues.

I'm not a vet, but I have seen it before. A husky we found running along side the road a few months back had a tumor. Obviously we didn't know at first, but we took him to Closer To Home Animal Advocates and fostered him until we could find a permanent foster. The vet did tests and he ended up doing a ct scan and found a tumor on his pituitary gland despite having com eup negative for Cushings.

I'm of course not saying storm has it, but if you exhaust all your options, it might be a culprit, especially since its a newer development.

mheath0429 wrote:

Phew, good! I was nervous.

I hate to ask but did they do a CT scan to rule out Endocrine tumors? I know it's a long shot, but it does happen in dogs as they get older and can cause a lot of the same issues.

I'm not a vet, but I have seen it before. A husky we found running along side the road a few months back had a tumor. Obviously we didn't know at first, but we took him to Closer To Home Animal Advocates and fostered him until we could find a permanent foster. The vet did tests and he ended up doing a ct scan and found a tumor on his pituitary gland despite having com eup negative for Cushings.

I'm of course not saying storm has it, but if you exhaust all your options, it might be a culprit, especially since its a newer development.

I have not gotten a CT scan but I'll get a second opinion first and see if I should get a CT scan.
Thanks!

I know with Cushing (I think) it affects the pituitary gland - or one of the illnesses he was tested for did...can't remember which one...but I'll definitely ask!

I didn't wanna worry you, but I definitely wanted to mention it!

No changes in coat i presume?

No changes in coat.

Alright good, I'm probably wrong then

I'll still ask to see what the vet says and if I should get a CT scan or not....

My min pin does this... 100% out of spite from him. He hasn't done it since kiara came home but he will still randomly mark on the side of my moms bed or guest bed or if there is a box... It's very irritating. He would sometimes poop by the garage door on the rug were its dark and we would always step on it. We would even take him out before but he would save it. Such a butthole.

I just don't feel like it was out of spite. He was very very very happy and is super comfortable with us. Dog door is always open, someone was ALWAYS home with him (I was gone for maybe 10 minutes once to go drop off food to my husband), and we'd be in the next room usually when he went and it'd be after we ran, walked, went to the park... I'm not sure if he'd continue to have accidents or not as we have shut off the upstairs, we force him outsice every hour to go pee, I don't less him drink excessively, so he has not have the opportunity to have an accident.

But then again, I've never believed a dog has the ability to be spiteful to it's owners but that's just my personal view on that. Not to mention a year later is a random time to become spiteful haha.

We had a vet visit so I decided to ask Dr M again about this before going to my holistic vet and Dr M mentioned that if it's a low grade infection, crystals wouldn't necessarily show up under the microscope. So we decided to give Storm better vitamin C supplements for a few weeks if it is a low grade infection. Once we finish up the vitamin C, we'll test him with the doggy door closed when we leave to see if he still pees in the house, but we'll make sure we take him out before we leave.

Well....we had another accident on the rug in the kitchen....

We let him out to pee before we went to bed, and he was already upstairs before we woke up, which he rarely is, and let him out. We didn't notice right away, but hubby stepped on the rug near the stove and found Storm had peed...

We're still finishing up the vitamin C supplements....and this is the first accident he had between the time we went to bed and waking up the next morning.

I have no idea what is going on....he is still drinking a lot at once, and then peeing a lot when he goes.

If the doggy door is open (which we close when we go to bed) he does not have an accident.

I'm just catching up, but I really feel like it's something medical and not just behavioral. The water issue combined with the peeing would have me concerned. When does he go see Dr. M?

I think it's also medical...I was going to wait until we finish the vitamin C up which should be 3 or 4 more days, but since I have to make an appointment for Ginger to get her bordatella, I'll make one for Storm at the same time.

He's acting normal other than his drinking habit and him peeing in the house (thankfully it's on the hardwood floor) when the doggy door is closed.