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About a week and a half ago I wrote that my dog had gone blind due to catarachs in both eyes. I have another 'dog related' quesiton this time. Over the past week or so I have noticed that he is now urinating in the house, in rooms where this has not happened before. It is intermittent, as there are also times when he will go to the door and scratch at it, indicating that he wants to go out to urinate or move his bowels. What concerns me at the moment is the fact that he has urinated five times in the family room in the past week and a half (where we all usually hang out) and this morning I noticed that he had urinated in my bedroom where he sleeps at night; both being areas where he has never had "accidents" in the past... Am keeping an eye on him to see whether there are any other changes in his behavior. Am not sure he is eating his kibbble (which is kept out all the time) as much as he has in the past, but is drinking more water than he seemed to in the past. He will readily eat any little bits of human food I give him...
When I took him to the vet a week and a half ago, the vet checked is urine and all seemed fine. I can't tell whether this is all related to his blindness, or whether there is something else now going on. I will no doubt phone the vet this week if his pee'ing in the house continiues more, which I have the feeling it will.
In the meantime, am I being an over-reactive pet owner, or does anyone else have experience with this is older dogs? Apart from his blindness, all else checked out as being normal when I had him at the vet's a week and a half ago.
Sorry this post is so long, but I can't tell whether I am being an over-reactive pet owner, or whether this is yet another blindness related problem. The little guy is a 13 year old Shi Tzu. Naturally my mind immediately gravitates to the "worse case scenario) in thinking that his time has come to be put down, despite his otherwise appearing normal/okay and all else checking out okay when he was at the vets. --So I don't know whether I'm just over-reacting to the onset of this urinating in the house or not...I feel kind of foolish posting this, but thought perhaps some of your better wisdom than mine might help appease my anxieties.
Many, many thanks for anyones thoughts, input, and help!
About a week and a half ago I wrote that my dog had gone blind due to catarachs in both eyes. I have another 'dog related' quesiton this time. Over the past week or so I have noticed that he is now urinating in the house, in rooms where this has not happened before. It is intermittent, as there are also times when he will go to the door and scratch at it, indicating that he wants to go out to urinate or move his bowels. What concerns me at the moment is the fact that he has urinated five times in the family room in the past week and a half (where we all usually hang out) and this morning I noticed that he had urinated in my bedroom where he sleeps at night; both being areas where he has never had "accidents" in the past... Am keeping an eye on him to see whether there are any other changes in his behavior. Am not sure he is eating his kibbble (which is kept out all the time) as much as he has in the past, but is drinking more water than he seemed to in the past. He will readily eat any little bits of human food I give him...
When I took him to the vet a week and a half ago, the vet checked is urine and all seemed fine. I can't tell whether this is all related to his blindness, or whether there is something else now going on. I will no doubt phone the vet this week if his pee'ing in the house continiues more, which I have the feeling it will.
In the meantime, am I being an over-reactive pet owner, or does anyone else have experience with this is older dogs? Apart from his blindness, all else checked out as being normal when I had him at the vet's a week and a half ago.
Sorry this post is so long, but I can't tell whether I am being an over-reactive pet owner, or whether this is yet another blindness related problem. The little guy is a 13 year old Shi Tzu. Naturally my mind immediately gravitates to the "worse case scenario) in thinking that his time has come to be put down, despite his otherwise appearing normal/okay and all else checking out okay when he was at the vets. --So I don't know whether I'm just over-reacting to the onset of this urinating in the house or not...I feel kind of foolish posting this, but thought perhaps some of your better wisdom than mine might help appease my anxieties.
Many, many thanks for anyones thoughts, input, and help!
All of this sounds very much like canine diabetes. Go back to the vet and ask them to check your dog's blood sugar. If it is not diabetes it could also be a UTI. I'd definately get back to the vet! Let us know how it goes.
I have had that problem with older dogs but it was because they were in pain and decided they might as well go inside due to the difficulty. When I knew what it was, I simply made sure that I carried the dog out every couple of hours, and knowing because of their ages, that time was short anyway, didn't sweat a little pee here and there.
With my beagle, my current oldest dog, I asked the vet for other possible medications for pain control and he advised codeine in addition to her other medication. And just knowing that I will carry her out seems to take the stress out of waiting for her. (She's actually been experiencing quite a renaissance and walking up and down the stairs on her own for more than a month)
I was also wondering about kidney failure but presumably your vet checked that out? My dogs have all died at home, naturally, and in my arms. And as they approached death, they became thirsty and their appetites went.
By hand-feeding them people food like liver, various ground meats, etc, both raw and cooked, it seemed to me that sometimes they regained some of their enthusiasm for life. But it meant offering them food all the time. Just having it in a bowl did not work. It was like I had to tease them into eating.
My dear dog the blue heeler who passed away in 2001, was very embarrassed when she became incontinent. It wasn't laziness. She would come to the bedroom as much as 6 times a night and I would carry her out without complaint to spare her any embarrassment. She knew she was loved.
I was also wondering about kidney failure but presumably your vet checked that out?
I do know that she checked his urine while she was examining him. I think (but can't recall in my anxious state) whether or not she said anything about his kidneys. She pretty much indicated that the only thing going on with him was the blindness. When I mentioned that he had had one accident on the family room floor, she did say something about how their bladders will become full very quickly, and have the immediate need to relieve themselves (or something to that effect.) I am assuming that if he was diabetic, that the urine test she did would have indicated that.
It could just be that he's getting older/is old, and that he is gravitating to the scent of the urine in the family room, despite my having treated it with stain and odor cleanser....It just strikes me as odd that he'd have four 'accidents' in ten days, when its never happened before. However, he is able to find the door indicating that he needs to go outside to urinate, so it's odd in my mind...
Best of luck with your dog. I am in the same place with my 14 1/2 year old beagle. It's scary thinking about losing a dear friend.
Vet said he checked out okay neurologically, so I don't know about dementia. When I tried hand feeding him some kibble tongiht (as he hadn't eaten all day) he readily ate them. I then placed his kibble bowl on the couch in front of him, and he ate well. Am wondering whether (in addition to his uriniating in the house) he just can't "find" his kibble bowl, although it's located next to his water bowl. So far today he's been very good about going to the door to let me know when he needs to go outside to relieve himself, but seems to be urinating more than usual....
Will most definately phone vet this week.
Thanks so much to all of you for your responses...Your guys are a godsend! You are so helpful to us dog owners who "don't know" and your experience is great!
Yeah, diabetes or a UTI are the most likely causes. If not, just take him out on a solid schedule.
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