Done Very Well, And Then Suddenly...

[Guest itsagreytlife]

Hi! I have been lurking for the last couple of months. Gotten some very helpful info here, so when this happened today, I figured I needed to actually become a member and get some of your expert advice!

 

We adopted Selah, a 4 yr old retired racer in late July. She is a real sweetheart. We are all totally smitten with her. She had a few issues when she came to us (lived in foster home before), but nothing too serious--some type of skin condition, which after some prednisone/antibiotics and new diet seems to be in control (still has some flaky skin, though). She also tested positive for hooks. Took her 3rd dose of drontal for that last week. Being very careful to pick up poop in (fenced) yard and bleach the heck out of the place where the poop was. She didn't know stairs when we got her, so I tried to train her on them, only to find that she would get pretty stressed once she was upstairs by herself--even for a second--pooped once and peed a couple of times in our bedroom and sitting room. My mentor at our rescue group suggested to chill out on the stair training and let her just relax. I moved her crate downstairs to a room off the family room, so whenever I left the house I didn't have to drag her upstairs again (the crate had previously been beside our bed--from then on she slept at night on a bed next to our bed just fine). After a couple of weeks, she finally got the hang of stairs. We took her along with us to a cabin in the mountains in August (with crate)and she did wonderfully there. Of course she was on pred then, so I was super careful about getting up early and taking her out, etc. She had an "almost" accident up in the loft there--"almost" because my husband caught her and she only got a tiny bit of poop out. That was the last accident she had. I figure, not counting today, she has been accident-free for over six weeks. I slowly acclimated her to staying outside of the crate when we were away--she loves Kongs with peanut butter. Several wks ago I put up the crate all together and she has been doing very well--have been gone several hours at a time with no problems. Frequently when we come home she is lying on her bed in the family room, seemingly totally chilled out. Other times she greets us cheerfully at the door (but not totally hyper--I have had some experience with SA and was very relieved to not see the signs in Selah).

 

So imagine my surprise (and dismay) when I walked into the room today where her crate used to be and found she had peed on the floor in there! I was only gone 2x today, in the a.m. for under an hour and in the afternoon for about the same amount of time. The rest of the time she was with me all day. I had taken her out before I left both times and she did pee outside each time. Hadn't been drinking anymore than usual. Didn't seem stressed when I got home either time. There was an old pee stain in there from early days (worked my fingers to the bone getting it out--HATE pee on carpet! ), so that might explain why she did it in there. The only explanation I can figure is she was stressed--but why all of a sudden? And now (finally) my question: should I put out the crate again (its on loan from our rescue group and I might have to start renting it--we don't have an indiscreet place for it and she didn't seem to miss it at all) and do I start the housebreaking thing all over again?

 

Thanks for getting through this tome and for any advice you might have!

 

PS I was actually hoping it was cat pee, since I have an older cat in renal failure. At least I would understand that! Definitely not cat.

[Guest mbfilby]

Welcome to GT!

 

Are you positive that she peed while you were out? Could she have peed at night or some other time that you didn't notice?

 

If she emptied her bladder just prior to you leaving and you were only gone two hours, I would say she needs to be checked for UTI or she is stressed.

 

If your girl accepts the crate there is no harm in crating while you are out. We crated for a long while with our first, who didn't mind a bit. When we brought Cy home we started crating whoever volunteered just to keep some separation until we were extremely comfortable.

[Guest itsagreytlife]

Thanks!

 

Yes, I am sure. She does not leave her bed at night--I am a very light sleeper and always wake whenever she gets up to nest, scratch, or whatever. She is a total velcro dog. I was prepared to nix any UTI suggestions, thinking that could not be a possibility...when, of course right after I posted, she started needing to go out to do #1 fairly frequently. She needs to go some days a little more than others, but since this was precipitated by the accident, I am thinking (actually hoping?) that it is a UTI. And of course tomorrow is Friday. Wonder if I can get her in to the vet for some meds before the weekend. I will search elsewhere about treating UTIs. Thanks for your help!

[Guest sweetpea]

Once a dog "gets" house training, (and 6 weeks seems to me like she got it), and is otherwise

pretty well adjusted, my first hunch for any "sudden" toileting issues is usually going to be medical.

 

Good luck getting in to your vet, my vet keeps a low census on Friday (meaning doesn't schedule

a lot of appointments) just so people can get in and get seen before the weekend.

 

Buzzy

[krissy]

It sounds like she had some sort of autoimmune skin condition, which means the pred dose she would have been on would have been immunosuppressive. That would of course put her at increased risk for getting infections, such as a UTI. Especially since you have a female, I would take in a urine sample and rule out a UTI first before you start worrying about it being a behavioural problem.

 

EDIT: Having had a couple of UTIs myself... they are awful. The sooner you can get her started on antibiotics the sooner she'll feel better. UTIs can also turn into bladder or kidney infections which could become potentially life threatening. Never hurts to play it safe.

Edited September 23, 2011 by krissy

[Guest itsagreytlife]

Just dropped off a fresh "top o' the morning" sample at the vet. They will call with results. If it is a UTI and I give her the meds, how long before she starts feeling/acting better? I think I will bring back the crate just to be sure. How will I know when/if the meds are working (and I can start leaving her out of the crate)?

 

Also, the urinalysis at my vet wasn't too cheap--almost $44. Is this a typical fee? Between the skin condition & meds, food/diet mess-around, hook/de-worming meds, and now this, it is getting pretty costly (and labor intensive)! I am hoping these types of things will start to recede as time moves on.(?) She was fostered for 4 months before she came to us, so its not like she just got off the track. Other than these things, she is the perfect dog!

[krissy]

I've never had a dog with a UTI, but for people it usually only takes a couple of hours after the first antibiotic dose to start feeling better. The earlier you catch it too the faster the drugs work (less bacterial load to fight). It will also help to take her out often so she gets a chance to flush the bacteria out in her urine. Regardless of feeling better though, make sure she finishes the entire course of antibiotics or the infection might come back and be resistant to the antibiotics. Hope your girl feels better soon!

[turbotaina]

Regarding the cost of the urinalysis, yes, $40-ish is what we pay here in the DC area. May take a few days for the a/bs to kick in, if it's a UTI. We've had several foster dogs in our group with UTIs, and I think by day 3 you could tell the difference. And yes, as Krissy notes, always make sure you finish the complete course of antibiotics, even if your dog seems completely back to normal

[Guest itsagreytlife]

Well, the urinalysis came back clean. And she is back to her regular turnout schedule--no apparent straining or a lot of peeing going on. Perhaps I just went looking for symptoms last night. Some days she does "go" a bit more than others.

 

I put the crate back up again and made it all snuggly. She has already been in and out of it several times.

 

I suppose this means she was probably stressed yesterday, for some reason. Showed no signs of it before or after my absence. No changes going on at home. She was fine all last night and waited until I got up this a.m. to go out (in fact did #2 before #1). Hmmm...I guess I will just start putting her in her crate again when I leave the house and see how she does.

[Guest cwholsin]

Sounds like a good plan. However, try to be patient with her if she does have an accident or two here or there. It took Hermes upwards of 6 months to be super reliable. That being said, accidents do happen sometimes! If you get super stressed about pee on the carpet, maybe you should consider gating her in a wood/tiled/linoleum area with a cushy bed while you're gone--that way any messes that might happen are very easy to deal with!

 

I had my heart set on having a dog that gets free access to the house while we're, and I've just had to adjust my expectations a bit. That may happen eventually, but Hermes does still get stressed sometimes while we're gone and have an accident.

[GeorgeofNE]

Could easily be a UTI. She sounds like a terrific girl!

[Guest itsagreytlife]

Thanks everyone. Yes, she is a great girl!

 

I will probably have to change my expectations as well, cwholsin. She was doing SO great, tho! I will consider the gating idea; our house is a very open style, so it may not work.

 

This is going to sound really silly and the raw feeders out there will undoubtedly have a good chuckle. But I did feed Selah 1/4 chicken the night before. Had read a lot about it and wanted to try it, plus I wanted to see how she reacted to the chicken (on a sort of elmination diet here.) No bad reactions so far. I am SURE there is no correlation to the raw chicken and her accident, but I thought I would still mention it.

 

Ok. Now you can laugh.

 

 

EDITED because I accidentally posted while my pasta was boiling over!!

Edited September 23, 2011 by itsagreytlife