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Older Female, More Frequent Urination, Possible Causes?


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I have a 9 1/2 yo spayed female greyhound; I fostered her after she came off the track, and ended up keeping her because she's so cute. ;) She is a spook, mostly reformed, but still very quirky, which I love. She's always been somewhat questionable on housebreaking; she went through periods where she was terrified of the doors and wouldn't go out, and so would go in a back room and pee instead of going through the door. For the last few years, we lived in a house with a dog door with no flap, and as long as she had access to go out, she didn't have accidents in the house. Plus, I was always very careful to make sure she went out regularly to potty because it has always been such an issue. Recently, we moved from Southern to Northern California, and are in a new house with no dog door, and no option for one. I take her out in the morning to potty, and she does; I come home at lunch to potty them, and again the minute I get home from work. However, she is still peeing in the house, sometimes several times a day. She has no apparent signs of a UTI; it doesn't seem painful for her to pee, she doesn't strain, and she appears to empty her bladder each time. She is not drinking more water than usual, at least not that I am aware of. She goes out around 7am, and if I don't get home for lunch by 12:30-12:45p, she pees in the bedroom (luckily, I have put waterproof pads down that she usually hits). If she pees inside, she will NOT go outside, no matter how long I stand out there with her. (She won't pee on walks, because of the spook thing, so that isn't an option). Then, if I don't get home from work at 6p, she pees inside again. It appears she can't go more than 5.5-6 hours without going pee, and she thinks NOTHING of peeing in the house (I think she seems to prefer it!). This morning, I didn't get her outside fast enough after we woke up, and she peed in the bedroom again. Adding to the problem is that the other dogs in the house now think it's perfectly acceptable to potty in the house, and so I'm cleaning up accidents 3 times a day, and I'm starting to feel really defeated. The boy greyound was just diagnosed with osteo, so he gets a free ride, but the Chinese Crested has never been reliably potty trained, so he is now really learning bad habits. I will start closing off my bedroom while I am home so he can't go in there (he is crated while I am at work, so that's not an issue).

 

I am going to take Shae into the vet for a blood panel and a urinalysis, but I'm just curious if this is normal for them to not be able to wait as they get older, or if it's either a behavioral issue or a sign of something being wrong? Has anyone had any experiences like this?

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Shannon, mom to Shae, Jesse James and Linus the Chinese Cresteds,and bridge angels Sydney Sue and Stewart.

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Guest 2dogs4cats

Actually, every 5-6 hours seems normal to me for a senior. It could be a medical issue or just aging. I doubt that she prefers to pee inside. Personally, I don't ask my seniors to wait more than 6 hours. They just have less control as they age. Train her to go on a pee pad, it willl be less mess.

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Actually, every 5-6 hours seems normal to me for a senior. It could be a medical issue or just aging. I doubt that she prefers to pee inside. Personally, I don't ask my seniors to wait more than 6 hours. They just have less control as they age. Train her to go on a pee pad, it willl be less mess.

 

oh, that's what I was wondering, since she has no other symptoms. My other girl didn't have issues, but she was a lot different in many ways.

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Shannon, mom to Shae, Jesse James and Linus the Chinese Cresteds,and bridge angels Sydney Sue and Stewart.

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Guest OurLacyandJax

Just like humans. Some are better at holding it in, I guess. Do you have any leaky faucets making the dripping noise? :bgeorge

 

So sorry to hear about your boy's Osteo diagnosis. Hope he is not in pain. And here's hoping you get a handle on the pee situation.

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9-1/2 isn't really very old. I'd get her in for that urinalysis and bloodwork. You often can't tell whether they have a UTI by their behavior.

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Just like humans. Some are better at holding it in, I guess. Do you have any leaky faucets making the dripping noise? :bgeorge

 

So sorry to hear about your boy's Osteo diagnosis. Hope he is not in pain. And here's hoping you get a handle on the pee situation.

 

Ironically, every faucet in the old house leaked, so I was extra excited to move into my new place and NOTHING leaks!!! Except the dog. :lol :lol

 

And thank you, I picked up Tramadol today to start him on that along with the Metacam. He is doing okay. His momma, not so much. :cry1

 

9-1/2 isn't really very old. I'd get her in for that urinalysis and bloodwork. You often can't tell whether they have a UTI by their behavior.

 

I'm leaning towards that, just to rule anything medical out. My new vet will either think I am a crazy dog lady, or that I'm doing something to make my dogs fall apart. :lol :lol

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Shannon, mom to Shae, Jesse James and Linus the Chinese Cresteds,and bridge angels Sydney Sue and Stewart.

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I've been told that when Brandi gets older, this is likely to become an issue. This is because an ultrasound done to see if she had bladder stones (she didn't) revealed that her bladder neck is further into her pelvis than is 'normal'. All this means is that she just doesn't have the room in the tank for as much as other dogs and so might have problems holding it for as long. This has been the case so far, and as she gets older I'm expecting that it might be worse. So it might be just a combination of aging and something physiological which isn't medically 'wrong' but is a little design quirk which causes it.

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Actually, every 5-6 hours seems normal to me for a senior. It could be a medical issue or just aging. I doubt that she prefers to pee inside. Personally, I don't ask my seniors to wait more than 6 hours. They just have less control as they age. Train her to go on a pee pad, it willl be less mess.

 

oh, that's what I was wondering, since she has no other symptoms. My other girl didn't have issues, but she was a lot different in many ways.

 

I respectfully disagree.

 

We've had a lot of dogs in my family and none of them, as long as they were healthy, had issues with urinating as they got older. Given everything you said about her always being iffy on housebreaking, having had access to a dog door which she no longer has, living with another dog who is not reliably housebroken--this sounds more behavioral to me--but if she were mine I'd go with a course of antibiotics anyway and see if that helps. If she does have a UTI, she might not have any of the symptoms you mentioned. It could also be a number of other health issues which might come on at her age--but age in and of itself is not an reason. It's just coincidental that as dogs age, they start to have things wrong with them.


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I've been told that when Brandi gets older, this is likely to become an issue. This is because an ultrasound done to see if she had bladder stones (she didn't) revealed that her bladder neck is further into her pelvis than is 'normal'. All this means is that she just doesn't have the room in the tank for as much as other dogs and so might have problems holding it for as long. This has been the case so far, and as she gets older I'm expecting that it might be worse. So it might be just a combination of aging and something physiological which isn't medically 'wrong' but is a little design quirk which causes it.

 

huh, that's interesting, I've always joked that she has a small bladder, she's never been good at holding it. Design quirk :lol

 

Actually, every 5-6 hours seems normal to me for a senior. It could be a medical issue or just aging. I doubt that she prefers to pee inside. Personally, I don't ask my seniors to wait more than 6 hours. They just have less control as they age. Train her to go on a pee pad, it willl be less mess.

 

oh, that's what I was wondering, since she has no other symptoms. My other girl didn't have issues, but she was a lot different in many ways.

 

I respectfully disagree.

 

We've had a lot of dogs in my family and none of them, as long as they were healthy, had issues with urinating as they got older. Given everything you said about her always being iffy on housebreaking, having had access to a dog door which she no longer has, living with another dog who is not reliably housebroken--this sounds more behavioral to me--but if she were mine I'd go with a course of antibiotics anyway and see if that helps. If she does have a UTI, she might not have any of the symptoms you mentioned. It could also be a number of other health issues which might come on at her age--but age in and of itself is not an reason. It's just coincidental that as dogs age, they start to have things wrong with them.

 

The only reason I suspect medical over behavioral is this morning, she couldn't wait a few minutes to go outside, and we ALWAYS go outside first thing in the morning. It's not like I was at work and she didn't think I was going to come back. I'm beginning to think she just can't hold it, for whatever reason. She is, at least, hitting the potty pads more reliably now, I can live with that. I'm going to get her tested, just to be on the safe side.

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Shannon, mom to Shae, Jesse James and Linus the Chinese Cresteds,and bridge angels Sydney Sue and Stewart.

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9-1/2 isn't really very old. I'd get her in for that urinalysis and bloodwork. You often can't tell whether they have a UTI by their behavior.

 

:nod I had no idea my boy, Cruz, had a UTI and had renal disease until his appetite started decreasing. I would definitely rule out UTI and kidney issues to be on the safe side.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, the test results are back; the urinalysis shows no sign of infection, but her calcium level is low, and there was protein in the urine. The specific gravity was slightly lower than normal. Everything else was pretty greyhound-typical. Her creatinine and BUN are greyhound normal and normal, and no elevated WBC. So, the vet advised to do a follow up test in a month to see if it changes in either direction. She said it could be the very early stages of kidney disease, or possibly something with the spleen, but that was less likely. The good news is that if it is kidney disease, this is so early on (creatinine and BUN don't normally show elevated values until the disease has progressed and the kidneys are more significantly damaged) that catching it is a total fluke. So, I guess I'll buy more potty pads and look into herbal bladder and kidney support supplements. I'll take this over osteo any day.

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Shannon, mom to Shae, Jesse James and Linus the Chinese Cresteds,and bridge angels Sydney Sue and Stewart.

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