Urinating In House-Medical Issue Becomes Habit

[4My2Greys]

I'm hoping some of you can help with a solution to my problem. As many of you know Nadir has had issues with inappropriate urination for years now. During the first 3-4 years I've been able to link the cause to a food he is eating and once I remove that food from his diet all is well again. This last bout of urinating started over a year ago and this time even the vets at Auburn have thrown up their arms in defeat in finding the cause for it. The best way to describe his problem would be to call it overactive bladder. My problem is that what is a medical issue has also morphed into a habit because it has gone on too long. Because I know that he can no longer hold it until I get home from work I leave pads for him to urinate on. The problem that I'm having is that he is starting to get in the habit of going on his pad in the middle of the night instead of waking me up to take him outside. I don't want to scold him even when I catch him in the act because I know in part it is not his fault and I don't want to confuse him about using his pad. I do make sure to praise him profusely every time he goes outside. I guess what I need are both ideas on what I could put on his collar that would make enough noise to get me up if he starts moving around at night and other suggestions to encourage him to let me know he has to go out.

Edited February 19, 2014 by 4My2Greys

[Brandiandwe]

Does he pee in your bedroom? (Does he sleep in your bedroom?) We block our dogs in with us to avoid this problem so I hear them if they start moving around. Is that a possibility for you?

[mom2four]

We have had this type of problem with our Ambi too. A food change has helped a lot but not totally solved the problem. He will drink a lot at once and we know he will need to go out an hour later. What we have done in the evenings is let him out on a regular schedule.

 

4:30 PM- supper and outside

6-6:30 he will ask to go out.

8- we make him go out

10 we make him go out- withhold large amounts of water, he gets a little bit. He tends to drink a lot at this time.

midnight- hubby takes him out.

 

he will call me around 5 AM to go out, I get up at this time anyway so no big deal.

 

It is frustrating, I know. Good luck with Nadir

[Wonder]

How old is he?

 

 

Lucky has been marking in the house for about 2 hours. I think it's anxiety and I know some of his triggers. I started him on trazodone 2 weeks ago. He's only marked twice since there so it's better.

[Batmom]

How long is he left alone?

 

And, how long is "overnight" in your household?

 

How old?

What tests have been done and how long ago?

What food is he eating now?

How much does he drink, and when during the day?

Is he taking any medication? What about supplements?

Edited February 19, 2014 by Batmom

[Sambuca]

I attach 2 leashes together. One end goes on the dog, the other around my ankle. It's worked so far when needed.

[GeorgeofNE]

Honestly, knowing what you've go through, I think I'd just be grateful he uses the pad. At this point, I wish George would do that instead of waking me up at 3 AM. I have to get dressed, go outside into the dark/rain/snow/ice. I would much rather swap out the pad in the AM!!

 

Perhaps just pick up the pad when you don't want him to use it?

[4My2Greys]

While I've got a moment I'll respond to the suggestions as I got them.

First I thought I would share with you our routine. When I get home from work I immediately take him out with Chase. I leash walk him until he has pooped and usually urinated twice. We then come back inside and he gets his evening medications. An hour and a half later they are fed. I take them out about 30 minutes after eating and right before bed, which is usually between 9:00 and 10:00. I get up at 3:00 and several times now I have found that he has already gone. I just wish he would let me know he needs to go out.

I may try locking him in the bedroom and see how that goes. My reservations to that though is that when he does pee it is a LOT and if he decides to go he'll go right in front of the bedroom door, which means that not only will I end up stepping in it to get out of my bedroom, but so will Chase and then I'll have it tracked all over the house.

I don't want to withhold any water as I suspect although nothing has shown on any tests so far, but with his increased drinking and urinating I believe he is in the beginning stage of kidney failure. I've got to get a current urinalysis done on him. My biggest problem is at 3:00 in the morning I'm in such a rush to get him outside I tend to forget to grab a container to catch his 1st urine.

This is definitely not an anxiety or marking issue.

As far as how long he is left during the day suffice it to say it is more than 8 hours because that is how much time I have to put in and doesn't count the time I have to take for lunch and commute time to and from work. I don't expect him to be able to hold it any more when I go to work, in fact during the day I have found 3 hours is usually his limit he can hold it now. Overnight is 5-6 hours. I know this is longer than the 3 I just mentioned, but usually the need to urinate lessen at night. He is eating Canine Caviar Chicken and Pearl Millet, it was the only food that he will consistently eat that doesn't bother his digestive tract. I have tried both the Science Diet Veterinary ZD and I believe the Purina HA hypoallergenic diets. After eating one meal of each of these he refused to eat any more, which was then followed by bloody diarrhea that lasted several days. I'm not sure how much he drinks by himself because there is Chase here too, but I will say that I use the same bowl that I was using when I also had Bruiser and Beanie and it is nearly empty every morning when I get up.

It has been several months since his last urinalysis, prior to that he was seen at Auburn and also had an ultrasound done.

The medications he is on are

300mg gabapentin 2X

75mg tramadol 2X

120mg amantadine morning

75mg clopidogrel evening

2.5mg amlodopine evening

10mg amytriptyline evenings.

The only supplements he gets is

50mg Ubiqinol CoQ10 for his heart and

200mg Vitamin E to support renal health.

 

Have to stop for now. I will continue more later if I haven't already put you all to sleep.

[Batmom]

Not asleep at all. Gosh, you guys have been through a lot.

[Brandiandwe]

I really feel for you! Maybe a dog toilet? Expensive as an initial investment but cheaper in the long run? For the urinanalysis, do you really need the one at 3am? Wouldn't a firstthinginthemorning one be OK?

 

And I also admire what you're doing here. So often people seem to give up on their dogs, but this community is great because we do hear these inspirational stories of people who stick with their hounds no matter what.

[4My2Greys]

Continuing on.

Nadir will by 13 this July so I know that his need to go will not subside. While I have no problem with him using the pads while I am away I just wish he would let me know if he needs to go out while I am at home.

Frankly I'm too nervous to tether him to me with a leash. My bed has a high footboard and he moves from sleeping on a bed at the end of my footboard to jumping up on the bed with me. I'm afraid he'd get his legs tangled in the leash.

If I don't have a pad down he will go on the floor and when I say go its open up the floodgates go. I have the advantage in that I have a yard and although he must be leash walked I don't have to get dressed as if I had to walk down the street. Add to that we don't have to deal with snow. So I would prefer a traipse around the yard half asleep vs. having to clean up a huge puddle because he missed the pad.

[Sambuca]

What about putting a bear bell on him so you hear when he moves? Or putting something noisy in the doorway so you know when he's going to sneak a pee.

[4My2Greys]

What about putting a bear bell on him so you hear when he moves? Or putting something noisy in the doorway so you know when he's going to sneak a pee.

That was something along the line of what I was thinking. I just happened to wake up a just a little bit ago as he was about to sneak a pee and managed to get him out before he did. I hadn't heard of a bear bell, I'll have to google that. Thanks for the suggestion.

[inugrey]

It seems you and I are going through similar situations with our aging hounds.

 

For the question of noise, would you think about letting his tags hang loose so you hear him every time he gets up? To be honest I seem to have lost my ability to sleep deep and I think I wake up every time she shakes herself off. So I wonder if jingling tags would be enough to alert you to his movements?

 

We have actually come to designate an area that we are okay with being a pee spot in the evenings. We use washable bed pads from human supply stores (Amaazing). That said, if we get up and see her in any act of peeing on the pad we will stop her and walk her outside.

[4My2Greys]

We have actually come to designate an area that we are okay with being a pee spot in the evenings. We use washable bed pads from human supply stores (Amaazing). That said, if we get up and see her in any act of peeing on the pad we will stop her and walk her outside.

I also use washable bed pads in a designated area for him to use while I am away at work. I just wish he would let me know he needs to go out overnight. Last night I stayed up to wash and dry his pads so that I could make sure I had one to put down before I went to bed. I set my alarm for 2:30 so I could get him outside before he woke up and needed to go and was woken by the sound of something splattering. He had gotten up 20 minutes before my alarm went off and peed not on the pad, but right beside it. I don't think tags alone would wake me. I'm hoping Gander Mountain here in Dothan carries the bear bells, otherwise I'll order them from Amazon.