[Karen J]

I think maybe this belongs in this forum sorry hope I didn’t breach protocol:
first diagnosed by another vet…precursor to crystals, not infections or stones. Fine but that changed. She started have more and more accidents in house.

I researched here in particular but over time it didn’t appear to be enough. Took her to new vet with all info, they didn’t twist my arm to do another urinalysis, I believe more in depth necessary, open to keeping her on d-Monasse, and Vit C not a bad idea to add glucosamin, they gave her an antibiotic. I let them do an X-ray, they didn’t insist, they offered choices, I’ve been through a really sick dog being mis-diagnosed so I pulled out the Credit. $300 now rather than $3000 later – hope I did right.

She was starting have more frequent accidents in the house.

Radiology to rule out stones 1 view, Urinalysis, Cysto, Culture Urine MIC, Clavamox 62.5mg, Medical Waste Free, waived office visit = not cheap. Too much?
She’s on Wellness grain free and Canidae grain free wet food, very little grain free kibble, filtered water and grain free treats.

I’m not not flush with money but would like to prevent problems before they become big. Last vet didn’t seem thorough.

[Akari_32]

Is she asking to go out, or does she just go with out asking? As how old is she? I have a 14 year old Dachshund that has dementia, and she will pee and poop in the house if I’m not careful to watch for excessive pacing, and take her out every couple hours. When reprimanded, most of the time she shows no sign of knowing what she’s done is wrong. All her urinalysis and exams came back great (for her, anyways, as far the exams goes. Her previous owner was not the greatest, and she is more fragile than she should be at this age, IMO). If she’s older, congnitive dysfunction may be something to consider, if urinary and bladder health are in order.

[Karen J]

Thanks for your response, she’s young a year in fact – I’m more worried about infection.

She has a doggie door.

She has to take her antibiotics with food (no grain food) and in the morning she doesn’t always want to eat.

So she is making me nuts. I have to go out town and the dog sitter will have to deal with it so it makes me worried.

I’m waiting for additional tests from a new vet. A number of people on this forum said get a new vet.

[Akari_32]

Just throwing out a non-medical related idea, some dogs “forget” potty training, be it they just don’t care, they are testing their limits, or, like all training goes, they have a slight relaps. Took us a long time to get moms Jack Russell mix fully potty trained. He’s about 2 1/2 now, and hasn’t pottied in the house for several months now. Did great around the 6-12 month range, with the very occasional accident if left too long with out going out, but then the following several months were terrible. All because he just didn’t care. He’d take the punishment, no skin off his back, and do it all over again the next day. Some dogs are just stubourn like that.

While waiting for results, make sure you reinforce potty training and make sure she gets out more often. Hopefully it’s something as simple as reminding her what the rules are. Let us know how the results come back!

[InkedMarie]

Doggie doors are hard when it comes to potty training. I’d treat her like a puppy, go out on leash only.

[theBCnut]

Do you ever crate her? Does she go in a crate? Maybe she has too much freedom in your house. Dogs don’t think the way we do. If they don’t particularly want to go outside and they have plenty of space to get away from their potty spot inside, then that’s fine with them.

Also, are you using an enzyme cleaner to clean up potty spots? If she can smell that this is a spot she has used before then she will use it again.

Finally, how old was she when she was spayed? Could this be a spay incontinence issue?

[Karen J]

Yeah, I use enzymes, she never goes in the same place but I do use enzymes. She was spayed at 4 months I believe, she had the stitches when I got her from the rescue. The vet is looking into incontinence. It’s not often but it seemed like the new diet, no grain etc was doing the trick but now not always. I have house guests and it’s been pretty stressful. When I work I’m gone for too long to crate her and I close an number of doors in the house so she doesn’t have free run.

She doesn’t appear to have the struvite crystals or an infection but waiting for the other test to come back. She always used the doggie door until this started a few months ago. Her PH level is lower than the doctor likes, so I’m trying things like adding low sodium chicken broth to one of her filtered waters to see if she will be better hydrated.

Thanks for your input.

[Karen J]

In reference to leash only, thanks for your input but with my schedule and my neighborhood that’s impossible. I take her out often and she goes to daycare on my longest days. When she was originally potty trained the doggie door was closed for awhile. She was doing so good -the trainer I hired to help me said it might be medical. We’ll see.

[Dog_Obsessed]

The trainer is smart to say it might be medical-and you are smart to get her checked out. I have seen many people just assume a medical problem is behavioral without checking it out first. If she gets a clean bill of health, start potty training all over again as much as your schedule will allow. Take her out often (which you are already doing) and reward her with praise or treats whenever she goes outside. Never punish her if she goes inside. If you catch her in the act (generally if she looks like she is about to go), then try to re-direct her to go outside but if it is after the fact then just clean it up. Good luck!

[DogFoodie]

My Cavalier was eight months old when I got her from the rescue. She was the director’s dog. Mom and dad and all of the puppies were adopted and the owner kept her as her own pet. She was the only little dog in a house full of big dogs. They realized she needed more attention and very reluctantly, let her go. Having said all that, I might as well add that I found her on Petfinder very late one night (early one morning actually) and found out early that afternoon that we had been chosen to be her family. I also found out that the Petfinder listing had just been put up and we were one of many applications. That same night after church we set out on our 375 mile journey to bring Arabella home.

When Bella came home, I would crate her when we were out, but otherwise assumed she was house broken. At the rescue, she had a doggie door, but when she got to my house, she started having occasional accidents. Sometimes, she would go out and then come right back in and go on the living room rug. I don’t know if she had accidents at her former home, but I’ve always thought that the doggie door evidently didn’t jive with potty training. I’ve also always understood that potty training small breed dogs takes longer. My Golden Retriever had potty training squared away in 10 days. I used Nature’s Miracle, which I think is great, but that didn’t stop the accidents. I started working on potty training again, which eventually (it took some time), seemed to resolve the problem.

If she’s been given a clean bill of health after you get all of her test results, I betcha it’s a potty training issue. I’d start working on potty training again utilizing a crate when you’re not home. In the event there is an incontinence issue, you might try a bladder support product, Mercola makes one, but the only lot that they have and are currently shipping out expires in February. I was ticked when I ordered some that I just received only to find out that it was already almost two years old and set to expire in two months. The Honest Kitchen and Wysong also make quality bladder support products.

[Karen J]

Well dog obsessed I believe we’re on the same page. All of a sudden she didn’t want to go out in the infrequent rain we get so we went for our walk together in the rain. She did great. The accidents don’t happen very often.

The reason I wonder about the physical is she is not going in the same place, ever. When I was potty training her she did.

If I know I’m going to be gone all day she goes to daycare.

I’ll work it out – see what the next test says.

[InkedMarie]

Karen,
When potty training any dog, no matter the age, leash training is the way to go. I learned the hard way with this. A past dog followed the other two out the dog door we had in that house. I realized after he had struvite crystals & I started watching him that he wasn’t urinating when I assumed he was. The dog door got replaced with a regular door we could walk out. I now have a kennel inside a fenced in yard; dogs who aren’t housebroken or need a refresher course go in the kennel on leash. Schedule has nothing to do with it nor does neighborhood; just hook the leash to her and have her potty wherever she normally goes. You mentioned medical: I thought your vet already ruled out medical outside of the precursor to crystals?

[Author]

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