Bladder Infection or just MAD???

[Dolly's Mom]

Miss Maddie has been having more and more accidents in the house of late. At first I thought she was just mad at me cuz I now have a job where I don't see them in the middle of the day....had a temp job for about 3 weeks where I could walk home to see them. Now I'm not so sure. She peed 4 times just tonight. Not full blown lakes but little spots. I decided to call the vet tonight around 10:00 when she made a puddle on her blankie. We were JUST at the vet about 2 weeks ago when she got her okay to fly with me to Washington. That trip is next week. Does anyone have any words of wisdom before her appt on Saturday? I'm getting kind of worried. At the first appt, had the vet also look at her back right foot she'd been licking alot. I THOUGHT I felt a little bump like a sliver. Vet said she had torn her pad a tiny bit and gave her antibiotics. She's done with those, but still at her foot and I still think I feel something there and it's tender. I'll keep ya'll posted as to what the doc sez. Thanks for listening. I still can't get on very often due to new job and no puter.

Thanks
Sandi http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/confused.gif

[Mickamack]

Mickey went through a period where he was unexplanedly peeing all over the house. At about 1.5 years, we had him fixed, and it seemed like right after that he started peeing. I knew that he could control his bladder, it just seemed like he didn't want to.

I too went to the vet to rule out an infection. Mick was fine, but the vet thought that it was more psychological. He said that some dogs are more "sensitive" and certain things really upset them, and it can manifest itself in them starting to pee in the house, an obviously wrong and rebelious behavior. My vet wanted to give Mickey some "happy pills" to help his mood for a few weeks, but I didn't want to give them to Mickey. We just gave Mickey some extra special attention for a few weeks, and he went back to his normal potty-trained self. For him, it was a phase.

I'm glad you're going to the vet to rule out any infection, and to check out that pad, but it could possibly be that she IS upset that you have changed a routine that she really liked and was used to.

Please keep us updated.
Karen

[Mark]

Hi Sandi,

Duck Butter is very sensitive about changes and will poop in the house for brief periods when there's been a change in routine. I don't think it's as much that they like their routines as it is that it is "their routine". With a little extra attention she accepts the change and is back to her old housebroken self. Nothing bothers Masse or Top Spin so we have not experienced that behavior with them.

I remember when we got Duck Butter her first collar and put it on her . . . she absolutely did not move for an hour. She just stood there, ears back & down, head down and giving us the L@@K. Talk about sensitive! http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/rolleyes.gif

Anyway, I agree with Karen . . . best to check for a health problem, but it is likely it's a sensitivity issue.

Let us know shat your Vet says and the progress.

Mark

[Penny's Aunt]

Is Dolly squatting when she produces these little puddles, or is she doing something else (maybe even sleeping) when it happens? Or are you not seeing her do them? Is there any visible blood in it? (Clean up with a white tissue or paper towel)

My first GUESS would be a bladder infection or stones. A urine sample will help with the first. Blood (visible or not) could be either. Stone are usually small & only visible in an x-ray.

My second GUESS could be a hormone problem. This happens in spayed females, but often appears to the owners as poor bladder control, because they don't usually know they're doing it. I don't think they usually squat with this problem. Usually fixable with occasional injections, I think.

Some dogs seem to be punishing their owners for something when they pee in the house, but dogs can often backslide on their housebreaking for lots of reasons. Try giving her a small treat & lots of praise when you TAKE HER out to pee. The combination of food & attention may help considerably if it is this kind of problem.

Also, if she feels she isn't getting enough attention with your new schedule, be sure you don't respond in any way to these new puddles. If she is doing it for attention, & doesn't get any, she should stop. To a dog, bad attention (yelling, swatting) is better than no attention at all.

[Dolly's Mom]

Hi all!

Well, it's official. I have a rebel on my hands who gets her long snoot tweeked out of joint whenever HER world is changed or adjusted. Urine analysis came back clear. WHEW! She is sporting a nifty pink bandage on her foot so that the tear on her pad can heal. Tomorrow when I go to work, I'll have to put the lampshade thing on her and babygate the stairs as she would love to chew her new fashion to pieces. Been putting some hot sauce on it while I'm here and bitter apple. Don't want to take any chances while we're at work though. Also she is on a new round of antibiotics. Hopefully this will get her all better. After all, we are due to take off for our Doxie gettogether in Washington on Thursday. They did give me my health cert, so she is ready to go! She will fly in cabin under my seat in her brand new sherpa bag. She LOVES being in it too which is a BIG PLUS! Thanks for all your get well wishes!

Sandi

[WOTANSMUTTI]

Shame for shame on Miz Maddie!

The lampshade should chill her royal highness out.Poor baby! All dogs HATE the lampshade...http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/eek.gif

[Wienergal]

Sandi, so glad the girl got a clean bill of health! So sorry about the lampshade; it's a true humiliation... At least it will be followed by vacation! http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/biggrin.gif

This whole thread seems to prove that nobody really understands dogs and their elimination habits. Not long ago, I read a book about dog behavior (can't remember which one...sorry!), and the author said that dogs ABSOLUTELY do NOT "use" accidents in the home as a way of punishing their owners; she said that the concepts of punishment and revenge don't exist in the dog brain. And then there are vets who say exactly the opposite. And there are all those stories of jealous dogs peeing in their owners' beds, or dogs left home alone lifting their legs on the furniture as soon as the owner gets home and staring right at the owner as they do so.... Who knows???

Here in the land of climate extremes, Farfel does something very weird. At the seasonal changes every year--when the hot, hot weather ends in the fall and when the cold, cold weather ends in the spring--he has a day or two, never more than that, when he has little peeing accidents in the house. No one has ever been able to figure out why this happens, but it's as sure a thing as the first robin or the first red leaf. http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/disgust.gif

[Dolly's Mom]

That one EXPERT doesn't know my Maddie! That little pipsqueek was PERFECT today while we were at work even WITH the lampshade on. http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/angel.gif HOWEVER...as soon as we got home and were her captive audience, she did a grand performance on the rug! http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/devil.gif Attention getter? Naaaah! Spoiled? Are you kidding? Jealous? My sweet little angel? YOU BET on ALL COUNTS! BUT.....we love her to pieces anyway.

Sandi
PS....Definition of EXPERT: EX is a "has been" and a SPURT is a drip under pressure. http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/lol.gif

[Mickamack]

The Intimidator here Maddie...

I just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. The hoomans you live with had the NERVE to change a routine you liked??? http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/disgust.gif They should know better than that! Don't they realize that they exist solely to tend to your needs and happiness?!

As a fellow agent for the DWD, I want to applaud your efforts to keep your hoomans in line!! Can't let them think that THEY are in control. Can't let them think they've got us figured out. Keep 'em guessing has always been my motto.

Oh, sorry about the lampshade...that rots! My cousin Oscar had to have one of those on his head. Even though I know he needed it for his own good, I still laughed at him...he just looked funny. I hope I don't ever need one of those. I hope you're feeling better soon!

Mickey

[WOTANSMUTTI]

Diva had to wear a lampshade when she had tubes in her flank from the Porcupine rolling incident. She would walk into a wall and stay there. It was sad but funny, I didn't laugh out loud b/c she was humiliated enough!

I believe dogs have emotional lives complicated enough to include simple revenge. Attention of any kind is better than none...http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/bad-boy.gif

[Penny's Aunt]

Is anyone here old enough to remember flocked wallpaper?

Visualize a house with flocked wallpaper... add a dog with a plastic Elizabethan collar who is VERY unhappy with it, & keeps trying to scrape it off...