Can I pick your brain on urine issues?

[Southpaw]

My friend has a 7 y/o neutered cocker spaniel. Within the past couple months he has gotten really bad about having accidents in the house. It seems like he pees in her house at least once a day. I was at her house a couple days ago - when I got there, she let him outside and he peed. I was at her house for like 2 hours, and in that timeframe he squatted right in the middle of the room and peed a hefty amount, like he hadn't been outside all day.

He had a urinalysis. It looked fine. It was sent out for a culture. Looked fine. He had bloodwork done. Looks fine. Medically they aren't seeing anything wrong to cause this. He had started seeing a holistic vet a couple months before this started, and he's been put on like a million supplements and herbs and started on a homecooked diet. She feels like maybe the herbs and stuff are responsible but I just can't see why they would have that effect.

His urine was also super concentrated when it was tested, which is kind of not what you'd expect from a dog that is peeing constantly.

They were kind of addressing the behavior aspect too. Started retraining him a bit, teaching him to ring bells and rewarding him for going outside. I guess it would kind of work and he would sometimes ring the bells but then he'd still keep peeing in the house too. And I also find it crazy that after 7 years, he would all of a sudden have a total regression and be like... not house broken at all.

She's kind of clueless about what to do and I didn't really have any new suggestions for her either. Is there an explanation for it? Something medical being missed? Does he really just need to be treated like an 8 week old puppy?

[PWCorgi]

Does he hold it all night?

[Southpaw]

Yep, she says night time is not an issue.

[Saeleofu]

If he's fine overnight, I would think more behavioral than medical. I would go back to potty training from step on, and yes, pretend he's a puppy and start all over, with no shortcuts. Make sure any old urine spots are cleaned THOROUGHLY with an enzymatic cleanser.

He had a urinalysis. It looked fine. It was sent out for a culture. Looked fine. He had bloodwork done. Looks fine

This happened with Gavroche SOOOO MANY TIMES over the last 10 months. He's leak overnight, I;d take him in, and everything was fine except for a decreased specific gravity. FINALLY once we did a UA and found bacteria, and from there every time we put him on antibiotics he'd get better, and then worse when we stopped. We couldn't culture anything even when we did see bacteria on the UA. This past time he actually had bloody urine and when we cultured it we found some nasty organisms (I'd have to look to see exactly what it was). He's been on Baytril for nearly a month now and it's making a huge difference not just in urinary issues, but overall behavior-wise. We also did a brief ultrasound and found a tiny cyst in his prostate, which is why we chose Baytril - it penetrates into the prostrate and if that cysts is where he's harboring this bacteria, it ought to be taken care of.

Gavroche is 5 years old and neutered, he was neutered around a year of age. But like I said, his first issues were leaking at night. He didn't ever have daytime accidents unless his infection got pretty bad and he'd have to go all the time and couldn't physically hold it. He's stand at the door as he was leaking, though.

[crazedACD]

Do you know what the specific gravity of the urine was? It does sound odd.

Romeo has magical self-repairing kidneys, but he was diagnosed with chronic renal failure many moons ago (and is now undiagnosed, heh). He was having major accidents here and there (but had super dilute urine), but normally could hold it overnight. I wouldn't say holding it overnight is really conducive of there not being a problem. I'm not sure if kidney problems would be accurate either though, usually by the time the urine is super concentrated, bloodwork will show reduced kidney values? The concentration CAN fluxuate through the day though.

[Southpaw]

I know she said the specific gravity was "off the charts" so I am guessing that means it was >1.050. But I don't know what time of day she got that urine sample at, she seems really surprised at how concentrated it was but she SHOULD know that a first morning sample IS going to be more concentrated... so I don't know, I'll have to ask her that

Maybe she should just put a belly band on him

[crazedACD]

I liiiike..this link:
http://www.iris-kidney.com/education...cation05.shtml

I'm not a vet but probably the next step I would look at (if she is still interested in a possible medical cause) is to test the urine concentration in regards to water deprivation. I have a hard time believing if he is still peeing normally outside (and this is a sudden issue after 7 years!), that this isn't a medical issue.

[elegy]

Did they check his prostate?

[Southpaw]

Originally Posted by elegy

Did they check his prostate?

No... I'll hae to run that past her....

[GlassOnion]

What's the water intake like?

He had a urinalysis. It looked fine. It was sent out for a culture. Looked fine. He had bloodwork done. Looks fine. Medically they aren't seeing anything wrong to cause this. He had started seeing a holistic vet a couple months before this started, and he's been put on like a million supplements and herbs and started on a homecooked diet. She feels like maybe the herbs and stuff are responsible but I just can't see why they would have that effect.

Have they tried taking him off the herbs for a while for them to clear and see if it helps?