[lmsherm]

I have had my puppy for almost a week now and have had at least one instance of her peeing in her crate each day.

It happens at night about an hour after I take her out for her last potty. I don't give her food or water at least 3 hours before bedtime. I have an alarm set to take her out every three hours during the night because she does not cry when she needs to go out.

I had her in her permanent crate with the divider but the depth still gave her enough room to pee. Now I have her in my cat's carrier which is significantly smaller but enough room for her to turn around. BUT SHE STILL PEES IN IT. I don't know how there is anything left for her to eliminate because she goes out at least 3 times between her last sip of water and her last potty outing before bed. Then sure enough three hours later I open the crate and she is wet!

Am I doing something wrong? I don't want to take her out every hour while I'm sleeping because I don't want to set myself up for that expectation.

Any advice would be so appreciated!

 

[Florabora22]

I would probably just try getting up every 2 hours to let her out. At 9 weeks (assuming you got her at 8 weeks) her bladder is still very very small. I know I was getting up frequently to let Flora out.

There is a chance she may have a UTI - if she seems to be squatting an inordinate amount of times in one outing, or urinating blood, I would have her seen immediately.

 

[Rainheart]

I would just check a urine sample to be safe.

 

[Megora]

I have never used a crate for potty training (didn't see the point), but the three hour alarm clock worked just fine with zero accidents overnight. And that was even with our Danny who was 6 weeks old when he came home.

I would talk to your vet. The only other thing I can think of is if she is very stressed when put in the crate. Stress and excitement have the same effect with pups...

 

[HiTideGoldens]

I third the guess of UTI. We had that problem with Chloe as a puppy, I thought we had just totally forgotten how to potty train. Turns out she had a really bad UTI. It took 2 rounds of antibiotics before it was gone.

 

[lmsherm]

That's what I was afraid of. I didn't want to jump to the conclusion though because I am a first time puppy potty trainer. But this just doesn't seem normal and for the amount of water she is drinking she is urinating far too much.

I am going to bring her in to the vet's office this afternoon.

 

[Rainheart]

Let us know how the vet visit goes! Hopefully you can get this cleared up soon.

 

[lmsherm]

Just got back from the vet. Sure enough--UTI. The doctor was surprised about how infected she was. The only culprit we can pinpoint is it came from fecal matter. 10 days on antibiotics should clear it up. I truly hope it doesn't take 10 days to work. And I hope she is learning some correct potty behavior in the meantime

 

[lmsherm]

Now my next question...

The breeder sent her home with a small bag of Taste of the Wild. I could not find this at either PetSmart or Petco. So I bought and have slowly been adding in Wellness Core, another grain-free food. The vet said this may be too rich for a puppy and that I should switch to a large breed puppy food. She said that this food might have caused diarrhea which got into her vulva. Therefore she recommended a "less rich" food.

Does anyone have any advice? If I can't find Taste of the Wild is there another brand that is more similar to it than Wellness?

 

[HiTideGoldens]

UTIs are really common in girl puppies. Wait, did she actually have diarrhea?

 

[LovingBella]

My girl Abby had UTIs as a little puppy. I gave her cranberry capsules along with the antibiotics to help with the pain and cramping until the antibiotics had time to clear up the infection. I'm so glad you caught this quickly for your little one!

 

[lmsherm]

UTIs are really common in girl puppies. Wait, did she actually have diarrhea?

She had loose stool a couple of days after I added a little bit of the Wellness. I have not added very much at all. Her stool has firmed up so she is definitely getting used to it.

 

[Rainheart]

Hopefully the antibiotics solve the problem quickly! I would stick to feeding whatever works for her. Is she having diarrhea issues on the Wellness food? If not, then I would stick with that.

Taste of the Wild can only usually be found at pet food specialty stores (most are locally owned by what I have found).