Question about night urination
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Question about night urination
Submitted by summer on April 20, 2010 - 11:27pmI need suggestions about our sweet 8 year old Spanky. We adopted him in July. In the last couple of months he has started having to urinate more often. If he goes out for the last time at 10:30pm, he still barks to get up and pee at around 3:00am. His previous owner said he was able to last all night. Is a 5 hour limit typical for senior bulldogs?
I have wondered if I have caused this problem. Since he first came to us, I have always given him a treat and a "good boy" for pottying outside. In his prior home he had a fenced yard. With us, he has a leash. I have wondered if he started going more often to get the treat and now the behavior has shortened his ability to wait. Does that make any sense?
I do know that he has an enlarged prostate. We had him neutered in July at the recommendation of 3 different vets. They were hoping that the prostate would shrink after the surgery. His previous owner had never had him neutered because he thought he might want to mate him. That never happened. What did happen was that Spanky developed a very large prostate.
He has never peed in the house. He has pooped in the house a few times when I was not paying close enough attention to him.
I am so confused about his more frequent urination and am unsure if this is medical or behavior.
Thanks for any advice! He's a sweetheart and a real cutie. I posted his photo on the general board.
your welcome..will be waiting...........
to hear the outcome with the vet.
once that is out of the way, then you can concentrate on the behaviour issues is need be..
I am one to check the medical side first..
all the way along I thought Gus had a behavioural issues with no listening and he is deaf.. so I learned to check the medical side first alawys.
Thanks
You said the exact same thing my husband said about aging males and frequency of urination.
Actually, Spanky does not get a treat or petting when we get up in the middle of the night. He only gets that kind of pampering when he pottys at a more appropriate time.
I will talk with our vet about this. Thanks so much!
Thank you
Thanks for the great link. We will ask the vet about this.
Well...judging by human behavior
(and hubby) I would suggest that an enlarged prostate can indeed cause more frequient urination, especially if he pees smaller amounts of urine but more often...it seems to affect the ability to fully empty the bladder?!
There are medications that can perhaps help him to hold his urine longer, but that may be counter-productive to prostate health, so consultation with your vet needed here.
I doubt if the treat alone would cause him to awaken during the night to go out, especially since its cold and dark and not the most ideal conditions to seek out. You can, of course, discontinue the nighttime treats and only give praise if you think this is a major factor. I know with pups, when they need to go out during the night, I would give short minimal praise and then but them back to bed quickly so they didn't get too overstimulated to sleep.
HERE is a great link......on senior dogs
this is on changes in the senior dog..
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2085&aid=616
really goood one..
it says in the article if a house trained dog is now needing to go out they need to been seen by the vet to be tested.
I would do that..for sure if it was my dog..
but that is just my opinion
the article is well worth the read as well.