My dog was potty trained, but now started having accidents — right in front of us. What’s happening?
First question: does your dog do it in her sleep or is it normal squat and pee? If it’s in her sleep, it’s associated with female dogs being spayed – these dogs can be helped with weight control, exercise and chiropractic. For some dogs/owners, medication is also an option. For these dogs, the nerves to the bladder aren’t receiving full information that says “hold the pee!” If it’s a dog squatting right in front of your face, you are getting a message loud and clear that there is a problem – suspect a bladder infection. Grab a urine sample from the pee maker and bring it with your pet to your vet. Commonly, a simple round of antibiotics will fix this problem. If the infection comes back, it’s time to find out if your pooch has bladder stones – these cause terrible irritation and almost always need surgical removal. There are alternative medicine treatments for bladder infections as well: herbs and/or homeopathy can help.
Next question: why did this happen? Why would your beloved four-legged friend have a bladder infection all of a sudden? Or, how can we keep this from happening again? Acid urine makes it really hard for bacteria to grow – acid urine comes from eating meat-based food – protein makes acid. Corn-based foods do not give an acid urine. Prescription diets add urine acidifiers to the food to reduce the risk of bladder problems – why not feed meat to our carnivorous canine friends?
One more thought: tight sphincters will keep the bacteria from crawling up our doggies’ urethra and into the bladder. How do we keep a tight sphincter muscle? Veterinary Spinal Manipluation Therapy (Animal Chiropractic) ensures the muscles in the body operate optimally by keeping the body moving.
Dr. Cathy Alinovi DVM
As a practicing veterinarian, Dr. Cathy treated 80% of what walked in the door — not with expensive prescriptions — but with adequate nutrition. Now retired from private practice, her commitment to pets hasn’t waned and she looks forward to impacting many more pet parents through her books, research, speaking and consulting work. Learn more at drcathyvet.com
