Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with peeing

Potty training adult dog? Why that carpet?

bananafish — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:47:44 -0800

Potty training an Adult Dog. We got our 2-year-old Poodle 6 months ago. She's pretty timid and nervous. We don't know anything about her background other than that she was raised with 9 other dogs. When we first got her, she was pooping and peeing in the house. We hired a trainer and followed his suggestions and now she no longer poops in the house. But she continues to pee on one particular carpet... Here's the routine I've tried to establish with her:

(a) She sleeps in a crate and I take her out to the backyard as soon as I get up. She usually goes outside with no problem. I give her a treat as soon as she finishes.

(b) She either goes to work with me or goes to doggy daycare. At work she's tied to my desk and doesn't have accidents as long as she's confined. After much experimenting, I've found that 3 o'clock is the sweet spot where she'll always need to go. I take her outside at 3 and I give her a treat as soon as she finishes.

(c) I get home at 6 or 7 and if I'm lucky, she'll go outside right when I get home. Again, if she goes, I'll give her a treat when she finishes.

(d) This is where I start to have problems...last night, for example, we went outside at 6:30 and she peed. I took her with me to dinner and when we got home she had an accident on the carpet at about 8 p.m.We have a doggy door so she has access to the outside at all times. On occasion, she's come back in the house from the backyard to have an accident. Generally, all her accidents are on the same carpet. She seems to know that she's not supposed to pee on the carpet because she never does it when I or my husband are in the room. I never yell or punish her when she has an accident; I just clean it up.

(e) I've been trying to take her out last thing before bed (10 or 11) and once before then at 9 or 9:30. Sometimes she'll go and sometimes she won't.

I try to keep her on the same schedule on weekends, but she often has accidents during the day or at night on weekends.

I've spoken with my trainer and he says she probably wasn't housebroken before she came to live with us and learned bad habits. He didn't really seem to have any othe suggestions. I've been using nature's miracle to clean up after the accidents so the smell won't linger.

Any suggestions? I've been thinking about putting her on a water schedule (so she gets the same amount of water but at scheduled intervals). I'm not going to use negative reinforcement like rubbing her nose in it because I don't think that works.

Thanks for your help.

How to stop my dog from peeing in the house?

unlucky.lisp — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:39:36 -0800

My dog won't stop peeing inside. I'm pretty sure it's the result of separation anxiety. Help? I have three dogs, all very well well trained and housebroken. One of them, the oldest (a rescue like all the rest, but a pound puppy instead of a foster) has had separation anxiety his whole life. Intermittently, he has decided that peeing on things is a good way to express this. Which leads my other male dog to pee, which leads him to pee again, thus creating a neverending cycle of piss.

Lately, his peeing has gotten worse. Even if he's only left alone for an hour, he'll pee.

What can I do to solve this problem? The usual training techniques have not worked (word cues, kongs, etc). Is it too late to crate train him (he's 8)? Is a visit to the vet for some puppy prozac in order? (He is otherwise completely healthy -- no urinary tract probs, nothing)

I am getting ready to move, which I fear will only worsen the problem, and aside from the peeing, I hate to think of him being stuck with those feelings....

My dog can't pee right, help?

Dave. — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:52:59 -0800

My dog has a hard time peeing. I've had a specialist diagnose the cause and they tell me that "they've never seen it before" and "cannot find anything in any journals/literature that reference it". I'd like to explain it to see if any Mefites have any experience or knowledge of the situation ... Basically its this ... at the juncture of her urethra and bladder, the opening has become constricted. A flap of tissue is trying to grow closed over this opening. Not a good thing!

Here's the story ... She's a 5 year old labrador, in otherwise perfect health. About 2 1/2 years ago, she started having trouble peeing. She would squat, and it would drip.drip.drip ... and after a long time she would be done. I took her to my local vet, who did all he could to diagnose it (primarily consisting of checking for urinary tract infection and prescribing a food that was more acidic to breakdown crystals in her urine). Eventually, he referred me to the University of Florida Veterinary Research Center. After some more work, they eventually decided to run a camera up her urethra. At that point, they discovered the constriction at the juncture to the bladder and broke it apart with the camera head device.

All is well until about a year ago ...

She had the same exact problem again. I go back to the college and this time they actually get me a "research grant" that covers the cost of that camera procedure (not a cheap procedure, about $800). So she's fixed again.

But now I think I might be starting to see some symptoms again and I'm getting worried this might be round 3. Anyone have any experience with something similar?

Our dreams will continue after a quick word from our bladder.

grapefruitmoon — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 09:52:04 -0800

PeeingFilter: Why do I always have to pee when I'm falling asleep? Is there some physiological reason (I'm not really interested in behavioral reasons - I get that psychologically, I'm probably hardwired to do this out of habit) why I have to pee whenever I start to fall asleep?

No matter how many times I pee *before* I go to bed, I always have to get up and pee one last time right after I've started falling asleep. Always. If I don't, it's too uncomfortable to actually make it from 10% to 100% asleep.

I'm sure that by now, Pavlov has a lot to say about my bladder, what I'm wondering is if there's some kind of biofeedback that would influence sleep + bladder function.

Is there anything wrong with a butch bitch... and other peepee questions

taz — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:25:19 -0800

My girl lifts her leg to pee sometimes, she also "marks". Does we haz a problem? My inclination is "no" ... but my vet seems unsettled about it. We've had our wonderful, adorable rescue dog for six months (age unknown, but definitely fully adult between 2-5 years old). After she had been with us for about three or four months, instead of just peeing once in a big stream per walk, she seems to have started "marking"... she sniffs out where other dogs in the neighborhood have peed and pees over that, usually two or three times during a walk.

In the past month or so, she has also started to occasionally lift her leg to pee on a tree, tire or other vertical object where another (presumably male) dog has peed.

I'm not inclined to be worried about that... yet, she does at this point have a urinary tract infection, which is being treated. My questions are these:

How unusual is it for a female dog to mark and lift her leg to pee? I mean, should I always worry that this behavior might mean that she has a urinary tract disturbance of some kind, or is it possible that she has this non-typical (for other female dogs) peeing behavior, plus a urinary tract infection right now, but these two things aren't necessarily related?

Can it be that "saving" her urine for marking is what is causing the infection? In other words, she doesn't fully empty her bladder because she is rationing it out along the walk, and maybe by the end of the walk she hasn't expelled it all?

My Vet seems worried by the marking and lifting-leg thing, but I'm not convinced that it's a big deal. I will watch to see if any of that behavior changes after she gets a complete clean bill of health after the antibiotics and special diet to cure the UTI, but I think she's just become more dominant, and is displaying more of her real personality now that she's all settled and feeling secure. I see it also in her interactions with other dogs; she is much more confident and assertive.

One thing to note is that I don't live in the U.S., and vets here tend to be bit more old fashioned about things, which may or may not be relevant.

about the UTI: I don't know why. She has fresh water in two clean bowls, refreshed daily; we have at least two walks a day, but beyond that she always has access to an outside area where she knows she can pee or poo if she needs to. She has a great home-cooked, fresh food diet. She's totally healthy, happy, energetic and beautiful - even now, when we know she has an infection. The only thing that made me realize that she needed to be checked was that she peed inside one day, right in front of me, which was totally out of character - and since there had been no upset, disturbance or unusual activity in the house or our schedule, I figured she might have a UTI, and I was right.

Is cat pee a capital offense?

jay dee bee — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:49:54 -0800

Very Bad Cat: I need advice on what to do about a cat that is chronically peeing inappropriately in the house. We have ruled out medical issues (diabetes, UTI, etc) and believe it's behavioral. We have tried all the usually recommended solutions (keeping the litter box pristine, Feliway, Rx food for urine crystals, etc). What are our options? (Probably too much detail inside.) The details are: 2 adult male neutered indoor cats, 2 adults, one rowhouse. The cats don't love each other but have lived together for 3 years so this is not a new arrangement. Cat #2, the chronic pisser, is a rescue, and is very overweight despite being on a diet for years now. He will pee on ANYTHING fabric-like that is placed on the floor, so we have no rugs, mats, or anything throughout our house. He has also peed on the couches, and one bed. And my favorite gray purse. And a gym bag, his carboard box scratchpads, misc cardboard boxes, etc. No surface seems to be safe, but we do genuinely try to avoid his trigger areas.

Vet testing ruled out medical reasons, so we believe this is behavioral. We give the cat plenty of attention, and really can't alter our life any more. For example, it probably stresses the cat out a bit when he has a sitter or when we have out of town guests, but I can't just never leave town or never have people over!

The cat, while usually a sweetie, is, sad to say, extraordinarily dumb. He doesn't seem to have any idea when he is caught in the act that he is doing anything wrong. I think he probably had a crappy life on the streets as a younger kitty and just didn't learn how to be a good pet cat. However, my husband truly loves this cat and feels horrible about the situation we're in.

So -- what are my choices? I personally have had enough and am ready to get rid of the cat. Please don't hate me for saying this, but I would prefer to euthanize the cat rather than give it up and just hope for a better outcome with a different family. I believe the cat is beyond help. Maybe I'm just so fed up I'm thinking irrationally.

Husband loves this cat dearly and is having a harder time with what to do. One thing we can agree on is that we can no longer live like this. I personally, in good conscience, cannot give this cat away to another family to let it ruin their home too, or let him squander in a shelter, sad and lonely. I think we need to end the misery for everyone and put the cat to sleep. I feel we have exhausted our options. Again, I may just be too fed up to think straight, but this has been a problem for 2 yrs.

I do not want to sink a bunch more money into testing/vet care/Feliway/new furniture. I am tired of this money pit in my life. I have spent hundreds if not in the thousands by now, and nothing is better, cat pee is still ruining my home.

Will a humane society shelter euthanize a pet for something like this? Will a veterinarian? Am I a horrible person for wanting to do this? How can I get my husband to agree this is a good solution?

Thank you in advance for your advice. I am at my wit's end and need some perspective from people outside of the situation.

I don't have to pee now, but in 8 hours I probably will

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:48:31 -0800

I know YANMD, but wondering if others may be able to shed some light on the way my body stores/uses/retains water during the summer. Summary: I drink a lot of water, but barely have to pee during the day - it all catches up to me at night, waking me up to pee every couple of hours.

Longer: On an average day, I drink about 80 oz. of water, throughout the course of the day. In the mornings, I'll have one cup of coffee. Throughout the day, despite frequent intake of water, I rarely have to pee. It's like my body stores the water for perspiration and cooling during the Boston summer and the active part of my day. When I'm mostly inactive (say, 10:30pm or later, and when I'm sleeping), the water catches up to me and I have to pee, every couple of hours. This is just totally irritating, because I frequently have to get up to pee (with a full bladder every time), several times a night. Even shortly before normal wake-up time, my bladder would be full - even if I haven't had anything to drink, since 9pm the night before.

As far as my activity levels during the day, I'm a grad student - I research, study, work, etc. I don't "work out" in the conventional sense, but I don't have a car, so I walk a decent amount almost every day, carrying books/groceries/randomstuff. I also go for an hour walk in the evenings, three times a week. So I don't break into big sweats, but it's not uncommon to have a constant mild perspiration walking about, a few times throughout the day. I'm in my mid-20's, otherwise healthy, and don't feel any complications from this, other than the fact it interrupts otherwise blissful moments of sleep. When it's colder out (hence, less perspiration, less body cooling) I pee as normal, throughout the day. But I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions to, maybe re-train my have-to-pee moments? (How????). Stopping drinking water earlier in the day isn't an option - even if I don't drink anything past 7pm, and go to bed at midnight, I'll still have to get up during the night to pee out any excess. How can I not be woken up by needing to pee 3-4 times a night??

My dog is leaking.

miss lynnster — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 23:24:05 -0800

After working at home for a long time, now I have to work 10 hour days in an office temporarily. Since she's used to spending a lot of quality time with me, my dog is not in favor of this schedule and after a month of patience she's voiced her disapproval by becoming a little peeing machine. Advice please. I take my puppy out in the morning, leave for work at 10am, my downstairs neighbor walks her and plays with her in the afternoon, and then I come home at around 9-10pm (late, I know). She behaved perfectly for the first month. Just an angel. Now? She's angry at me and I don't blame her.

When I'm working with other clients, I'll take her to dog daycare at least a few times a week to get worn out & that works perfectly. A tired dog is definitely a good dog & with that schedule she's always been perfect on the days when I leave her home alone. My current client is far away and I don't get off work until after the dog place closes, though. My downstairs neighbor is helping me, but apparently that's not good enough.

In the year & a half I've had her she's been perfectly housetrained, but last week she actually woke up before me just to go into the living room and pee while I slept. In the past, she's always gone to the bathroom right away when I take her out in the morning, but lately she's decided to sunbathe instead... absolutely refused to go to the bathroom. Today she went to the bathroom before I left, but still... it doesn't matter if she goes or not anymore because by the time my neighbor gets here to take her out there's pee on the living room floor. It's really grossing me out & it's not my dog's normal behavior AT ALL. (She's also chewed up a few things, but it's very minimal compared to other dogs I've had.)

I crated Zoe when I first got her, but I never left her alone inside of it without me being here. She had separation issues because she was a homeless dog, and now I'm afraid she'll panic and freak out if I suddenly leave her in the crate alone all day. She's just never been in there for that long, especially when I'm not here.

I know this is a temporary problem -- I don't plan to leave her home alone this much in the future once I'm done with this client. But I need to finish my commitment. I bought pads for the floor today, but she's smart & I'm afraid that she's just going to pee around them to tick me off. I don't want my whole house to smell bad & I don't want my landlord's beautiful hardwood floors ruined by her. I'm just SOOOO tired of mopping up pee every night after work. It's awful.

Have you had a dog do this? Any suggestions on how to get to the other side of it or maybe make her stop? She's a really great dog and I'm trying to give her all the attention I can, but I have to burn the candle at both ends for the time being whether my dog likes it or not.

Retraining cat that pees inappropriately

zenpop — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 17:21:45 -0800

My cat has started urinating in inappropriate spots in my house (and also my friend's house who was taking care of her and my other cat while I went through a move). I've read the threads here on dealing with urine smell, etc. But need more detailed advice about the process of RETRAINING. I've had her taken to the vet and she checked out fine. And yes there are all the classic situations happening that cause behavior problems: i.e. I've had to move residence, with the upheaval of packing and boxes lying around all over (which she would pee in), not to mention my own stressed out state of mind during the chaos. As I got crazier she seemed to freak out more and start peeing in spots outside of her box.

I'm wanting to know from other MetaFilter folk how they retrained their peeing cat.

I'm thinking of confining her, in the new house that I'll be taking her to soon, in the laundry room (which has a decent amount of space) with her bed and food and water. There is a cat door in this room that leads to a small enclosed spot in the garage that will have her litter box. If I keep her in there for about five days or so does that seem long enough for her to relearn using her box.

Should I also put my other cat in there with her, who is acting fine, for company? And make her go through the five day process? Or should it be longer than that?

I'm at the end of my rope and would hate to get rid of her. She's been a great cat for the last three years, but, well, we all know what cat piss smells like.

Pee-ewww!

ninazer0 — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 06:20:26 -0800

After a short but hitherto blameless existence, my cat has started randomly peeing around the house. Help me figure out if it's health or behavioural issues! She's not quite 12 months old and an only cat (I'd love to have another but our lease won't allow it). She's bright and bored and I keep her indoors while I'm out but she has a lot of toys and treats to help liven things up. There are a bunch of feral neighbourhood cats around that she will occaisionally tangle with when I let her out, but she seems otherwise happy.

For no apparent reason, last month she started yowling and peed in the corner of my office on the floor. I cleaned it up and made sure that her litter box (which is HUGE, by the way) is super fresh and clean. The box is only a room away from where she peed - it's not like she got confused and just went wherever.

And tonight, she repeated the performance in the corner of my bedroom.

Is it a likely health issue that makes her suddenly incontinent, or is it a behavioural/psychological issue? Her water consumption appears to be normal, as does her food intake (although she's gotten to be a a real guts lately - eating so fast in the morning that she's thrown up a few times, but I put that down to one of the feral neighbourhood cats staring at her through the window and making her freak out and eat faster).

I'll take her to a vet this weekend, but opinions would be appreciated. (Yes, you're not vets, or - if you are - you're not my vet etc etc etc. Duly noted) Any ideas?

How do I get a homeless person(s) to stop peeing in my front doorway?

tangelo — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:39:08 -0800

How do I get a homeless person(s) to stop peeing in my front doorway? My friend has a business. There's some person who, at some point during the night, pees in the building's doorway. This happens almost every night. My friend installed a bright light in the doorway that stays on all night, but that didn't stop the night urinator, so my friend installed a four-foot-tall metal gate across the front of the doorway AND added an attractive ficus tree/plant thing as well. And then the next day my friend went away on business and left me in charge. The following morning there was urine on the doorstep. Apparently the gate and ficus are no kind of deterrent whatsoever.

What can I do? Short of staying up all night, lying in wait? And supposing I did catch the person peeing in the doorway -- what would I say or do? (I'm a short, extremely non-threatening-looking woman.)

Why, God, WHYYYY? Also, How, God, HOOOOW?

evariste — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 13:28:07 -0800

Help me understand the mechanics of peeing. So, what's going on in there when we pee? I imagine the bladder is emptying of urine, but that air probably isn't replacing the volume of liquid being expelled, so my bladder is simply deflating/crumpling up inside me? And what's with the squeezing? (I assume that's my prostate I'm squeezing when I cut off the flow, right? So what do girls squeeze with, since they don't even have a prostate?) How come we squeeze multiple times during a "session" to cut off the flow? Is there some physiological cue? I really can't explain why I stop-and-start multiple times instead of letting it out in one long stream, so I was wondering if there was a scientific explanation (or well-informed speculation) on why people do this. And one seems to increase the frequency of the squeezing the closer to being done one is. What's up? Please clear up my anatomical/mechanical befuddlement.

Any insight on the mysterious "delicious shivers" would also be welcome.

How can I find a home for a troubled pet?

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Dec 2004 11:35:11 -0800

How can I find a home for a troubled pet? [more inside]

I am at my wit's end and don't know what to do. The problem started when my girlfriend moved in over two years ago, bringing two adult cats along. My two adults did not get along with hers, and we've tried just about everything to get them used to each other. Eventually, we had to just separate them, but it broke my heart to have cats barricaded in my basement, so we decided to just open the basement door to let the cats come and go. It's been like that for about a year without many problems, and I thought I was making some progress when one of my cats started coming upstairs willingly and tolerating the others (being able to sit in the living room with the other cats while we watch TV).

The past month or so has been different, though. My cat started peeing (and worse) on our bed. I draw the line there, because I cannot afford to buy all new bedclothes and mattress pads every couple of weeks.

I would like to find this cat a new home, because I think the basic problem stems from having too many cats in a small space. I know if I take her to the animal shelter, they will have trouble adopting her out, given her past and her age (nine). I doubt an ad would work because she's very skittish (and I cannot in good conscience give a cat away without telling someone about her problems).

Does anyone have any suggestions?

How can you overcome pee shyness in public urinals?

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Oct 2004 09:03:05 -0800

How can you overcome pee shyness in public urnials? As in, stepping to the plate, but being unable to pee until the bathroom is empty?

Why does humming make me have to pee?

bonheur — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 10:31:33 -0800

Humming noises make me have to pee. Does this happen to anyone else? What could be causing it? [more inside] I noticed that whenever I go into a certain room in my house (not the bathroom) I had the overwhelming urge to pee. Eventually I concluded that there was a fan in that room that was causing the problem. The low hum of the refrigerator does the same thing to me. Is this some kind of ingrained Pavlovian response, or is there another reason humming noises might send my bladder into overdrive?

Do you pee in the ocean? In lakes? Is that better or worse than peeing in the shower?

dame — Fri, 07 May 2004 18:28:08 -0800

Another pee question: Do you pee in the ocean? In lakes? Is that better or worse than peeing in the shower? [empty]