Dr. Marc is a veterinarian guest blogger for pet insurance provider, Pets Best.
Hi. My name is Dr. Marc. I’m filming for Pets Best Insurance, answering some Facebook questions for you guys, at Broadway Veterinary Hospital, in Boise, Idaho. The next question comes from Marie. She has a 3-year-old house-trained dog, and it sounds like he jumped up on the bed, and immediately squatted and peed on the covers right in front of her. Her dog has never done anything like this before, and it seemed ashamed.
She says: It seems odd that she peed right on the spot where she usually sleeps. I know it can be behavioral, but if it’s health-related, what else should I watch for? She can’t believe that a young dog could be incontinent already.
Marie, I agree with you that incontinence seems really unlikely in this particular situation. Usually, that results in a leaking dog, versus a dog that actually actively urinates.
Though behavioral problems are possible, I would tell you that as many as 90% of cases where animals inappropriately urinate are actually a medical problem. These include things like urinary tract infections, crystals or stones in the urine. Symptoms that you might watch for is more frequent urination, an increase in water consumption, a change in the urine stream itself when they’re going outside or going normally. Strain to urinate, of course, would be another problem, and any other signs of inappropriate urination would certainly further my suspicion of having some sort of a medical problem there.
Even though she’s just done this once, I have seen multiple cases where you get chronic urinary tract infections, and it wouldn't be a bad idea just to have that urine looked at by a veterinarian to make sure one of these problems isn't actually going on.
If you have any other questions, post them below or to that Pets Best Insurance Facebook page. We’ll see if we can answer them for you