Foster dog and a wee problem. Any advice gratefully received.

teachergirl

We are fostering a rescue dog . He is 10+. He has a heart murmur, dodgy teeth, an enlarged prostate and is totally deaf. (my perfect dog:D)He is also very underweight and was found starving about six weeks ago. We have had him just over 4 weeks. The very first week we had him we were delighted as he was dry over night and did not have any accidents in the house, however all that has changed. We came down one morning to find six or seven wees all over the kitchen floor. The vet found blood in his urine and he was given a course of antibiotics.( This had happened several times before we fostered him.) Fast forward, we have had him chemically castrated. (this is because the vet felt that a lot of his infections were due to his enlarged prostate and not being castrated and he is not stable enough to go under an anaesthetic) However he is still weeing maybe six times over night. Also he does not "tell" us he wants to go out. My previous rescues would bark at the back door. He wanders around and we go to the back door, if he goes out and wees we reward him with a treat. However if no one is there (ie I am in the study) he just wees on the floor.:(
Does anyone have any ideas or advice? We have grown to love him dearly and he has come on in leaps and bounds in some ways since we got him but in others we seem to have gone backwards. The vet has suggested we try crating him at night however I am loathe to do this as if it is still a physical problem I would hate him to have to sit in the wet at night.

Fosterdog

I think the cause of so much weeing needs more investigation, a friends elderly dog became quite incontinent and the vet gave some drops to go in her food every day which really helped.

teachergirl

Thank you for replying fosterdog. Love the name by the way.:D
At the moment the vet cannot find anything more than what we already know. What are you thinking? One of my previous rescue dogs was given that liquid to put on her food but her excess weeing was caused by being given diuretics, and she could no longer control it.(ie she would wet herself while lying down.) Grandad (the name of the dog) doesn't do this. When he cuddles up on the sofa with us of an evening he will not go out for a couple of hours. Also he did not do it in the first week. Any more thoughts?

rising_from_the_ashes

Awww he sounds a lovely old lad & so pleased he's found somewhere safe where he's loved

It he didn't do it when he arrived, it does sound as if it could be physical - did it stop with the ABs? Has your vet tested for UTIs etc?

Maisie had a UTI recently and wet herself (which she's never done and just didn't seem to realise when she needed to go & was leaking a lot of the time)

Course of ABs and she's fine now - fingers crossed you can get to the bottom of it

I would be really reluctant to crate an older dog that you don't know the history of (he may panic / become depressed & think he's done something wrong if he's never been crated)

Could you shut him in say the kitchen overnight so at least he can move around a bit but it's easy to clean up?

Best of luck & hope you find the cause soon

teachergirl

Thank you for your thoughts rising from the ashes. I knew there would be lovely people on here who would have some ideas. It got better with the antibiotics. When he had the infection it was quite clear he could not wait. When the AB were finished, he was been tested again and there is no longer an infection. I know we are learning his ways and things but it is hard to find a pattern. Last night there was just one wee but the night before there was five or so and this is how it goes. he is shut in our kitchen already at night ,so it's only the lino but we have to remember to put our slippers on because when we are bleary eyed.....:eek: Our kitchen is about 20 ft long so it gives him a lot of scope! he does have favourite spots so we have tried putting newspaper down in these and then in desperation bought some puppy pads but he tends to ignore them.
I almost think that because he has never had to hold it (at least for awhile) it isn't important to him. In the day if we leave the door open he will wander in and out all day and sometimes several times an hour, but it will not be practical to leave the door open in the winter. Which is what is happening in the evening. he cuddles up next to us, if he gets up and we walk to the back door and open it he goes out. If for some reason we don't spot him wandering he just wees on the floor. He does not bark or actually stand near the door, so I guess we just are not reading his signals correctly.:(

meritaten

If he is deaf he wont bark will he? he cant hear so may assume you cant either? and if he has been a stray a long time may have forgotten housetraining (or never been taught it). I think you are back to the beginning with this one. I am pretty sure there is a method for training deaf dogs? its visual signals I think. anyway - good luck!

teachergirl

Hi meritaten, I see what you mean. He has barked when we have visitors at the door and we are standing talking to them , not sure why though. We are trying to use hand signals, so we gesture towards us when we want him to follow and point at the door. I do appreciate that he may have forgotten his house training but that's why we cannot understand why he was clean in week one. I 'm sure much of what I am doing here is just reassuring myself that I am doing all I can, plus hoping to find a nugget of wisdom that we haven't thought of.
He has made progress, at first he would shake and make himself sick if we tried to walk him and now he loves his walk and bounds along.
He was iffy about eating and now he is eating three meals a day. He took four weeks before he wagged his tail.
I do hope this will also right itself with time. We will cope with it if we have to but it would be nice not to. IYSWIM

elsien

If you're leaving the door open during the day for him to wander in and out, he's not really learning he needs to hold it or to ask to go outside. If you think about it, if he's mooching outside and doing something several times an hour, to go from that to holding it all night is quite a big jump.
Could you go back to basics by taking him out at regular intervals during the day and staying out till he does something? With my last dog, I started taking her for a walk every half hour, then slowly built up the time in between. And possibly setting the alarm to take him out once during the night?
It might also be stress related - I don't think it's unusual for foster/rescue dogs to develop behaviours once they've started to settle a bit. Is there anything else you could do to make him feel a bit more secure at night? A radio on low, one of your jumpers, - like you might do for new puppies. Some people try having the dog in the bedroom with them, but I have to be honest, I wouldn't want to risk my bedroom carpet being weed all over.
Also, what are you cleaning the floor with? If he can still smell it, it's going to encourage him to keep going in the same place. Is it biological washing powder people recommend to remove all traces?- I can never remember properly.

You'll get there - you've made huge progress in 4 weeks. And I remember well the days of covering the kitchen floor in paper every night and wearing wellies to venture in in the morning - you have my sympathy!

teachergirl

Think you could be right elsien . We shall have to start closing the door. Obviously we do, do that in the evening but we haven't been actively taking him out then ,just waiting till he moves and then directing him towards the door. I shall tell the family the new plan in the morning. And yes washing the floor in biological washing powder. In some ways my kitchen floor has never been so clean or smelt so sweet.;)

elsien

Another thought is to look out for him asking to go out using body language rather than making a noise.
My last dog used to go and sit with her nose at the front door and wait to be noticed. Which was fine in my house as my front door leads into the sitting room so I could see her. Silly sod never clocked that at my mums house no-one could see her at the front door, so she'd give up waiting and wee in the hall.

teachergirl

Yep that's our problem too. Back door is miles away from the lounge.(not literally obviously) I'm thinking of adding it to my exercise tally ,the number of times I have to get up and walk to the back door to see if that's where he has gone . It's always the one time I think I just can't be bothered to get up again that he goes:mad: