Any ideas, my whippet bitch is peeing her bed at night

Bosworth

Bosworth

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I have a 2 year old whippet bitch, I have had her for 15 months. She has a crate at night with her bed in it and a blanket over it. She has slept in that since I got her without any issues at all, in fact she loves it, retires to it when she feels like it, and puts herself to bed. In the past 2 weeks she has wet the bed every night, I go down in the morning and find her standing in the wet bed. She always goes out at night before bed, I have tried putting her to bed very late, always putting her out before hand. She cannot go on a lead as she will never wee o poo on a lead. I cannot follow her round and watch her wee as she refuses to do it with an audience. And I have tried getting her up earlier, but she has done it before I get down stairs. Yesterday morning she was dry, I had changed her into a round bed, put her warm rug on, put a blanket over her bed, and covered the cage as normal. And she was dry. I did the same again last night........ and wet this morning. My next thought is to swap her cage to my bedlingtons as his cage is smaller, and she wont be able to squat in it to pee.

She is dry all day, never wets in the house, She is not incontinant, The urine has no smell about it so unlikely to be cystitis. I will try and get a sample and take it to the vets, but can anyone offer any suggestions my house is covered in drying dog beds,
 
First thoughts are the vet as this is out of character. She might have something going on inside there. To alleviate the clean bedding problem, bed her on newspaper until you get things sorted. Any wet bed can just be thrown out in the morning and fresh put in. I have to do this with my little Italian greyhound who is the most appalling bedwetter. She is much happier on this system as nobody gets stressed and consequently she is improving in her night time habits. I hope the vet can spot what might be wrong, my whippets do so hate not being clean. Cyber biscuits to your little girl.
 
Suelin said:
First thoughts are the vet as this is out of character. She might have something going on inside there. To alleviate the clean bedding problem, bed her on newspaper until you get things sorted. Any wet bed can just be thrown out in the morning and fresh put in. I have to do this with my little Italian greyhound who is the most appalling bedwetter. She is much happier on this system as nobody gets stressed and consequently she is improving in her night time habits. I hope the vet can spot what might be wrong, my whippets do so hate not being clean. Cyber biscuits to your little girl.
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Agree. Could easily be a urinary infection.
 
i will get a sample to the vets as soon as I can get one, is it likely to be an issue squeezing wee from the bed into a jar?

I suspected she was getting cold, and waking up because of it which is why i added her fleece coat, and covered her in a blanket. But that doesn;t seem to help.

She is not at all stressed about it, calmly walks out in the morning, and wanders to the back door as normal, but then doesnt need a wee, cos shes already done it. And I never ever shout at her for it, just pull the bed out and straight into the wash.

She has been know to do it in the past when she had a duvet as her bed. I have no idea why every time I put the clean duvet n she would pee on it in the night, So I stopped using that and changed to a flat pad. This is the flat pad she has taken to peeing on but she has had that as her bed since Christmas last year.

I am washing the beds in a biological washing liquid, could that be a problem?
Suelin..... do you just put in flat sheets of newspaper, or do you scrunch it up? She is a fussy lady and likes a comfy bed, so I suspect the flat sheets could be met with horror,
 
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Bosworth said:
i will get a sample to the vets as soon as I can get one, is it likely to be an issue squeezing wee from the bed into a jar?

I suspected she was getting cold, and waking up because of it which is why i added her fleece coat, and covered her in a blanket. But that doesn;t seem to help.

She is not at all stressed about it, calmly walks out in the morning, and wanders to the back door as normal, but then doesnt need a wee, cos shes already done it. And I never ever shout at her for it, just pull the bed out and straight into the wash.

She has been know to do it in the past when she had a duvet as her bed. I have no idea why every time I put the clean duvet n she would pee on it in the night, So I stopped using that and changed to a flat pad. This is the flat pad she has taken to peeing on but she has had that as her bed since Christmas last year.

I am washing the beds in a biological washing liquid, could that be a problem?
Suelin..... do you just put in flat sheets of newspaper, or do you scrunch it up? She is a fussy lady and likes a comfy bed, so I suspect the flat sheets could be met with horror,
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You cant get the wee from the bed as the sample would be badly contaminated. If they want a sample the vet will give you a kidney dish with a pot attached to it to catch the wee when she goes. If you are worried about it im sure they would get it for you. Bitches are prone to urinary tract infections and cystitis etc It's not uncommon. It could be behavioural but would be good to eliminate anything physical with vet first. Good Luck.
 
Hmmmmmm ok, can see this taking a long time, she will not pee for vets, they have tried it, she just refuses she held her bladder for 24 hours last time they tried. And will go out of her way to avoid peeing in front of anyone. She will never pee or poo on a lead. I can see me having to carry kidney shaped dish and bowl on a walk and run like hell to try and get it under her.

I will get her to the vets this week and rule out that but I am more inclined to think behavioural than medical.

I have checked her temp, that is fine, and out on her walk this morning she clearly has no pain or discomfort peeing. She is not doing it any more frequently than normal, and everything about her is normal, behaviour, eating, sleeping, running, playing. Its almost as tho she is refusing to pee outside as it is cold at night, or wakes up as she is cold and pees then.
 
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It can be tricky with bitches like this. I guess you will just have to follow her around and watch her like a hawk if you want a sample. She will have to go eventually....
 
vets can get a sample direct from bladder if really needed, make an app and go speak to vets, try and get a sample in the meantime by keeping her on a lead and taking out every hr to pee, they may give antibiotics without a sample if they feel it is required
 
twiggy2 said:
vets can get a sample direct from bladder if really needed, make an app and go speak to vets, try and get a sample in the meantime by keeping her on a lead and taking out every hr to pee, they may give antibiotics without a sample if they feel it is required
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This. Sometimes a vet nurse is good at taking them to a suitable patch of grass, they did with my springer who obliged within seconds. Take her for a walk around town before you take her in to the vets and keep her moving so she will be wanting to wee any time.
Do you ever see her wee apart from in her bed? Dogs get accustomed to a substrate, carpets are like grass to them which is why puppies tend to go on the best carpet. I met one who insisted on using the laminate floor in the dining room, when I quizzed the owners their whole garden was slabbed over so the dog was accustomed to a hard surface meaning "toilet" to him. It is unusual for them to soil their beds though so I would get the vet check as soon as you can.
 
As i said before she held her bladder for 24 hours last time the vets had her, she will not wee on a lead, ever. Yes of course I see her wee, I see her when ever I take her out, but she will never ever do a wee on lead. She will happily week on concrete, grass, mud, hay, straw, in fact thats never a problem she will always have a wee. But never close to anyone, and never on a lead. At home she has a yard, and a peat patch, will happily nip out in daylight and have a quick wee out there. So I think it is more behavioural rather than medical. I am more inclined to think along the lines of cold weather. But I will as said before take her to the vets this week.
 
In your shoes, I'd remove the crate, and leave her bed on the floor, and I'd then place newspaper on the floor by the door which leaves the room. As she seems reluctant to pee to order, and is perhaps a bit "picky" in that department, then as you I'd be surprised that it would be medical, and more a behavioural reaction to something, though God know's what!

I haven't read all the replies, and this may have been covered, but have you thought that it could be the formation of a habit? I've a Cocker bitch who's 5 years old, she's fastidious about cleanliness, or she was until about a week ago. She's kennelled, with access to a concrete floor in front of her sleeping compartment. Every night for a week, she's pissed her bed, and every morning I cleaned it. I moved her to another kennel, and bingo, she's back to being clean.

If not removing the crate altogether, how about leaving the door open? Come to that, at 2 years old, if you shut her in at night, why?

Alec.
 
Ah Alex, She is shut in her cage because if I dont she looks for a way up to my room, and I have found her in my bed under the duvet and she is a pain as sleeps like a bloody starfish with spikey points. As I was renovating the house I had no doors and no way of stopping her apart from the cage door.

I have now got doors on so I will try leaving the cage door open and see if that stops her. You make a lot of sense :)
 
I just put a whole copy of the Daily Fail flat in her bed. She shreds it to her satisfaction. If she wee's the whole lot goes in the bin and the bed is cleaned with hot soapy water, dried and a fresh paper put in. She is drier now than she has ever been (used to be every single night) we are down to about 2 x per week now. In her case it is stress that causes her to do it. The most nervous dog on the planet. We have had her almost 3 years and gradually she is beginning to relax quite a lot now. Has been something of a trial.
 
Ah Suelin.... poor little lady. Nonny has no stress!!!!!!!!! And medically vet has said she is in fine health........ rude health more like it. I managed to get some wee in a pot today and she has been checked. Nothing wrong apart from the fact it is very strong........ well thats because she refuses to go at night before bed, so guess who is going to be left outside for a very long while now every evening before bed!

Last night Alex, I left her cage door open, she did it again, peed in her cage and that was even tho I went down at 4 am to take her out. She had already done it. So tonight she is out for an hour before bed, and her cage will be left open again. If she is still wet I will have to rethink and get help as this has become a habit which I have to break as costing me a fortune in washing and drying and makes her antisocial to take away with me :(

Some bitches are just so strong willed!
 
Nonny was dry last night........... I went outside and ignored her, but refused to come in until she had a pee. She just stood by the door staring in. I sent her away a few times and eventually she gave in and had a wee. I brought her back in and tucked her up on the sofa with a blanket and her crate locked shut so she could not get in. My other dog was in his cage with the door open. This morning, she was dry, still on the sofa tucked up in the blanket. It looks like she has developed a habit as Alec said........ will do the same again tonight and keep my fingers crossed she stays dry.

Cayla has given me some great advice........ so we will break the habit before it becomes long term :)
 
Great news :) There was a whippet in the vets waiting room tonight which I nearly kidnapped and brought home with me, but I had to carry Islay out and couldn't manage the whippet as well :p They are wonderful little dogs :)
 
Nonny is not so little :) And as tough as old boots. She never wears a coat out running, I do put one one her when she stops as she loses heat easily. She will run for hours, never tires, is always happy and loves to be alive. A wonderful dog to have around....... nearly as lovely as Flodden, but then I am biased :)
 
LOL! My smallest greyhound is about whippet sized, she is about 20" at the shoulder and about 21kg, so I am not really sure why I covet another whippet - although Amy is very different in character to the greyhounds, you can really see her whippet side coming out, and you could not ask for a more perfect dog in every way than her :D
 
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