Toilet accidents are a real nuisance and while we accept them as part of bringing up a puppy, it can be incredibly frustrating in mature dogs who are not yet considered senior. We recently heard about one of our patients, Chester, a nine-year-old who had come to us with two puzzled owners as this bichon frise had been frequently cocking his leg up against anything and everything in the house and leaving a puddle.
There had been no rhyme or reason to this. He could do it if left alone for a few hours, coming in from a very long walk, while his owners were watching television or even because he just felt like it! As you can imagine his owners were exasperated, feeling like they’d tried anything and everything. The main scene of Chester’s ‘crime’ was the kitchen but they were in the process of having a new kitchen installed and they needed to break the cycle.
In order to rule out any medical issues, we gave Chester a full check over and confirmed that he was in rude health – although a little overweight, but nothing that a few smaller meals wouldn’t fix. We then turned our attention to his diet; Chester was being fed on a mix of wet food and kibble and the owners confirmed that he also drank “quite a lot for a little dog”.
Upon reading the ingredients we found that the wet food was 72% water! So not only was he drinking a lot of fluid, he was eating it too which was clearly contributing to the toileting issue.
We recommended that the wet food be phased out with immediate effect over the next few meals and that the amount of water available to Chester be limited to certain times of the day and that at around 8pm, it be removed all together.
The owners also got some advice from an independent dog trainer who looked at the routine of his walks to see how this could help with him re-learning to toilet outside all of the time. The recommendation was that his owners revert to when he was a puppy, giving lots of praise when he toileted outside and not saying anything if there was an accident indoors. They were also encouraged to provide more routine with his walks and particularly that he was taken out last thing at night so that by the time he went to bed he had nothing left inside of him (toileting in the night had been part of the problem).
We are happy to report that not only did Chester respond extremely well to the change in diet – having lost weight and got a real spring back in his step – but he has only had one tiny accident in the new kitchen. The regular walks at key times of the day have had a huge impact too and so we have very happy owners and an even happier bichon frise.
If your pet is struggling with toilet issues, the first step is to check their overall health as this can be a reaction to the distress caused by being unwell. Contact us to book your appointment for a health check.
