Postby SherriA » Mon Oct 12, 2015 6:53 am
Henry recently had a urinalysis done and a 2 week course of abx to clear up a kidney infection (he was peeing in the house), and follow up urinalysis showed no more sign of infection. The initial urinalysis showed some crystals, but the vet said that was likely because of the length of time between collection and testing. I feel like this problem is behavioural, and we've dealt with the underlying UTI but feel free to call me out if you think I"m wrong.
So, Henry won't pee in the mornings lately. I don't know if it's just that he really, really wants his breakfast, or if it's something else, but I'm starting to get frustrated with the extra time it's taking in the morning. Our routine for the last year has been that I get up and make his breakfast, and while it's hydrating (THK), he goes out to pee and poop, then comes in to eat. For awhile now, if I don't go out and watch him, he will poop but not pee, then race back to the house for breakfast, resulting in a puddle when the dog walker gets there a lunch time. She also noted that he's been running out into the yard then back to the house looking for a treat without peeing for her too, and she really has to encourage him to go back and pee.
This morning I went out to supervise, he pooped, didn't pee. I corralled him into the yard (he got past me to the back door twice!) for about 15 minutes but he had absolutely no interest in peeing. I finally went in, he went bezerk asking for breakfast but I didn't want to reward not peeing, so I didn't feed him. Instead I took a shower and dried my hair, and got dressed, then took him out into the yard again. Another 10 minutes and he wouldn't even walk around the yard, just tried to get back to the house. I leashed him up and walked him around the yard, but that didn't work either. Finally I took him for a walk down the street. He finally found something worth peeing on, so got a treat then back to the house for breakfast.
It added a full half hour to my morning routine, and my morning is really scheduled tightly. I need to find a solution.
I feel like he's so fixated on getting breakfast that his little brain is just shutting off and I don't know how to get him to pee before he gets fed. Any ideas?? I know the best bet would be to out stubborn him, because eventually he's got to pee, right? But I have to go to work, so that's not really a reasonable option. The only reason I could today is that the schools have a holiday so I knew traffic would be much lighter than usual.
Also, he's been really crazy pushy about food lately. He will still sit and wait for his meals, but he launches himself at me when I'm preparing it, and when I carrying it to his feeding spot, leaping in the air and twisting around, jumping up on me, etc. It's obnoxious! He's always been crazy about food but nothing like this. It got a lot worse when Miel was visiting us for a week, but since that was a finite time I didn't worry too much about it. Problem is that it's carried on even though she's been gone for a week now.
Last edited by
SherriA on Mon Oct 12, 2015 8:36 am, edited 1 time in total.