Googling isn’t coming up with anything. 8 week old puppy leaks urine when napping or when playing really hard. Still has regular pees. Drinks plenty of water frequently.
She came home last night and will be getting a bath today, I’m very concerned about urine scalding.
We’ve never had a puppy before and not sure if this is normal or needs to go to a vet sooner rather than later.
Not normal. Needs to be screened for a UTI, which isn’t terribly uncommon in young dogs.
Agreed, especially puppy bitches.
Thanks folks!
Hard play can lead to excitement piddles when potty training but not coming out as they play. I can see where drinking excessive amounts of water can cause a young puppy to leak urine if sleeping soundly but I would really want the puppy checked out.
Pictures!!
Adorable puppy! Hope you find out why she’s peeing while sleeping. What breed is she?
Mom is a doodle, dad is a lab/retriever.
She is cute! Let us know what the vet says.
Update - vet says infection after running a urine sample. Relieved to find a cause for the dribbles.
Thanks again!
Update 2.0……
Updating incase someone, like me, googled endlessly and found nothing online.
As of my last update, we did a round of antibiotics. Thought we had a solution to our problem. Antibiotics didn’t work, so further investigating happened.
An X-ray, ultrasound, and finally a CT scan and we have a diagnoses. Our puppy’s kidney (only one, the other is fine!) is extremely small and has an ectopic ureter. This means the line from the kidney that should connect to the bladder actually connects to her urethra. The other kidney is of normal size and routed correctly. The urine from this kidney just leaks right out instead of collecting in the bladder. Since the kidney is so small, that is why the flow is only showing as dribbles.
Fortunately, this is able to be corrected through surgery. The vet is able to re-route the ureter back into the bladder. She is now 7 months. Originally, the plan was to wait until spaying age to fix this so she only has to go under GA once… but now urine scalding is occurring and we’ve made the decision to get it fixed as soon as possible.
We are thankful that there is a clear cut solution to our issue and our only regret is not pushing further investigation sooner. In the mean time, we joke that we bought a “lemon” who’s plumbed wrong - haha! The breeder has offered over and over again to compensate us but fortunately it is not a financial burden. It’s not the breeders fault at all, and we don’t feel right taking money when they couldn’t have prevented this.
Side note - never had a puppy before. Used to cats who get spayed almost asap… our specialist recommends spaying between 10-12 months of age. Learn something new every day!
Wow, what a crazy diagnosis! Good work on investigating until you had the answer. Hope puppy does well with her upcoming surgery!
She will be fine to spay at 7 months so she will only have to have 1 surgery. I know many recommend waiting but its will be easier on her. Glad they found the problem and it is fixable.
If the vet agrees it makes sense to do both at the same time, I would agree.
The anesthesia is less of an issue to me as it is not a serious risk for most dogs - I would be more interested to know if there is a benefit to kidney health to leave her unaltered until she is fully grown. Hormones are important for growth and maturity, not just reproduction, and in this case might be really important. Or not.
That is a very interesting diagnosis. I wonder how many dogs have that happen. I have a male lab cross who had “pee problems” until he was 4 years old but it seemed to be a bladder control issue - related to his emotional state. Excited? Pee. Scared? Pee. Proud? Pee. Startled? Pee. Anxious? Pee. … and so on. After 4 years we were resigned to the fact that we would just constantly clean up pee (usually a zigzag splatter of dribbles because moving in a straight line or staying still would just be too easy) forever but then it did ultimately resolve.
He is now 9 years old and we just yesterday finished a round of antibiotics for a sudden and severe UTI - the first time he’s had one since he was a puppy. I got to wondering if the puppy pee problems are going to return as he lives out his senior years.
My female lab cross (12 years old) has dribbled pee for the last 4 years or so when laying down. For her it’s a hormonal issue that is handled by medication. Usually within a few days we get it under control, keep up with meds for a few more weeks at a reduced rate, then proceed with one pill once a month for 6-12 or so months. That keeps her “in balance” for another 6 or so months and then we start again. It has been nearly a year since we had her on medication for this and so I’m sure we’re “due” for the issue to start cropping up again.
We have lots of experience with “pee problems” in this household but not the one you’re experiencing!
Glad you got a fixable answer and your pup will be ok!
This seems to be one of those cases where the hoofbeats meant zebras and not horses.
@chestnutmarebeware isn’t that the truth?? The majority of people I chatted with in person all had the “oh, it’s a puppy thing” mentality.
I will update the thread post surgery with (hopefully successful) results.
I would agree with the Vets timing for spaying. Waiting longer to let her use her hormones in developing, has benefits beyond “only having to go under GA one time.” My daughter worked in a Doggie Daycare for a couple years, handled MANY dogs of all kinds of breeding. The ones neutered or spayed young, got taller but had less thickness in bone. Many were quite “weedy” looking when mature, especially the bigger breeds or large mixed breeds. They “seemed” to have more health issues, but no idea of the kinds or how often. Just know what she told me.
I know with cats, neutering males young, reduces urethra size, so they can have problems with that later in life. Not sure if that is also true with male dogs.
Glad you finally got a correct diagnosis on the pee problem to get it solved.
It’s possible to do an ovary sparing spay. That would negate the concern of depriving her of hormones.
As far as I’ve read it’s becoming pretty widely accepted that it can frequently lead to an increase in joint, tendon, and ligament issues, notably in large and giant breeds. I know there have been some studies and papers already, I think especially relating to cancer as well - Golden Retrievers were a big study on that.
My vet suggested waiting at least a year at his first puppy appointment, and I could tell from her tone that she expected an argument about it. She was relieved when I told her I planned to wait two years. Just had our 1 year heartworm test appointment last night and the tech said, about our upcoming October appointment for shots, “And that will line up with his neuter scheduling, right?” I said, “No, actually I plan to schedule that for next July, when he’s two.” and she replied, “Oh! Good, that’s even better.” So it’s becoming more common, although many in FB groups share that they receive a lot of pressure still to do it younger.
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