Pooping & peeing in crate

[MaryP]

I have a foster dog that is about 10-12 months old. She is not with me; she is being fostered by one of my foster volunteers. She has been with us for about 2 months. When she first came, she stayed with me for about 5 days (I think) - just long enough to get spayed and vaccinated. While with me, she was crated and she never pooped or peed in her crate. After going to her foster home, she started peeing in her crate. Her foster mom and I talked about possible reasons and tried to figure out what she might be doing differently from me, since the problem only started after going to her new foster home. The foster mom tried a few different things, but nothing worked. So, we decided to get her into the vet to see if she had a UTI. She did. The vet also found crystals in her urine. She was put on antibiotics for the UTI and two weeks later returned to the vet. She received a clean bill of health. However, her foster mom told me that she is continuing to pee and poop in her crate nearly every day. I don't think that she was initially also pooping in her crate, but she is now. The foster mom tried to put a divider in the crate to make the area smaller, but it hasn't worked. She is at a loss as to what to try next. I'm not sure what to tell her, as I've never had this problem with any dogs before and I never had the problem with this particular dog for the few days that she was with me.

 

Does anyone have any ideas? I was wondering if maybe the dog was suffering from SA and that is what was causing her to poop and pee in the crate. But, I don't really have any experience with SA. I also don't know if this is a medical problem or simply a behavioral issue. Should I get her back into the vet? What would the vet be looking for? It's possible, I suppose, that she has another UTI, but that doesn't explain why she is pooping in the crate, as well. I'm at a loss. I had put her as available for adoption and she has received numerous applications. But, I'm hesitant to adopt her out until we can figure out this issue.

[Debbie Meier]

How restrictive is the dogs feeding, watering and turn out schedule? When I have one that develops accidents, I start resticting their water intake to certain times of the day and make sure that they get fed the same time each day with no treats or food in their crate or any other time during the day, to get them on a defined schedule that coincides with walks. Also, if their body condition is good I might reduce the amount of food they are getting, if this dog is getting treats, just cutting the treats out will do that, but resist increasing the dog food amount, get them back on a schedule then if needed increase their food again. I discovered that the earlier I can feed the less chance for overnight accidents, I try to feed before 2pm, if that is not possible, it is the first thing I do when I get home. For a bit, we had either peeing accidents in the crates at night or somebody waking me up to go out around 2 am to pee, I just picked up the water dishes at 6 pm for a couple of weeks. They got back on schedule, and now dishes are back down for free choice water and no accidents.

 

I also make an extra effort to be sure that the dog empties out when I take them out for walks or to play, sometimes one will just get in the habit of forgetting to go when they are outside, as soon as there is an indication that somebody is forgetting I make sure to wait on them, if they go out in runs I make sure that there is a pee mark and a pile of poop in the run before they come in.

 

Deb

[MaryP]

I think the pooping and peeing is only happening during the day while she is at work. When she first told me about the dog peeing in the crate, I asked her if she had access to water in her crate. The foster mom told me that she didn't and that when she would let Sky out of the crate, she would go to the water bowl and drink a lot of water. When Sky was with me, she had access to water in her crate, so the first thing we tried was to give her access to water so that she would not "load up" when she was let out of the crate in the morning. We thought that she was just not having enough time to eliminate all the water that she drank before the foster mom had to leave for work. Foster mom had also started coming home at noon when she could to let Sky out of the crate. Foster mom had also been putting a towel in her crate, which I told her to remove, thinking that the porous surface might be what was stimulating Sky to pee. But, when none of these changes made a difference, we decided to get her to the vet to see if there was a medical reason. Sky did in fact have a UTI, so that would at least explain why she was peeing in the crate then. But, she was treated for that and her last vet check was good. So, it doesn't explain why she is peeing now and it certainly doesn't explain why she is also pooping in the crate. I do believe that the foster mom has been feeding on a schedule. Unfortunately, she works during the day, so Sky needs to be crated. Sky was a thin dog and this foster mom is pretty experienced, so I don't think she is overfeeding her. She has, though, been feeding them some raw. I'm not sure if they are eating only raw right now, or if they are eating a combo of raw and kibble.

 

Again, I'm wondering if this is something medical or just behavioral.

[Ninso]

My foster Jun has the world's smallest bladder! Despite the fact that when I am home she is running to the door once an hour or more, most of the time she can hold it in her crate all day while I'm at work, as long as she's only allowed a little bit of water in the morning. Sometimes she has accidents. And usually when she starts having accidents she gets on a streak of peeing in her crate for a couple days. Luckily, she's considerate and pees on the towel in her crate, then shoves it aside so I never have to bathe her. For a couple weeks I also had issues with pooping in her crate every few days, but she had diarrhea so she couldn't hold it. Fixing that was a matter of feeding rice for a couple days to clear it up and then switching her food (this was a food she had previously been fine on).

 

I agree with Deb's suggestions about limiting water and feeding on a strict schedule. If it seems to be diarrhea, maybe try switching her food. Also, make sure the crate is thoroughly cleaned so none of the smell is left. For my foster, it also seemed that she needed time to adjust to being the crate as long as she needed to be at my house, and holding it that long. We had regular pee accidents for at least a month until she got that figured out. It may help to gradually increase the time she has to hold it, if possible. That wasn't an option for me.

[Bordercentrics]

One of our own dogs began piddling inher crate (previous generation) and her vet check revealed crystals, but no UTI. The crystals alone can do it. The vet said this was common in cats, but not in dogs. She was on a special diet for a month or so to dissolve the crystals, and for the rest of her life she was on a low protein food. The crystals form from proteins, and once a dog begins to make them, it will continue. Hence the special diet for the rest of her life. The pooping could be behavioral - "I pee here all the time, so it is ok to poop as well." I would not consider that a clean bill of health for crystals would be a permanent state. Though perhaps they were a different kind of crystal from Jessie's. Her were struvite, the kind cats get.

 

Good luck. I really would look again for a medical reason, since he didn't do it at your house at all.

 

Kathy Robbins

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

We have a dog in foster care right now that has an odd sort of SA. He can't be confined to a crate because he freaks out bad and goes to the bathroom in it. While he is otherwise fine left in the foster mom's room while she is at work, he will still have the occasional accident (#2 only). It can be a sign of stress. Once she realize that he was way worse in the crate she started leaving him in her room for short periods of time to see how it went. He's getting better, slowly.

[sluj]

Is she otherwise happy to be in her crate? Has the foster mom noticed whether the pee/poop is "fresh" when she gets home? I wouldn't put it past a dog who wants out of the crate to deliberately soil it so she gets taken out for the time of cleaning (my dog used to do this with my car ).

[Jedismom]

Hi Mary!

 

Perhaps the smell is still stimulating her to go? Nature's Miracle really helps. Does the raw cause her to have loose stools where she can't hold it? Perhaps adding rice and going back to just kibble might help. Does she have accidents in the house other than the crate? If not, perhaps there is a safe place in the house that can be sectioned off for her to stay in and then try the crate again later. When Jedi was younger and restricted to the crate when I was at work, I would leave the radio on sometimes, and I would also put one of my socks in his crate with him. I had noticed that he would go in my room and take one sometimes just to cuddle with, so I thought it would make him feel better. Perhaps if Sky smelled foster mom in her crate she wouldn't want to go in it? Just a thought...

 

Georgia

(One of your other foster moms )

 

PS. Jake let me rinse down his paws today without freaking! Woo hoo!

[MaryP]

Well, I talked with Sky's foster mom some more this weekend and she thinks that the problem is that she was overfeeding Sky. Sky is thin and basically won't gain weight no matter how much her foster mom feeds her. Sky is not underweight, though, she's just a skinny teenager with a lot of energy to burn. So, foster mom decided to cut her food back to a more "normal" portion and as of Saturday, she hadn't pooped in her crate since she did so (3 days earlier). I haven't had an update since Saturday, but I'm assuming that she would let me know if Sky pooped again. I'm hoping the problem really was that simple and that there's not a more serious health or behavioral issue going on. Guess time will tell.

 

Georgia, glad to hear that Jake let you mess with his paws. I hope he's continuing to feel more and more comfortable.