1-year-old peeing in his crate every day & vomiting every day

[macesmom]

I have a 1-year-old male boxer who is peeing in his crate every day while we're at work (about 8 hours) and I don't know how to break him of the habit. Usually it's just pee, but he occasionally poops also. Sometimes he does this overnight too, although less frequent, and occasionally will even do this when he is in the crate when we are around even after he just went outside. He knows exactly what to do when we take him outside and give the command, but he is very laid back and doesn't give any indication at all that he needs to go out. The vet said to exercise him in the morning before we go to work, but that hasn't helped. No urinary tract problems are to blame, so they don't have any other answers.

Corresponding with this, the poor boy also vomits at least once every day--sometimes right after eating, sometimes awhile afterward. We feed him with a raised feeder and have tried several different foods, including a raw diet and home cooked meals, but nothing seems to help. Vet has ruled everything out and doesn't know why this is happening.

I hope someone can help...we never had any problems like this with our previous boxer, and we're kind of at our wits' end.

 

[gmacleod]

Do you have any idea when he urinates? That is, is it 5 minutes after you go, or is it after several hours?

In the former case, it would seem likely that anxiety is the cause. In the latter case, the answer would far more likely be that 8 hours is beyond his limit of physical endurance (8 hours is, after all, the *maximum* amount of time a dog can reasonably be asked to hold it. It is certainly not every dog that can last that long - some simply cannot and never will be able to).

The fact that he sometimes goes overnight without asking to get out, and sometimes when you're home - combined with the fact that this appears to have been happening for some time - would suggest very much that his level of inhibition about eliminating in his crate has been reduced to a low level. That's pretty normal though, for any animal that (for whatever reason) has been doing so for some time. Just like pet store puppies, they come to see it as a quite normal event. The end result is that they won't sit in discomfort for long after they need to go, preferring instead to relieve the discomfort and endure the unpleasantness of sitting in it (whereas the aim of crating is the reverse - that the dog will endure discomfort to avoid the unpleasantness of sitting in it). This being the case - even if we can identify the reason for him having to eliminate so often AND rectify it - it will be quite some time before you're likely to be able to successfully leave this dog for 8 hours. It would thus probably be very wise to consider some form of day-care arrangement (i.e. someone - friend or hired dog walker - to come and let him out mid way through the day to relieve himself). The point here being that dogs left 8 hours don't NOT need to urinate. Rather, they sit in discomfort until the opportunity to relieve themselves is given. A dog who has lost his inhibition about relieving himself in the crate isn't going to wait that long, EVEN if you can discover and fix the reason he needs to eliminate often. To "untrain" the loss of inhibition will take time.

Anyway - to your actual problem. Can you give a bit more information about his exact diet, and what else you've tried? "Raw" and "homecooked" can cover an enormous variety of different things, as can various kibbles. If we can get a better idea of exactly what, when and how much he's consuming and exactly what/how you've tried alternatives, it might be that we can come up with some new suggestions for you. Just as an example, frequent urination is sometimes a dehydration issue (i.e. the dog drinking a lot to compensate, then needing to urinate a lot). And sometimes frequent bowel movements is a food allergy symptom. So if we can get an idea of the composition as well as form of food you've tried him on, it might just be that some useful suggestions can be made.

 

[macesmom]

I'm really not sure when he pees--I have come home early some days, like after only 4 or 5 hours, and he has already peed in his crate. Last week, he had been out several times, and I put him into his crate with some toys for an hour or two because I was in another part of the house doing some house cleaning and couldn't watch him, and when I returned he had peed already. I don't know of anyone in our area who is home during the day and available to let him out--the earliest would be after 6 hours, but by that time, often it is too late. I have heard of using a bathroom and putting papers on the floor on one side of the room and leaving the crate open on the other side of the room, hoping the dog will prefer to relief himself on the papers and may start keeping his crate clean again, and we were thinking about tying this. Do you think that would help to restore the instinct of keeping the bed area clean?

Regarding food, we have tried Beneful, Royal Canin, Iams, and now NutriPlan. After the Iams, we tried raw feeding with chicken and turkey and supplements of eggs, vegetables and small amounts of brown rice. The vet really scolded us about the raw food because of the bacteria risk since our meat is processed today, not like the raw prey they would catch in the wild, so I started cooking the food instead. Also gave some venison. He was still vomiting even with that, so we switched back to kibble. The vet gave some pills to quiet the stomach before eating, but that doesn't seem to be helping much. He usually vomits water with whole pieces of kibble in it, but occasionally will vomit more digested food. Sometimes he vomits immediately after eating, other times it can be several hours later out of the clear blue.

 

[shelrose]

how big is your crate? if its too big it may help to get a smaller one. my dog i recently got was vomiting every morning and i was told to give her a hand full of biscuits before bed. i did and it stopped immediately but she didnt vomit after eating. good luck, brian.

 

[nikasha]

I don't know how long you continued doing any one food type before switching, or if you switched gradually or not. We had our dogs on Canidae for a while, until they switched the formula on us last summer, which caused all kinds of upset for them. :( Their puking etc. continued with new food, so we had them on cooked chicken and rice for quite a while before we gradually added in California Natural, and they've been doing well since. If their system is really off balance, it helps to feed them as mild/bland a food as possible so they can regulate themselves before introducing new food.

If you can look at the ingredients of the food brands you've used, it could be useful- there could be a common preservative or something that your pup has trouble with.

 

[reina]

Vomiting suggestion

As far as your vomitting issue goes - We have a 3 year old Boxer, Reina, that had a similar problem with vomitting. On our vet's suggestion we tried switching her to Natural Balance Potato & Duck. That has eliminated the problem entirely as well as ongoing problems with ear infections. We now feed that to both of our Boxers even though the other one has never shown signs of the problem. We supplimant the dry with some Duck & Potato canned food once a day.

As for your peeing & pooping problem, good luck, we have a similar issue with our younger Boxer Rex. He does his business almost daily in the house while we are at work. Neither are in a crate as we are gone nearly 10 hours, so most of the time he does it on the vinyl floor. As with you we are not there to correct the behavior so the struggle to find a solution continues.

Reina & Rex's Dad

 

[JSFandAxle]

My boxer axle is in the cage for eight hours as well. He does pee in it but its just something i have learned to cope with. He is 10 months.

I understand it is very hard to hold it during the day. He doesnt get let out during the day because the only person in the house through the day is a person very sick with cancer and a care taker which is why he is in his crate during the day anyway.

From reading your thread it sounds like your boxer is in the cage ALOT. All day and at night to if i read it correctly.

Dogs do not do well crated all the time. Axle is left out at night and he loves just to stretch out and relax. So i would consider maybe getting a gate and putting it up at the entrance of your bedroom (to keep him in the room if you dont trust him) and let him be out more.

Its not fair for a dog to be crated all day and turn around and be put in at night too.

 

[LILYLARUE]

As for the vomiting.........my pittie would puke her kibble within an hour after eating it. Mostly undigested which gave me a clue. She was always so ravinous when she ate, she would swallow her food whole.

We ended up getting her a "no gulping" food bowl which made her eat slower, therefore, no upset tummy. May try one of these bowls for his feedings.

Also, there are conflicting suggestions on raised feeders. I used one until a month ago when I was corrected on these forums for using one. Back on the floor their dishes went. Actually helped with the gas and burping for them. I think the raised feeder didn't help that issue at all, only made it worse.

As for the crating, could you try just crating him during the day and letting him have free roam of the house the rest of the night and for sleeping? He may have anxiety issues due to being in there for too many hours during the day. I know I would get anxious and nervous if my free hours were limited to only a few. See if more time out with you in the house helps.

 

[JinaU]

Has the vet suggested that there might be something wrong with his tummy (medically)? Luke (7mnths) stays in his crate all day and during the night...he has never not once peed or pooped in his crate. I had a boxer when I was growing up and he had a very sensative stomach. It didn't matter what he was fed, his food would run right through him immediately. In most cases it was still whole. We never figured out what his issue was.