UTI symptoms for a female puppy

by Dina
(PA)

How do I know if my 8 week old female boxer pup is having UTI symtoms or just regressing in housebreaking?

I take her outside and when I bring her in she has an accident. Urine was a brownish tinge this morning but is becoming more yellow as the day goes on.

Could she be marking her scent(we also have a 5 year old male boxer)




Hi Dina
At 8 weeks old she's not scent marking, and it could easily be that she's still confused over exactly where she's supposed to urinate, or that she has a UTI.

A puppy with a urinary tract infection will need to pee urgently, often every few minutes, and sometimes will have to strain to pass just a few drops. The urine will often be dark colored, or even have red streaks of blood in it when a UTI is present. BUT if your pup isn't drinking enough water, or it's been several hours since her last potty break, darker urine is possible even if she's perfectly healthy.

Puppies of this age need a potty break approx every 30 minutes to an hour during the day, and often once or twice during the night. This is perfectly normal. They often also need to squat and pee more than once each break, especially first thing in the morning and last thing at night. If you take her out for her first potty trip of the day, don't assume she's finished just because she's peed and pooped, she may need to do either (or both) twice.

Such a young pup has no real grasp of what's expected of her in terms of elimination habits, and it takes months of consistent and patient training before she will be reliable and consistent. I'd definitely recommend using a crate as it is the simplest, and fastest way to housebreak a puppy, or dog of any age! If she consistently comes indoors and pees again within minutes, put her in her crate as soon as you come in, then take her back outside after 10 mins and encourage her to 'go' again. You need to build the correct habits from day one.

Check out both my Potty Train A Puppy and Crate Training A Puppy pages for lots of tips and advice to help you in this area.

If you DO think she may have a UTI though, it's important to have your vet examine her as soon as possible. This type of infection is generally easy and quickly treated, but if it's left untreated it can cause some serious problems.

Best of luck with your puppy.