Dog Symptoms Guide

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Urination - Excessive
Excessive urination is often the result of excessive drinking or thirst (see ‘thirst - increased’). However, in some cases, urination is excessive due to other reasons. The most common reason is ‘cystitis’. This is an inflammation or infection of the lining of the urinary bladder. Cystitis leads to more frequent urination rather than excessive amounts of urine, but the difference is not always easy to tell. Cystitis can be a primary bacterial infection but it may also be the result of the formation of crystals in the urine. These crystals can irritate the bladder lining and cause secondary infections. They can also lead to the formation of bladder stones.

In cases of cystitis there is often blood in the urine, but the amount may be so small as to be invisible with the bare eye. Your vet can do certain tests on the urine to establish the presence of blood, or other compounds, in the urine. Cystitis also leads to painful urination, often seen as straining.

If you think your dog may be urinating excessively, ask your vet for advice.

Urination - Inappropriate
Inappropriate urination is when the dog urinates in the wrong place or at the wrong time. This is sometimes a consequence of an increased urge to urinate, like for instance in cases of cystitis, or of the need to pass excessive amounts of urine, for which there are many different possible causes (see ‘urination - excessive’).

However, it can also be caused by a lack of house training. Dogs do not automatically know when and where to urinate and it is up to the owner to teach the dog this behaviour correctly. Most vets can help you to overcome this problem by giving advice on house training, or by getting in touch with a canine behaviourist.

Another form of inappropriate urination is urinary incontinence (see ‘incontinence’).