Question about grain free food and peeing Just wanted to see if anyone else that was feeding grain free has an opinion on this. I started feeding Columbo Wellness Core grain free a couple months ago. Columbo has always been "well fed" shall we say, and weighed a bit more than he should. As a young adult, he was pushing 10lbs until I switched him to low fat dog food, where he leveled off at about 8.5 lbs. The breeder told me he should be around 7.5 lbs, but the vet never told me he was over weight at 8.5. Anywhoo, we switched to the grain free food when his previous food changed the formula on us. To our surprise, he has lost another pound. He is now 7.4, which is where the breeder said he always should be. He is 9 years old and believe me, he still does not look skinny. But he doesn't resemble a sausage shape anymore, either. He really looks good. And I think the little extra weight loss is good for him, especially since he had LP/ACL surgery on both knees last year (doing great, by the way). I didn't expect the weight loss, but it makes sense because there is a higher protein, lower carb content in his new food. So here's the question... recently, he has to pee a lot. Not when he's being a couch potato, but when he's up and around, he keeps wanting to go out to pee. Even after he's JUST gone out, he wants to go out again and takes ANOTHER long pee! We just started noticing this in the last couple weeks. My husband googled it, worried that maybe it's something serious, and he found a discussion online about someone who's dog switched to EVO (very high protein content) and had the same symptoms. That man's vet thought the dog was having trouble processing the high protein food and recommended a lower protein food. The EVO was something like 42% protein. Wellness Core grain free is 36% protein. Columbo is acting completely normal except for the peeing. When he is running around all excited after Daddy gets home in the evening, he is frequently asking to go out to pee again. Has anyone else had this experience with grain free foods? Columbo will be going in for his regular checkup in about a month, so as yet, I don't see any behavior to go in early. I'd also really hate to change his food since it has great reviews and he loves it. |
That's a very high protein content and it is much harder on their kidneys. The fact it's grain free is probably immaterial as there are other grain free products out there with a much lesser protein content. |
I've heard that high protein is only bad, if you already have kidney problems, but if the kidneys are healthy, it's not a problem. You might want to get a diabetes test, diabetes can cause thirst and frequent urination, it can also cause weight loss in the advanced stages of untreated diabetes. |
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I would for sure go get a u/a done. It may NOT be realted to the food at all:) There is ALOT of good info out there about high protein and not being realted to kidney problems at all. But i think this could very well be a uti and may not even be related to diet. |
I think I would have the vet check him out for a uti or something similar before I thought of it being the food. Peeing a lot all of a sudden is probably an infection that needs to be checked out or it can just get worse and worse. |
Peeing frequently small amounts may be a sign of infection, however, if they are peeing normal to large amounts it may be a sign of diabetes. |
We are using Blue Buffalo Grain Free. I have noticed that the poodles have lost a little weight but they REALLY needed to,age 11yrs. The pom hasnt really lost any weidht,age 13yrs. The protein % is 26. Noone here has changed their potty habits,except that the poo in my yard isnt as much. |
I've just recently been introduced to 'calcium/phosphorus' content in dog food. Momo is 6 yrs old & had a urinalysis, it showed struvite crystals in his urine. The vet said to lower the ash levels in his food which consists of minerals & calcium/ phosphorus. I don't know much about this to fully understand, but I've read that calcium to phosphorus ratio should be 1:1. The AAFCO recommends .8 Minimum - 1.6 Max Phosphorus in dog food. Selecting Nutritious Pet Foods It would be ideal to get a urinalysis, as it doesn't cost much & it's also a good test for a prognosis. |
I'd not associate so much unless other labs were concernong-by all means do labs please better safe that sorry. However like people carbs take more water to burn off, more water is retained as well in animals grains can cause overheating and itching...animals usually drink more water to releive this. Its extremely noticable in rodents. This may just be the body balancing itself out as well old habbit of what is now over drinking due to previous need. |
I've always had to give Columbo lots of opportunities to pee, because he saves it up to mark every post he passes. Walks are certainly not for our exercise, because since he's always had to stop and pee on everything, it's slow going. We laugh because after awhile, there is no more pee coming out, but he still lifts his leg to mark it. We live in a very large neighborhood with lots of dogs on walks, which means he has lots of places he HAS to leave his business card. The new "urgent" behavior is generally just at night after Daddy gets home, usually after everyone (humans) are done eating, and then after that is when the urgent need to go pee starts. It continues until he finally chills out a couple hours later and becomes a couch potato once again. The only other time I've noticed this is after bath time, which is usually on a weekend morning. I always let him pee before bath time, then once he's out of the tub, he rips and races all over the house and then suddenly has to urgently pee, usually a long one - even though he just went out before the bath. The bath time pees have been going on longer than the new food. I will call to see if he needs to bring in a pee sample before he goes in for his check up so that they can check it. I thought about diabetes as well, because my parents had a cairn that drank a lot of water that was diagnosed later in life. The strange thing is, Columbo isn't drinking anymore water than he ever has throughout his life. I change his water bowl every morning, and there is the same amount in it as always. I don't know about Wellness having a higher protein content than other grain frees. I just did a quick check on Dog Food Advisor of a few 5 star grain free foods: Innova 35%, Holistic 38%, Canidae 32%, Wellness 34%, Merrick 38%, Fromm 30%. I am hoping this is just related to the new food and the weight loss. One can't help but worry, though, that it might be something more. |
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The urine has to be sterile, they use a catheter to get urine from boys. Just don't let him pee b4 going into the vet's office so they'll be able to get a sample. Hope all goes well. |
Scoobers is such a bad marker when walking he runs out of 'markingstate matter' but still lifts his legs for show... |
I use grain free I don't have an issue but our food is 28% protein I hear too high of a protein isn't good but it may be different effects on some and nothing is others . |
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