[JennLH81]

A little bit of history....we have a 21 week old male Portuguese Water Dog. He weighs about 27 lbs and was eating 2.5 cups of Blue Buffalo Basics a day. He seems to be growing and developing well.

We spoke to the breeder on Tuesday and she was surprised at how little, amount wise, that he was eating. She suggested upping his food intake to 4.5 cups a day, so yesterday we decided to up Gunner's food intake.

Obviously the increase in food led to an increase in poop, but that's to be expected.

The confusion comes from last night....When we went to put him in his crate for bed, he wouldn't go in (very unusual!). He went back downstairs to the door to go out. We let him out and he pooped (smart dog!) and peed. This was at 11:00. From 11:00 to 1:00 he was extremely restless; rolling around, getting up, etc. I finally decided to take him back out at 1:15 and he peed (nothing major). I gave him a few sips of water because he was doing a little panting and headed back upstairs. He went back in his crate but was still restless. I think maybe I got an hour or two of sleep. He started whining again around 4:30 (not unusual) so I just decided to get up. Needless to say when I got up and let him out of his crate his bedding was completely soaked; soaked as in dripping with pee. What the heck?!? He has NEVER had an accident in his house, EVER. During potty training he had a max of 5 accidents ever. Needless to say my husband and I are sooooooo confused. The only thing that changed was his food intake.

Any insight or help? We're thinking we increased the amount by too much, too fast and his body/digestive system just couldn't handle it?!

Please help?! I obviously don't want him to regress in his housebreaking, nor do I want to be starving my poor guy!!!

 

[Willowy]

Maybe he had a tummy ache from too much food? Or his full belly was pressing on his bladder? I would just keep an eye on him to see if it happens again.

For the food amount, hmm, 2.5 cups a day sounds OK to me. Although the breeder should know, right? What food does she feed her dogs? What does the bag say (it's not gospel but a good guideline to start from)? If you do want to increase his intake, try a slower increase. Like 2 1/2 cups today, 2 3/4 cups for a couple days, 3 cups for a couple days, etc.

 

[Amaryllis]

She may not feed a dense food like blue buffalo. If she's feeding purina, 4.5 cups would make sense, but that would be way too much blue buffalo.

 

[workerant]

4.5c sounds like an awful lot. My dog is 24 pounds, slender and full-grown, and she eats 1.5c/day of Taste of the Wild (or homemade) plus a half-dozen-ish small training treats. Was your puppy gaining weight and growing before you increased her food? I would expect a puppy to eat more than a grown dog of the same size, but 4.5c is a LOT. If I were you, I'd revert to feeding 2.5c/day and gradually increase the amount, if that's even necessary. As for the potty accident, that was probably the result of a stomachache, but I'd watch her closely for a while. She could have a coincidental bladder infection or something too.

It's never a bad idea to ask your vet about this sort of thing. I wouldn't make an appointment just for the kibble question but I would if the potty accident wasn't a one-off. Or if I thought the pup was failing to thrive (not putting on weight.)

 

[sassafras]

If he is a healthy lean weight, 2.5 cups is fine.

I doubt the food intake directly caused the urine in the crate. But it's certainly possible that he felt restless and uncomfortable from eating so much more food than he was used to, and being awake and active at a time when he normally would have been sleeping may have made him aware of his bladder. Also some puppies/dogs drink a lot of water when they overeat so his bladder may have been fuller anyway.

 

[Goldens&Labs4Me]

I agree that 4.5 cups of Blue Buffalo sounds like a lot of food for a 27 lber. My 85 lb (adult) golden eats 2.5-3 cups a day.

Hope it's an isolated incident and tonight is much better. Agree she probably had a tummy ache.

 

[JennLH81]

Thanks for all the replies...Gunner had a fine night last night. We reverted back to the original feeding schedule and we were all able to get some sleep and wake up to a clean crate! Glad there are people here willing to help when you have what may be a seemingly silly question!