Why do male dogs lick pee

This strange and unsightly habit is probably more common than you may think. It is perfectly normal for dogs to lick each other’s urine. They can use their vomeronasal organ to learn a lot about another dog by licking their urine.

However, a dog doesn’t need to learn about itself. So why would a dog lick up their urine? There are a few explanations for this, which we’ll cover in this article.

The 6 Reasons a Dog May Lick Its Own Pee

If a dog is dehydrated, they may be looking for liquids where ever they can. This can include their urine if they are incredibly thirsty. Dogs are often opportunistic for their food and water, which can put urine on the menu if they’re dying for something to drink.

Dogs do not have the extreme sense of taste that we have, so, likely, the urine doesn’t taste extremely bad like it would for us. Furthermore, the urine may be equally as off-putting to their nose as tap water, especially considering the number of toxins often found in drinking water.

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If your dog knows they aren’t supposed to pee inside, they may try to cover it up. They may be afraid about whatever punishment is to come if you find out. Cleaning it up by licking may seem like the best solution to them.

Dogs who lick up their urine for this reason often don’t pee in the house very much. However, sometimes they are forced to. They could have really needed to go. Alternatively, they may have an underlying condition that made it impossible for them to hold it. Senior incontinence is a common reason for this sort of behavior.

A UTI is a bacterial infection in your dog’s urinary tract. Common symptoms include blood in your pet’s urine, fever, frequent urination, accidental urination, and cloudy urine. Pain is often involved, but this can be difficult to determine whether your pet is in pain.

UTIs also lead to increased thirst, which can increase the likelihood that your canine will lick up their urine. The embarrassment factor combined with this increased thirst makes UTIs a probable reason that your dog may lick up its urine.

Cushing’s syndrome is quite rare in dogs. However, it does occur and can be tied to a canine licking up their urine. The first two symptoms that usually appear are increased thirst and frequent urination. Dogs that have to go more frequently may be more likely to have accidents in the house. Because they are thirsty more often, they may be more inclined to lick their pee as well.

If your dog suddenly starts peeing around the house and has increased thirst, they likely have some disease. For this reason, you should consider visiting a vet and having them checked out. Like urinating around the house and licking it up, sudden behavioral changes are common signs that something is wrong.

Pica is the urge to eat non-food items. It can occur in dogs, as well as in people. Dogs may be obsessed with eating a specific non-food item, or they may eat anything they can get their mouth around. Everyday non-food items include cloth, plastic, wood, paper, and rocks. However, anything can be the aim of the dog’s cravings, including urine.

Exactly why pica occurs is not heavily studied. It may be caused by behavioral reasons, like stress and boredom. A nutritional imbalance may also cause it. In an attempt to correct this imbalance, the body ends up craving non-food items.

Endocrine diseases can also cause pica, including thyroid disorders and diabetes. Diseases that may interfere with a dog’s absorption may also cause pica, as nutritional deficiencies can form. Sometimes, pica is a side effect of parasites.

How to Stop Your Dog from Licking Up Pee

Preventing your dog from licking up the urine will rely on figuring out why they’re licking it, to begin with. You have to treat the underlying cause of the behavior to end the behavior. Usually, a dog doesn’t lick their urine merely because they’re trying to be bad. They don’t understand that it’s bad behavior at all. Instead, they’re doing it for a specific reason.

We’ll look at some of the most common solutions in this section. However, not all of these will work for your canine. You’ll need to find the silver bullet.

Many dogs will need a refresher on housetraining at least once in their life. If your dog starts inappropriately going their business inside, then they may need a quick refresher. Because your dog already knows what’s going on, for the most part, this can usually be done by merely reinforcing their good habits. Treats when they go outside, and praise are usually all you need, as your dog will already understand that they need to go outside, to begin with.

Your dog should always have access to freshwater. This will help ensure that they are correctly hydrated. If they’re drinking their pee because they’re dehydrated, this can prevent that problem from occurring. Every dog should have access to fresh, clean water at all times. You shouldn’t put their water bowl right next to their food, as this can cause it to get dirty.

The water bowl should be kept somewhere where your dog always has access. In some cases, this may mean having two water bowls. If your dog spends much time outside, they will need one outside and inside.

There are quite a few medical conditions that can cause a dog to have increased thirst and frequent urination. These two symptoms can combine to make your dog lick its urine.

UTIs

Urinary Tract Infections can cause your canine to lick their urine. Some common symptoms of UTIs include urinating more frequently and increased thirst because of the increased urination. Usually, the diagnosis of this disease involves a urinalysis.

Often, the treatment for uncomplicated UTIs is antibiotics.  Sometimes, fluid therapy will be needed if your dog is dehydrated.

Cushing’s Disease

Cushing’s disease is challenging to diagnose. There is no particular test that a vet can do to diagnose Cushing’s. Instead, it is usually a process of elimination.

Cushing’s disease is caused by a tumor on your dog’s adrenal gland. In some cases, this tumor can be removed through surgery. However, in other cases, surgery may not be an option. Luckily, medication can be used as well, and most dogs live a pretty healthy life. Your dog will likely need regular vet visits and tests to ensure that the treatment is working as expected.

Pica

To treat pica, your Vet will need to identify the underlying cause. The cause needs to be treated before the pica will subside. Often, behavioral pica requires that the pet increases their exercise and mental stimulation. Most dogs do not receive enough exercise, which can cause stress and boredom pica.

Environmental enrichment is also recommended, such as food puzzles. A dog walker might be helpful if you are away from home for long periods each day. You should also limit your dog’s access to the foods they will eat. This isn’t easy to do with your dog’s urine.

If there is an underlying problem causing the pica, that will need to be treated. Usually, the pica will resolve itself once the underlying condition is dealt with.

Is Licking Pee Bad for Dogs?

While it may be quite disgusting for us, there isn’t anything bad about a dog drinking its urine. In most cases, dogs are not going to have access to enough urine to cause a problem. Therefore, there isn’t anything particularly wrong with your dog licking up its urine.

However, a dog licking pee can be a sign of some underlying conditions. If your dog is urinating around the house, that is a problem in itself. Often, inappropriate urination is also a sign of an underlying condition, especially if your dog was previously housetrained and hasn’t experienced any significant life changes.

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Featured Image: Javier Brosch, Shutterstock

Whether you think it’s gross or embarrassing when your dog licks its pee, there are reasons why they do this. Dogs are very curious animals, and they can exhibit disturbing behaviors that might concern their owner. But, not to worry. A dog that licks its pee is not a big deal, nor is it an emergency.

The reason why your dog may lick its pee may simply be an effort to hide the fact that they urinated indoors. This would apply to dogs that have been trained to pee outside and know they will be punished for peeing indoors. A more serious reason is when a dog is dehydrated. When this happens, they go into canine survival mode and will drink their own pee as a substitute for water.

Your dog’s urine contains a potent combination of uric acid, ammonia, hormones, and bacteria. Don’t freak out about the bacterial part. Just like humans, a dog’s system requires a certain amount of bacteria for healthy gut flora. Scientists and vets have long recognized animals’ ability to detect illness in other dog’s urine. Your dog can tell when his or another dog’s pee indicates sickness or infection. Luckily, it is highly unlikely they will lick infectious urine.

Signs of pet urine inside your home

Before you accuse your beloved pet of peeing indoors, make sure the liquid mess is exactly that. If it is, then you want to not only concentrate on reprimanding and retraining your dog, you need to effectively clean up the spill to prevent staining of hardwood floors and carpeting along with the possibility of your home having a foul smell that can be hard to remove.

If you’re trying to detect dog urine, you should rely on your sense of smell. Dog or cat urine will feature a sharp odor similar to ammonia, If it is a large amount of urine or urine-soaked carpet that has constantly been left untreated, then the smell could get so bad that it feels as if your lungs are burning. Remember that pet urine can become a health hazard to individuals with allergies, asthma, migraines, or a weak immune system.

After years of your dog’s bad behavior, the urine and the smell can become embedded in your home’s carpet and padding, baseboards, subflooring, and furniture. Residual animal urine, if not immediately cleaned up and when occurring often can cause allergy-like symptoms in the family and friends, leave a distinct and strong odor, promote mold and bacterial growth, and even damage the structural elements of your home.

Why do dogs lick their pee?

1. A bad habit or behavioral issues

Like people, dogs can also develop bad habits. Some include chasing cars, barking at people passing by, being irritated by the mailman, and yes, occasionally urinating indoors. Before you scold your pet too harshly, consider if the dog may need another round of house training or whether they were properly trained in the beginning. Talk with your vet to make sure your furry friend is healthy, then consider retraining.

Also, the owner’s habits may be at the root of the problem. When pet owners don’t establish a regular schedule of feeding and taking the dog outdoors, the pet may begin to lose their urine simply by mistake. Also, you may want to consider removing your pet’s water dish overnight and replacing it first thing in the morning. This can prevent overnight accidents for dogs that may have a weakening bladder.

2. A senior dog with incontinence

Urinary incontinence and dog licking own urine can be common with older dogs and especially neutered females. This will be a problem for your vet to solve because canine incontinence can be due to a number of problems including a urinary tract abnormality or a bladder infection. When either of these two medical conditions are left untreated, they can cause large amounts of urine to leak from the dog’s bladder when they lie down.

Unless your senior dog is completely unaware that they are leaving pee on the kitchen floor overnight, then it may not be incontinence. Veterinarians believe 80% of true incontinence problems are caused by a weakening of the bladder neck or the ‘sphincter mechanism’. When this happens in senior dogs, they have a hard time keeping urine within the bladder. When the dog lies down, this changes the internal pressure on the bladder allowing urine to easily flow into the neck of the bladder and then start to leak out.

3. Symptoms of UTI infections in dogs

While a urinary tract infection may not directly answer the mystery of dog licking own urine, it does answer the question as to why your dog is urinating more often and unable to wait to be taken outdoors. A UTI is a bladder infection that can cause your dog pain while urinating, straining to urinate, or frequently urinating. Another telltale sign of a possible UTI in your dog is when the urine has a very strong odor.

When your dog is unable to adhere to its housetraining rules, that can be a red flag that something is wrong. The UTI may have started when bacterial traveled from the dog’s urethra and into the bladder. Since the bladder strives to be a sterile environment, the growing bacteria sets up the body’s fight reaction which is physically displayed as an infection.

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4. Cleaning up to avoid shame

If your dog has been properly housetrained and they know they will be punished if they have peed indoors, then they might lick their own pee as a way of cleaning up after an accident. This happens more often when a dog has been left indoors too long with a pee break and there is no one around to take them out. Most homeowners who know they may be gone from the home for over 8 to 10 hours per day will have a doggy door installed so the pet can easily go outside to pee and come safely back indoors.

Other options include hiring a dog walker to stop by and take your pet out for exercise and a chance to urinate. When a dog cannot pee anywhere else, it makes sense that they will urinate indoors. This can set up a sense of shame when the dog knows they have broken their training. There’s no better way to keep the secret than to get rid of the evidence. For some dogs, this means licking their own pee to avoid the shame and punishment of having an accident in the home.

5. A dog with dehydration

While it is uncommon, a dog that is dehydrated may start to lick their own pee. Your dog simply may be trying to quench their thirst when they lick their own pee. Other signs of canine dehydration include:

• lethargy or reduced energy
• drinking liquids other than water
• loss of appetite
• excessive panting
• dry nose and sticky gums
• sunken eyes
• loss of skin elasticity
• vomiting and/or diarrhea

It is recommended that healthy dogs drink 1 ounce of water for every pound, every day. That’s about a half-gallon of water for a healthy 65-pound dog.

When dogs lick other dogs pee

In addition to asking why do dogs lick their pee, many pet owners have the problem of their dog licking the urine of other dogs. Some dogs use this behavior to learn about another dog. By licking other dogs’ pee, they are using their sense of smell and taste as a social gauge. By licking another dog’s pee, they can tell if the other dog is ill, is in heat, or if the dog is female.

It is common behavior for dogs to sniff other dog’s urine while you are taking them for a walk. This is an ingrained dog behavior. You can avoid some of this by not taking your dog to trees where other dogs have likely marked their territory with urine. While it can frustrating and worrisome to use humans, a dog sniffing or licking another dog’s pee is usually instinctive behavior and one that they likely cannot control.

Tips to correct dog licking own urine

• Consider another round of house training for your dog
• Reinforce proper behavior with rewards and adoration
• Make sure your dog stays properly hydrated with fresh water
• Provide a doggy door so your dog can go outside to pee
• Have your vet give your dog a wellness check
• Immediately correct any bad behavior when you are witnesses

Finally, for dogs that were born and raised in a puppy mill, this could be the answer to “why do dogs lick their pee”. Unfortunately, these puppies will pick up bad habits like eating their own poo and licking their own pee because of the bad conditions that exist in puppy mills. Large numbers of puppies are raised together in these breeding houses, and they are often locked ins small or cages where they are fed and forced to urinate and defecate.

Puppy mill surviors will often exhibit other bad habits or behaviors such as difficulty in house training, problems interacting with other dogs, and a list of obsessive- compulsive behaviors that are repetitive like spinning, barking, chewing, All of these are primitive ways your puppy mill dog used to cope with the stress of being caged and/or neglected.

As with any dog that is exhibiting unhealthy behaviors like licking their own pee, it is helpful to remain patient while retraining to change the behavior. It can also be useful to clean up any accidental pet urination immediately. Don’t leave the urine to dry and don’t use bleach or white vinegar to clean it up. This can cause hardwood floor or carpet discoloration. Using ammonia will simply lure your dog back to the same spot because it leaves a similar smell as a dog that has marked their territory.

Instead, use an enzyme-based cleaning product that targets urine and breaks down the protease enzyme and uric acid found in the urine, dissolving it in the solution so it can be easily wiped away. These cleaners will also rid your floor of the bacteria left behind. Other options include using a mixture of baking soda or hydrogen peroxide and water which will effectively neutralize any odors.

You may also want to consider deodorizing the home. Often urine smells can be hidden from a homeowner, but be very obvious to visitors. Until you get your dog the medical or psychological help they need to stop urinating indoors and/or licking their own pee, it is important to keep the areas of accidental urine clean and disinfected.