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Frequent Urination

Beagles with Frequent Urination

Overview

There are many reasons why a Beagle puppy, adult, or senior dog may need to urinate much more often than normal. Some causes are nothing to be concerned about, others warrant making some changes, and finally, there are some root causes that can point to a health issue.

This section will help you determine what is happening and steps to take to help resolve the problem. 

How Often a Beagle Should be Urinating

First, to identify an issue, it can help to know what the normal baseline is. Beagle puppies that are still being house trained may pee as often as every two hours. Adults up to the age of 8 years old will pee every 4 to 6 hours, though in some cases, a Beagle can hold their bladder for much longer, 8 or even 10 or 12 hours. Senior Beagles tend to have gradually weakening bladder muscles and therefore may need to urinate more often as they age. 

Note that many factors including diet (wet vs dry food), activity level, and water intake will affect how often a Beagle needs to release their bladder. 

Things That Can Be Mistaken for Frequent Urination

There are a couple of instances when it may seem as if a Beagle is peeing a lot, but it is actually a different problem. This includes:

• Housebreaking issues. If a puppy or dog is not fully housebroken, any puddles of pee can seem like a lot, even if the frequency is not above normal. 

• Territorial marking. Since marking often involves spraying urine onto indoor objects, this will lessen the frequency that a dog pees outside, and therefore may appear to be an issue of frequent urination. Signs of marking include peeing inside but having bowel movements outside, a light spraying of urine (not releasing the full bladder), and sometimes peeing on vertical objects (table legs, etc.) and/or certain areas such as near a home’s entry points. In addition, Beagles that are not spayed or neutered tend to mark more than those that are. 

Reasons for Frequent Urination

• Young age. Puppies have weak bladder muscles; these will gradually strengthen as they grow. In addition, there is often very little time from when a young pup drinks water to when he needs to void his bladder (sometimes as little as 5 or 10 minutes). New 8-week-old puppies may need to be taken out as often as every hour. 

• Old age. As a dog ages and moves through the senior years, the bladder can weaken, leading to age-related incontinence. This said, it’s important to not dismiss incontinence as just an age-related issue since there can be any number of underlying health issues at play. This includes canine diabetes and kidney or liver issues. 

In either case, a sudden increase in urination seen with senior Beagles warrants a veterinary visit. Testing will be performed to find any underlying issues and if the incontinence is deemed to be age-related, there are medications that can be given to help including drugs that aid in strengthening the urinary sphincter muscles. 
• Health issues. There are a number of health issues that can cause excessive urination. Just a few of the most common ones are:
  • UTI (urinary tract infection). Most UTIs are bacterial infections, making this the most common infectious disease in dogs, with approximately 14% of dogs developing at least one UTI in their lifetime. Signs include frequent urination, blood in the urine (may appear dark orange, pink, or red), cloudy urine, dribbling urine, signs of pain while urinating, straining to urinate, and/or licking the genital area. This can be treated with prescribed antibiotics. 
  • Bladder infection or bladder stones. This typically has the same symptoms as a UTI; though, is seen more frequently with female dogs. 
  • Canine diabetes. Though young dogs can develop juvenile diabetes, the most common type, Type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes, occurs most often with dogs between the age of 6 and 9 years old. 
Signs include excessive thirst, excessive urination, changes in appetite, weight loss, lethargy, reoccurring UTIs, skin issues, vision issues and/or vomiting.  While some cases can be controlled with dietary changes or oral medication, many dogs will need insulin injections. 
  • Kidney disease, infection or stones. Signs can vary depending on the exact issue at play, though frequent urination, pale urine, and/or loss of bladder muscles are very common. Other signs may include vomiting, weight loss, lethargy, reduced appetite, and/or breath with an odd, ammonia odor.
  • Other, less common health issues. This includes Cushing's disease, liver disease, and prostrate problems.
• Heat cycle. Females may urinate frequently during heat to mark in an effort to signal that they are ready to mate. 
• Increased water intake. Of course, the more a dog drinks, the more frequent that dog will pee. Though some of the preceding health issues do have increased thirst as a symptom, warmer weather and/or an increase in activity are both common reasons why a Beagle will drink more than usual.

• Side effect of medication. Certain medications like prednisone, anti-convulsant medications given for seizures, and even Vitamin D supplements can cause increased thirst and urination. 

What to Do if Your Beagle has Excessive Urination

1. If you notice any red flag signs, bring your Beagle to the veterinarian. 

Any changes in frequency, urgency, or discomfort while urinating warrants a vet checkup. This should be done even if your puppy or dog just recently had an examination since something could have developed from then to now. If not, you may be trying in vain to fix a problem that must be medically treated.  

2. Reassess the housebreaking rules and your role with that. 

Successful housebreaking requires teamwork between you and your Beagle. Have a designated bathroom area, take your Beagle outside often enough, create a small indoor area lined with pee pads for when you are not home or cannot supervise, and offer praise and reward with tasty training treats each time your guy or gal does the deed in the correct area. 
3. Address any territorial marking issues, if applicable. 

While marking can indeed be a challenging issue to contend with, there are effective steps that you can take to stop a Beagle from marking. 
4. Clean indoor accidents with enzyme cleanser. 

Any area that your Beagle has urinated before is a likely spot for a repeat performance. This is due to enzymes found in urine and feces. Soap and water do not remove these. If cleaned as so, the area will appear spotless but will be sending out hard-to-ignore signals to your dog. 

So, the key is to eliminate all evidence that your guy or gal pee’d inside. This can be accomplished with an effective enzyme cleanser like Rocco & Roxie Professional Strength Stain & Odor Eliminator . This is works very well, no matter how deep the odors are, is safe around children and pets, and works on all surfaces. 
5. Stretch out bathroom visits, if possible. 

There are two aspects to this. One is that many healthy older pups and young adult dogs can hold on a bit longer than owners may assume. If you take your Beagle outside every 45 minutes, your dog may urinate every 45 minutes. But, if you gradually increase this to 60, then 90 minutes, your Beagle may do just fine with that. 

The other aspect is that with young pups, bladder muscles must be allowed to strengthen and pups must be taught to have some control. You can help by gradually extending the time between taking your pup out (though not so long as to have it lead to an accident and certainly not for the first morning urination which most dogs need to release very soon after awakening). 
6. Minimize the mess. 

If a Beagle is peeing all over the house, that dog should not have access to the entire house. Limit bathroom accidents by keeping your Beagle confined to one area to minimize the mess. This can be accomplished by gating off a small area or keeping your pup in a canine playpen like the IRIS 8-Panel Pet Playpen with a Door. 
7. In the summer, work to keep your Beagle cool. 

As covered, warm weather leads to increased water intake which leads to increased urination. But, the cooler a dog is kept and the less a dog pants, the less there’ll be a need to drink more than usual.  

Some tips to keep your Beagle cool and comfortable include avoiding walks during the hottest parts of the day (10 AM to 5 PM), offering a kiddie pool for your Beagle to cool off (be sure to supervise any time your Beagle is outside), and making use of a cooling mat. Cooling mats (or pads) are made with a special gel that absorbs a dog’s excess body heat. For this, we recommend the The Green Pet Shop Cooling Pet Mat, this is pressure activated and is available in several sizes. 
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