Why Does My Dog Drink His Pee [And What You Can Do About It]

It’s true that animals tend to pick up habits overtime, but it’s really cringe to see your dog drink its urine. Depending on your relationship with it, it’s almost like seeing your baby or child drinking. 

It’s a disgusting thing to see and you would of course be looking for a remedy, or at the very least, a reason for why your dog is drinking its pee.

Sigh!

Regardless, there’s always a remedy for new habits when it comes to our furry friends. And your dog could possibly be drinking or lapping its pee because it is dehydrated, thirsty or lacking nutrients. 

There could also be more to it than meets the eye. Because our dogs cannot communicate with us verbally, we learn different things through the actions they display and that include drinking its own urine!

Why Would a Dog Drink His Own Urine?

The first reason that comes to mind is that your dog is thirsty. Coming from the experts table, it is expected that your dog should drink an ounce of water per every pound of its weight every day. 

This is the barest minimum you can offer by the way. 

If you’re not giving your dog enough supply of water, it may resort to drinking its urine. 

Another big reason you’ll want to ponder upon is if you are feeding your dog his required daily nutrients. While not many people agree with this point, it is also a valid reason why dogs drink its urine. 

It is necessary to make sure that your dog gets enough nutrients, so be skeptical and intentional when it comes to picking dog food, wet or dry. 

It could also be as a result of behavioral issues that develop over time. It usually comes with a number of other odd and negative behaviors. So if your dog is drinking his urine while doing some other odd behaviors it doesn’t usually do, it may be as a result of behavioral issues. 

However, it’s nothing to be worried about, as it can be easily taken care of if not left for too long. 

A year ago, a friend of mine adopted a dog that had been neglected. At least you could tell just by looking at him that his previous own did him dirty. He lacked a lot of nutrients and had some odd behaviors. It was the first time I encountered a dog that drank his urine. 

I mean, I’ve heard people take about it but I never really knew anybody with a dog problem like that. This also confirmed that dogs can resort to drinking its urine if it had been neglected and abused by its owners. 

Why Does a Dog Drink Another Dog’s Urine?

Yes, this is an utterly disgusting thing to see or even think about, but funny enough, it is a natural thing for dogs to lick or drink other dogs’ urine. 

Let’s try to remain as calm as possible when we see this happen. Experts say it is a way dogs use to analyze other dogs. It plays an important role when it comes to reproduction, hunting and building social relationships with other dogs. 

Most dogs however, use it as a way of deciphering whether or not the other dog is a male or female dog. 

Should You Let a Dog Drink His Urine?

Of course not! Regardless of how we want to see it, Urine will always be termed as a waste product and will never be a healthy thing to put back into the system. 

It could cause health issues which may create even bigger problems in the future for your dog. 

Assuming your canine is drinking pee from the latrine bowl, shut down this promptly, particularly in the event that you utilize a drop in latrine cleaner. In any case, regardless of whether you do or not, cleaners leave lingering films that are poisonous to your pet, and microscopic organisms in latrine bowls can likewise cause sickness.

Also, keep in mind that leaving this behavior to go on without any plans of curbing it would definitely make it even harder to stop when you’re ready.  It might stick and grow on them because they think it’s a good thing because you’ve not scolded it or tried to stop it from drinking his urine. 

How Do You Stop Your Dog From Drinking His Own Urine?

Persistent is and will always be the key to tackling this issue. Sometimes it’s really overwhelming when t seems like your efforts are only going into voicemail and not taking a positive turn. 

If you really want this habit to go away, there are a certain things to might need to do or change. 

  • Ensure they are drinking enough water!: it’s really unfair to leave your furry buddies thirsty for water seeing that they do not have so much access to the fridge as or water can a much your kids might. Even if it requires you setting up reminder, please do so. 
  • Bribe them with treats: while doing this let’s not forget that too much of everything is not good and these adorable dogs are also smart. Do not let them blackmail you into giving them cookies each time they want to drink their urine. 
  • Make sure their food is nutrient densed; as the case may be, you don’t want them getting over weight either. 

Conclusion 

While recognizing the yuck factor, fortunately drinking his own pee isn’t probably going to be destructive to your pet. The canines’ stomach related framework really sanitizes it.

 So while it probably won’t be the most wonderful experience, it isn’t unexpected, not risky, and much of the time, can be totally (or totally) remedied.

 Regardless of whether you are left with a dog drink of pee occasionally, recall every one of the up-sides they bring to our lives. Lets treat them with care during the correcting process. 

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