Very strong smelling urine. Why?

BradA1878

Kishin has been a little strange the past few weeks - like not wanting to be in his crate at all (in the past, he's been really great about his crate). He acts like he needs to go potty, but when I let him out, he doesn't go.

Anyway, I took him with me to Denver yesterday, we stopped and did a short hike on the way down and I noticed, when he peed on a bush, his urine was REALLY STRONG SMELLING.

I checked his gums, he looks fine, so I don't think he's dehydrated. UTIs are very rare in male dogs, so I don't think that's it either.

I guess I'm wondering...

A) Is the smelly pee related to his crate frustrations? Thoughts?

Any thoughts on why his pee might be so smelly? Anyone experienced this?

We did switch his food from Primitive Naturals to Acana (we can get it here, yippee!)... That happened recently, after his crate frustration started, so I dunno if it's related or not. Maybe it's the food - I mean, that's likely I guess, but none of the other dogs have this issue.

@shishiinu - Did your Kishu hit an age where they just started to hate the crate? I've experienced that in Shikoku for sure.

Obviously we'll take him to the vet, but I just wanted to see if anyone had experienced this...

PoetikDragon

Is his urine also very dark?

Trzcina

I knew a person with a male Lapphund who had something kind of similar (I guess)... he constantly acted like he needed to pee, started to go in the house when previously he'd been housebroken pretty well, and the urine smelled almost smoky. The vet thought it was a UTI, but a course of antibiotics didn't change the smell of the urine.

Unfortunately (and unhelpfully), I don't remember what it actually ended up being... or if I ever actually heard the end of that (wasn't my dog, so I wasn't getting all the information on it).

Maybe a higher nitrogen content in the food?

BradA1878

His urine is maybe a bit darker than normal, but I wouldn't say it's 'very dark'.

tmd

Is it every time he pees or just the first or first few times after being fed? I take a b-complex vitamin in the morning that makes the first time bright yellow and smell somewhat. Maybe it's something like that and the crate frustration isn't actually causal.

BradA1878

This pee, where I really noticed it, was the first pee he had done that day. So last time he had eaten was the evening before.

lindsayt

When I have Ike on too high protein content food, I notice the pee is darker and more pungent. I switched from Acana's Prairie to the Chicken/Potato for him as the protein was lower. It seemed to help. It's also way worse when girls are in heat, and he begs to go outside, paws at doors and is a nuisance.

MapleTwinkie

Now that I think about it, when my dog was on Orijen (Regional Red) I noticed that his pee was really smelly. Not smoky, but like strong ammonia (smells like pee but extra strong). We switched him from Orijen Kibble to Orijen freeze dried food supplemented with Fromm grain-free kibble and it's been a lot better ( poo and pee wise ).

BradA1878

hmm... That makes sense. Maybe it's the Acana's higher protein. Thanks!

We do have Nori in heat now, but I'd not ever noticed an increased smell in the boy's urine.

Trzcina

I think the higher protein would raise the nitrogen (because if I remember correctly, protein has nitrogen in its structure)... which I think would probably cause more ammonia smell in the urine. Which would make sense...

Sangmort

The first pee of the day usually smells extra strong for the boys, or if they've been holding it a while if we were gone all day.


@brada1878 - Goon went through an "I hate my crate!" phase about 4 months ago or so. It was pretty ridiculous. She still has flair-ups where Bri argues with her about it tho lol

But for the most part she goes in on her own easily now. ~

Calia

Did you only notice the smell that one time, or has this been a regular occurrence? My thought was that maybe he has just been holding it in too long or has had much to drink, causing it to be more concentrated.

Another thought I had was maybe have him checked for bladder stones/crystals, especially if it seems like he's having a hard time peeing. Don't know about dogs, but males in other species (such as cats and goats) have a higher tendency to get bladder stones/crystals than females. Being that a male urethra is narrower than females, they are more likely to get clog or have a hard time passing it.

TheWalrus

I've pretty much been experiencing the same issues with Baron recently. He whines to be let out, but then nothing much out of the ordinary happens. He's had accidents in the house, hates being crated (but goes in of his own accord all the time to take naps).
His urine smelt strong and was a bit darker, so I had him checked for a UTI. Came back completely clear. He's getting his exercise, there are no females in heat, so I've just resorted to telling him to shut up.

I do make more of an effort to make sure he's hydrated, and after I moved all the pups out of the house he seems a lot more chill and less stressed. For a while he didn't want to be in the house at all. He destroyed several blinds trying to get out of my windows, and broke through two glass windows to escape out into the neighborhood. Luckily he's easy to pick up. I just open the door and tell him to get in.

So, I haven't figured it out yet either. The only thing that seemed to make sense is that he was stressed by having so many random dogs invading HIS space, but now that I've seen this thread, I realized that I did change his food recently to a higher protein kibble. Maybe I'll try putting him on something else.

StaticNfuzz

Interesting I thought this (UTI symptoms, strong urine smell) only to be of issue with Shibas we have had. We have had few females exhibit the same symptoms too that were under our care.

Anecdotally speaking ….. My male that was intact until later also had very strong urine on higher protein dog food. I had him on Orjin and Go it just did not work out as he matured. I moved him back down to a 26% protein and changed up one feeding a day to just raw with backs and veggies along with small bit of rice (rice to keep weight). This seemed to help a lot in keeping the yard fumes down too in our case. As far as the Kibble I sometimes will soup it up with extra water too if a dog has been working hard in a day.

In regard to kibble food in general, it's probably not necessarily higher protein I am guessing, but concentration of inconsistent mineralization or over supplementation of brands that may be the problem. The more ingredients in the list the less inclined I am to buy into it, maybe with high protein it's a bad combo when fortification is higher.

I recently read an article about pet food mineralization supplementation and from I understand it is really a crap shoot on what's in the bag, even though attempts are made in manufacturing to try and keep batches consistent. For the life of me I can't find the link, if I do I will post it.

Over time I just came to the realization that higher protein with super supplementation may not be that great for many mature dogs, regardless of the AFFCO recommendations in nutrient profiles. : / Splitting up kibble brands and type of food helped us a lot so concentrations were spread out.


Snf

[Edited for clarity]

BradA1878

Thanks all.

@TheWalrus - That's interesting. Kishin has been freaking out in his crate since before the food change, so I actually think they're not related.

It's interesting though because you have a similar situation to us: changed food, lots of new dogs, and puppies.

Maybe the puppies, or the lactating mothers, affect them? I've noticed Kishin will freak out the most when we let Haru and Ayu out to potty while he is in his crate. He will start to shake and pant a lot, and then start to bark. His ears go back too - he is clearly very stressed - however he will take food and eat it, so he is not over threshold.

It's strange to see Kishin stressed. He's like never stressed. Honestly the only time I ever seem him stressed is when he has to take a crap but cannot get outside to do it. That really upsets him.

I agree with the high protein thing, maybe we need to feed him a lower protein. Thanks @StaticNfuzz for your thoughts.

Kinda disappointing that Acana is doing this since we really like that food.

MapleTwinkie

@brada1878 we love the freeze dried dog food by the same company:
http://www.orijen.ca/dog-food/freeze-dried-dog-food/

We noticed better coat, poo and pee and Saigo loves it. It's really easy to feed too and the quality is right up there with their kibbles. Protein is 36% but we mix it with kibble so he's not getting too much protein.

BradA1878

Thanks @MapleTwinkie, maybe I'll give that a try.

TheWalrus

Yeah, Baron seemed to be really stressed around the time the litter was born in HIS house. Now that they're all out of the house, he's back to being chill.
Baron was also not over thresh hold, since he would also eat and stuff, but he's developed some separation anxiety through this ordeal. He freaks if I crate him and leave the house. He has to relax in his crate before I even set foot toward the door.