Help! My 9-month-old chihuahua pees in his crate at night, no UTI.

Hi there. It's often easier for puppies to "hold it" during the night when they would normally be sleeping, vs. during the day when they're more likely to be awake - so this could be the reason she's having accidents. It's also possible that she has separation anxiety, which often causes dogs to have potty accidents while the owner is away. I would recommend having a neighbor or dog sitter come by once or twice during the day to take her out for potty breaks as a first step. If this resolves the problem, then it's likely that she just can't hold her bladder for that long during the day just yet. If the accidents continue, then I would be very concerned that she may be anxious and upset when you're gone. In that case, I would recommend talking to your veterinarian about anti-anxiety medication and a training plan to address her anxiety.

This is a very common problem with puppies :) It sounds like the pen he is in is probably too large - it gives him too much space to work with, and makes it easy for him to wake up and find a spot to pee, rather than either holding it or whining to let you know he needs to go out. Instead of the pen, I would recommend having him sleep in a crate in your bedroom at night. Most puppies instinctively do not want to pee where they are sleeping, so in most cases this means that the pup will whine to wake you up if he needs to go out during the night. As he gets older and his bladder control improves, he should start to be able to hold it all night with no problems.

I'm sorry you're dealing with this frustrating issue. If needing an early morning bathroom break is a change, I'd recommend starting with a vet visit to make sure she doesn't have a UTI, bladder stone, skin infection, or even organ function problem etc. Those issues all can all increasing the amount of water she's drinking, making her need to go out in the middle of the night. If there is no medical issue, then it's a house training problem, which is difficult at her age. Usually using a crate to re-house train as if she were a puppy is the most effective course of treatment to deal with this.

It may just be from him being a puppy but I recommend getting a urinalysis performed to rule out urinary tract infection. If he has an infection your vet can treat with antibiotics. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

First I would make sure that Titan's crate is not too large - it should be big enough for him to stand up and turn around but not much larger. You may need to put a barrier in to make it smaller if it is too large. If it seems like it is an appropriate size you may want to have your vet examine him and make sure he doesn't have signs of a urinary tract infection. If there is no medical reason for this behavior you may need to try taking him outside on a schedule at night to hopefully prevent accidents in the crate.

This sounds like it's more likely to be behavioral, from your description - but if it's a recent change for Chichi, it's always a good idea to have a urinalysis done just to make sure. If any evidence of infection or other abnormalities are found, your vet can start her on appropriate medication to treat the problem.

I would recommend neutering Choco. This may be behavioral. I would also check blood work on him to make sure that his kidneys are functioning properly. After checking his blood work and neutering him then I would recommend crate training Choco. This means leaving Choco in a cage when you cannot 100% watch him. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.