Change in behaviour

Hi all,

Baldrick (our 4yr old tri-boy), has been a bit out of sorts lately. He's been extremely lively in the evenings, sometimes not settling down all evening (usually he's on one of our laps by 8pm!). Doesn't matter if he's been for a walk or not.

He's also had more accidents (both wee and poo). He's usually a very clean dog, but after only a short time we've found a present on the carpet. He's not asked to go out (which he usually does). Tonight he walked into the lounge and had a wee in front of me!

He's still eating fine, and seems ok other than this.

We're probably going to take him to the vets, but wondered if anyone had any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!


Mark

Could be a urinary infection, but the change in behaviour as well as toiletting should definitely be checked out. Unusual changes in toiletting can be an awful lot of things but there's almost always a reason -- ranging from anxiety for some reason (eg arrival of a new animal, change in home environment, move to a new home, even rearranging furniture, to illness of some sort etc). Also the 'liveliness' may actually be discomfort that is preventing him from getting comportable and settling down, So I'd get him to a vet. He won't be peeing in front of you to try and prove anything; most likely he isn't able to hold himself for some health-related reason or else is reassuring himself by doing this (peeing and defecating for dogs is a lot about marking territory so it smells of them and making it familiar). A urinary tract infection can become serious if if is allowed to fester and goes into the kidneys so be sure to have it checked.