Smelly urine

Our Cavapoo has had smelly acid concentrated urine since he was about 6 months old.. he is now 2. We were originally told by the vet he was dehydrated which was confirmed by a set of bloods. We changed his diet to wet food as recommended which improved for a short amount of time. I recently took him back after smelling the smell stronger than ever and turned out he had a urine infection and crystals in his urine. We were given supplements and a course of antibiotics but the smell doesn’t seem to have disappeared. I also feel like his glands are bigger and he’s not completely himself despite still eating as normal. Any advice would be greatly greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Hello - what is it you're smelling?  If thats to do with anal glands, it should be very potent and out of his bum / anus.  If its to do with urine are tge prostate, its the pee that smells.  Concentrate urine does smell and with any dehydrated dog, plentiful water can be helpful.  Soaking food, offering it regularly, hand-offering it from an alternative container, are all ways to try to increase water intake.   However, it makes sense to disuss the problem with your vet - this way, if there might be anything going on with the urine they want to pick up, they can ask for a sample.

Hi Liz, Thank you for your reply. It’s a very strong urine smell. He drinks ample amount of water in my opinion compared to my parents dogs. We’ve changed his diet to wet food. Anything else you can recommend to increase water intake ?

It is quite easy for your vets to test the urine to make sure that it is too concentrated and not, for instance, excessive red blood cells being broken down so changing the colour of the urine (jaundice), or crystals, prostatitis or bladder stones etc.  Urine associated with diabetes can sometimes look very yellow, with you mentioming ample water intake; usually the water intake of undiagnosed diabetics is excessive.  Urine concentration can also provide an indication of kidney health.  Your vet would need a fresh urine sample to start tests off for most of these things, so never underestimate the value of catching one in a clean (and dry!) tub on your way to the vets.  They might even run one before an appointnent, if it might be urgent for example.  I have heard of people adding salt to drinking water or diet but we would strongly advise againt this because besides tasting disgusting, dogs with a high salt intake simply need more water to compensate for it and often get sick, so it doesn't really solve anything.  I hope that something there helps!