Puppy potty habits at 4:00-5:00 AM

Discussion in 'Labrador Puppies' started by grammykate, Oct 29, 2018.

  1. grammykate

    grammykate Registered Users

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    Boulder (will be 10 weeks this week) and has been waking up around 4-5am to pee & poo. I can't seem to figure out why he is pooing at the time, since his last meal is at 6pm-ish. He does eliminate after his last meal although I have noticed he isn't the type of dog that needs to go poo right after his meals. We are treating him for Sarcoptic Mange and we do give him a dose of antihistamine, for scratching at 9pm in a small pill pocket. Should I eliminate the pill pocket and just put the pill down his throat? Look forward to some help.
     
  2. Michael A Brooks

    Michael A Brooks Registered Users

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    Hi @grammykate young puppies don't have much bowel and bladder control. At that age you do have to make frequent trips to the designated spot in the garden, even during the night. For example, puppies can hold their bladder for roughly one hour for each month of life. So the pill pocket is not the issue. It's just the age of your puppy.
     
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  3. Mango

    Mango Registered Users

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    If he can hold from 9pm to 4-5am, he is awesome!
    When my pup was 10 weeks, we went out every 3 hours, he would poo almost every time.

    It does get better. The zombie phase goes by in about a month.
     
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  4. Edp

    Edp Registered Users

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    The antihistamine might be making him drowsy too...I think Meg was up every 4ish hours at that age
     
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  5. Jo Laurens

    Jo Laurens Registered Users

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    I don't think the poo at 4-5am is related to either the pill pocket or the time of the last meal. 6pm is plenty early enough for a last meal and a tiny bit of food as is involved in a pill pocket, isn't going to affect things.

    Instead, think about the quality of the food you are feeding. If you are feeding a food with a lot of fillers, bulk, fibre, etc etc, then you are going to have more 'product' coming out. If you are feeding a highly nutritiously dense food with little waste, then you are going to have far less coming out the other end... and far fewer toilet needs per day...
     
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  6. grammykate

    grammykate Registered Users

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    Thank you all very much for your help. Can anyone recommend a good puppy food that is really good? I’m in the USA, and right now he is eating Nutrena Loyall Puppy food, as that was what the breeder had him on. Any suggestions would be great. And also any suggestions on biting? He loves to bite and I’m so worried when my young grandsons are near him he’s going to hurt one of the boys :(
     
  7. Bud Light/Dilly Dilly

    Bud Light/Dilly Dilly Registered Users

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    We use royal canin labrador puppy kibble. Our guy loves that stuff. We train him with it a lot of the time and he responds very well to it. You would think it's a treat to him. So maybe your puppy would like it too.

    The biting is going to happen if he's only ten weeks. It's normal and is something that you have to deal with until he gets older. Our puppy did it a lot too at that age. At almost 18 weeks now, he's gotten way better, but he will still have a nippy phase here and there. You just have to make sure that you really monitor him around children, because puppies want to play and when they are that young, they will nip. The biting does get better over time but you have to make sure that whenever he is getting nippy, to give him something to chew on. If he is biting you, try your best to avoid him and not give him attention.
     
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  8. grammykate

    grammykate Registered Users

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    Thanks Bud Light for your help and suggestions. We have always had labs, Boulder is the 4th one, however we haven’t had a puppy for 13 years so one tends to forget how high maintenance they are and especially so when you are nearing the retirement years!
     
  9. Sabine74

    Sabine74 Registered Users

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    Dakota is 22 weeks, and I still take her out this early. Kinda my fault though, I never put up her water bowl at night. I need to start doing that :) but since I'm an early riser anyways it doesn't bother me much. We use Nutro wholesome essentials, large breed puppy food available at Pet Smart or chewy. Her poo went from really loose to firm within a day, and her fur looks a lot shinier, than on the general puppies diamond food the breeder had her on.
     
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  10. grammykate

    grammykate Registered Users

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    Doesn’t it feel like you have a newborn around when it comes to sleeping and eating habits, and then it feels like you have a toddler around watching everything he is not supposed to get into? I should have gotten a puppy when our last dog was about 5 or 6 years of age as I think having an older dog around helps the puppy learn much faster. Does anyone have 2 puppies at the same time or close in age? I wonder how that would be?
     
  11. Bud Light/Dilly Dilly

    Bud Light/Dilly Dilly Registered Users

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    I couldn’t imagine having two puppies at the same time. One is enough of a handful lol
     
  12. leighxxxx

    leighxxxx Registered Users

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    we use royal canin pediatric junior large dog, and he loves it. Doesn't have any toileting issues with it, and we also use it for training, even for recall he will fly back, just for a piece of it
     
  13. Jo Laurens

    Jo Laurens Registered Users

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    I would really recommend a raw diet. A complete raw is easiest to start with. You should have so little waste product coming out the other end with that, tiny non-smelly poops...!
     
  14. grammykate

    grammykate Registered Users

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    Do you have any recommendations? I had our last lab on Stella and Chewy raw food. Unfortunately I didn’t find it until the last 4 months of her life. Any suggestions are welcomed by me!
     
  15. Jo Laurens

    Jo Laurens Registered Users

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    I'm guessing you're in the US if you use Stella and Chewy?

    For folks in the UK, the most convenient raw and a good place to start, is the Country Hunter nuggets made by NaturesMenu. These are the easiest way to feed raw because you just plop out the required number of frozen nuggets into the bowl and let it defrost before the next meal time.

    For those who want to feed something even better, I would recommend Nutriment. (Complete raw minces.) Nutriment also contains organ meat (which Country Hunter doesn't) and a few more 'superfoods'.

    In the US, I've got friends who recommend K9 Craving. I don't know how widely available that is, and haven't used it myself :)
     
  16. grammykate

    grammykate Registered Users

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    Yes I am in the US. I see K9 Craving is in the US, but I can't get it where I am located :( Maybe I should try feeding Stella & Chewy. It's just tough to figure out how much to feed him.
    Thanks for your help, I appreciate it.
     
  17. Jo Laurens

    Jo Laurens Registered Users

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    I'd just keep an eye on his weight and adjust it up or down accordingly, until you see the body shape you like :)
     
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