Puppy vs adult food possible uti? Help

[Lorraine Bromley]

Hi I searched for urinary tract and didn't find what I was actually experiencing. I figured someone would know. The puppy I am sitting has a problem with his penis hair at the tip being clumped together in a sticky type of situation. He has peed on some of his other fur and it seems a bit sticky too. He is over four months and potty trained mostly but is still having accidents. He has had two since being here in the week but both times was at the back door and just didn't have anyway to tell us. He drinks ALOT but they are playing alot. He doesn't hold it all night. He has a lost smaller bladder than Neely but then again Neely must have a gas tank. At times he has a strong urine smell, I notice it when he is on the leash but usually he pees in the yard with out me. I asked the owner about it and he said that if he has held it for awhile or hasn't drank enough it will smell. They crate him all day due to work. He won't use his crate here. And in fact when I missed his cue to pee and I put him in the crate he went without a worry. He seems to have urgency as he runs and barely gets outside. He has no other symptoms and is a happy funny energenic puppy. 

I was also concerned that they are feeding adult food because their trainer has written a book on dog nutrition and says puppy food is a marketing scheme. I wonder if eating the adult food could affect his kidneys.  Could vitamins affect this? I don't know what they are feeding but suspect it isn't a higher quality food.

Please help. I want to tell them if they should really feed their puppy adult food or not. And he is supposed to get spayed when he gets back and I don't want an infection to interfere with his health.

Thanks 

Lorraine

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Lorraine, If you go to the Food Group under the comments, you can see that Karen answered this question. Hope this helps!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

There is very little difference between most adult formulas and most puppy formulas. And many of us feed ALS (All Life Stages) formulas so that the puppy and the adult dog can both be on the same food. Any halfway decent dog food, even the ones that we don't recommend, has to meet AAFCO standards, which means that they are nutritionally adequate in terms of macronutrients, vitamins and minerals.

I'll say again that I would not take advice from the trainer about anything other than training. And I really don't think there is any connection between the urine issues and the food they are feeding. Of more concern to me would be how much water the puppy is getting; that could affect the concentration of the urine and contribute to odor.

[Lorraine Bromley]

Thanks Karen. He drinks like a holstein cow! He finishes the bowl and knocks it around to let us know its empty again. Its the no spill bowl recommended on dk from the gun dog supply co and it holds alot. He just was playing away and had to stop and pee immediately. But he was playing on the other side of the room so he didn't get to the outside door to ring the bells. It seems urgent.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's possible he does have a UTI, but the food probably doesn't have anything to do with it. If he's drinking a lot and peeing a lot with urgency, I think he should go to the vet.