Why Dog Urine is Killing Your Lawn
Lawn burn is a common problem that results when your dog’s urine burns the grass in your lawn. If you have ever had to deal with this problem, you know how frustrating it is to deal with. The cause of lawn burn is the high nitrogen content that is present in dog urine. When the dog urinates, it is similar to pouring liquid fertilizer on the lawn. A little fertilizer is good for the grass, but an excess causes nitrogen burn. So, the prevention of lawn burn deals with trying to reduce the amount of nitrogen coming into contact with the grass.
Some contributing factors to the lawn burn problem:
- Owning a female dog. Females are more likely to cause lawn burn than males because they void their entire bladder in one location instead of lifting their leg and marking like male dogs.
- Owning a large breed dog. Larger dogs produce more urine so therefore, they have a larger chance of causing lawn burn.
- Feeding your dog a high protein diet. More protein in the diet causes more nitrogen to be passed in the urine.
- Lawns that are heavily fertilized are already receiving near maximum levels of nitrogen. Any extra amount of nitrogen in the dog urine may be all that is needed to cause lawn burn.
You can successfully treat and prevent lawn burn with these few simple steps:
- Saturate the urinated spots with water right after the pet urinates to dilute the urine.
- Feed a high quality dog food that does not exceed the pet's protein requirement.
- Plant urine-resistant grasses in your lawn like rye grasses and fescues.
- Don’t over fertilize your lawn.
Brown spots created by lawn burn are not a medical threat to your dog, however, they can be unsightly and potentially expensive to repair. By understanding the cause of these spots, and then making a few changes, you should be able to give your dog full range of the yard and still enjoy a trouble-free lawn!
Photo from orangetony77's photostream.
--Dr. Hinson
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Dr. Hinson is a mixed animal veterinarian in Tampa, FL and a regular contributor to Wag Reflex.
retention urinary on February 16, 2010 at 01:18 PM
Even if you know that your bladder is full, the bladder muscle that squeezes urine out may not get the signal that it is time to push, or the sphincter muscles may not get the signal that it is time to relax. A weak bladder muscle can also cause retention.
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Muscles called sphincters squeeze shut the tubes from the bladder to help keep urine from leaking. The sphincter muscles close tightly like a rubber band around the opening of the bladder, which leads into the urethra.
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joesen on December 19, 2010 at 09:32 PM
Lawns that are heavily fertilized are already receiving near maximum levels of nitrogen. Any extra amount of nitrogen in the dog urine may be all that is needed to cause lawn burn.
n-sure on April 18, 2011 at 11:21 PM
Be sure to keep your dog well hydrated in order to lower nitrogen levels in its urines naturally. Your dog should always have access to water at all times.
synthetic grass on January 09, 2012 at 05:36 PM
Lawn makes an additional beauty to our house that is why it is important for us to take good care of it by making necessary moves to make it stay fresh. Thanks for sharing the basic tips on what to do in case dogs urinate on the lawns.