Dog Urine Killing Your Grass? Read This
You don’t want your dog using the bathroom inside your home. That’s why owners readily take them outside when they see signs that it’s time for Fido to go. Some will become dismayed at the fact that their dog’s urine seems to be killing their grass.
This happens because urine is composed of a lot of nitrogen. If your grass is growing well, then the soil has all of the nitrogen that it needs. An excessive amount will cause the grass to become colored most commonly brown or yellow. This problem is made much worse if you’re using lawn fertilizer that adds additional nitrogen to the soil.
The sex of your dog will also affect how much of your grass gets discolored. Both sexes output urine with similar concentrations of nitrogen and uric acid. However, males tend to urinate on trees, mailboxes, hydrants, and other objects.
This isn’t the case with their female counterparts. Your female dog will squat down and put all of her urine in one spot. Such a high concentration will dramatically increase the risk of dog urine killing your grass. There are a few things that you can do to help prevent this problem.
You don’t want to start messing around with your dog’s pH for any old reason. You don’t want to do so without consulting your veterinarian beforehand. Your vet can simply recommend that you switch to a different dog food. Foods that contain more digestible protein will probably help avoid the problem with your grass.
Supplements also exist to help with the problem of dog urine discoloring your grass. You would especially need to seek advice from your vet before giving your canine any of these though.
Another option to save your lawn is to train your dog to use more inconspicuous areas. At least you wouldn’t have to deal with lots of discolored spots in your front yard. After your dog uses the bathroom, you can use the hose to rinse the area which will go a long way towards preventing discoloration.
As you have already learned, lawn fertilizer contains nitrogen. If you make use of fertilizer, then make sure that it doesn’t contain too much. With your dog urinating in a fertilized yard, you would most likely have problems with spots appearing.
You should also be aware that your dog urine killing your grass may not be caused by your pet alone. Other animals may come onto your property to alleviate themselves. The main way to avoid this scenario is to erect a fence around your yard. However, fences won’t be able to keep out more agile animals like cats.
