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Dog Urine and Dead Grass - The Truth Revealed

Friday, June 24, 2005

PETaPOTTY, the manufacturer of indoor-pet-pottys, published an explanation of why grass dies when a dog pees on it. This explanation comes from research published last year by Dr. Steve Thompson, DVM, of Purdue University:
Dr. Steve Thompson, DVM, conducted research creating a more plausible explanation for those stains. He found that dog urine has a high nitrogen concentration, from their high protein diet, which causes the staining. He discovered that the more diluted the nitrogen concentration, less burning occurred, and the more the urine would act as a liquid fertilizer. Nitrogen based substances fertilize, however, in high concentrations and doses it causes stains because the grass is unable to process too much nitrogen at once. Dr. A.W. Allard, DVM, found that the pH content of urine had no variable effect on the lawn. Thus, helping dispute the acidity levels myth.

In regards to female urine being more detrimental than male urine, Thompson explains that male dogs tend to urinate in many areas, which tends to release less urine, whereas females tend to squat causing one large urine deposit. This high burst of nitrogen causes females to be the culprits of the spots.
I guess this explains why some people say that urine is actually good for growing plants.

7 Comments:

  • My male dog's urine burns the grass and my female's urine does not. She does drink a lot of water and he does not. His urine is really yellow.

    By Anonymous paula, at 7:42 AM, June 25, 2005  

  • I found that adding a tablespoon or more of tomato juice to my dog's food neutralizes the acid and does not burn the grass.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:06 PM, June 25, 2005  

  • anoymous you have it right tomato juice is great for dogs and lawns I learned that from the gardener's channel.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:48 AM, June 30, 2005  

  • I find this interesting, because I have had two female dogs in the past 12 years, and neither burned the grass when she urinated on it. In fact, those were the greenest spots in the yard.

    By Blogger TAD, at 1:05 PM, February 23, 2008  

  • Thanks for the tip about the tomato juice, does anyone know if tomatoes are harmful to dogs? Are there any other foods that might also neutralize the urine. It's one thing to ruin your own grass, but I live in a condo.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:45 AM, June 08, 2008  

  • How could tomato juice (or any tomato product) possibly "neutralise" the acidity when tamatoes are so acidic? There must be other factors missing in anecodtal observation.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:09 AM, June 13, 2008  

  • The tomoato juice actually neutralizes the ammonia in the urine. Since ammonia is a base, the acid in the tomato juice is the neutralizing factor.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:35 AM, June 24, 2008  

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