As the demand for natural, organic products increases while the popularity of both honey and bees wax skyrockets a number of people have purchased a cheap entry-level bee hive to harvest their own honey.
As you may be able to imagine, this has caused a correlating spike in the number of people reaching out and asking various questions about caring for bees with many people being curious as to why bees are attracted to dog urine.
Bees do generally tend to prefer what humans would consider to be dirty liquids due to their smells with dog urine being one of the more common liquids that humans tend to see bees interacting with.
In some situations, this may be due to a dog having diabetes and an excess of glucose in its urine causing the bees to be attracted to the sweet scent of the dog pee.
If you have noticed that bees are consistently being attracted to your own dog’s urine then it may be a good idea to book a video call with a veterinarian to get some advice about diabetes in dogs and how you are best able to manage the condition.
Please note that bees can be attracted to the urine of a healthy dog in some situations though so noticing bees around the area where your dog usually pees is not a guaranteed indication of diabetes in your dog.
Are Bees Attracted To Dog Urine?
Bees can be attracted to a dog’s urine in a number of situations with a dog having diabetes and thus excess blood sugar in its urine or the urine of your dog’s reaction with something on the ground such as gum being the two more common causes.
Still, in some situations, bees can be attracted to the urine of your dog without it having something in it to make the pee smell sweet with this still being relatively common.
Although there is a large amount of speculation as to why bees can be attracted to urine, there is no definitive answer currently known.
It is not just dog urine that bees are attracted too though and there are documented cases of bees being attracted to pee from a wide range of different animals all over the world with this being common for a number of different species of bee too.
If it is your own dog’s urine that is attracting bees then having your dog checked for canine diabetes is probably a good idea but if your dog gets the all clear either from a vet or dog diabetes test kit then you can usually just put it down to one of them things.
Bees are commonly attracted to “dirty water” ranging from urine, to dirty bath water to generally rancid water that has been left to sit in a container for an extended period of time often due to the scent of the water or liquid attracting them.
Why Are Bees Attracted To Dog Urine?
Bees tend to be attracted to dog urine due to the scent that it generates but this scent is not always due to the natural smell of the dog’s urine and can be due to the chemicals in the dog urine reacting with things on the ground.
Gum is a very common cause of this as the dog urine is able to break down gum on the ground and produce a sweet smell that can attract bees but other sweet foods can cause this too.
There are also some chemical products that can cause this reaction and generate a sweet scent if urine is added to it and this can by why you will see bees attracted to dog urine on decking.
It is simply the scent that is created by your dog’s urine reacting with the chemicals on your decking making it smell sweet to bees with the various wax products often used to protect decking in yards and gardens being the most common culprit of this.
As we mentioned earlier though, bees can be attracted to normal dog urine in some situations or the urine of a dog with diabetes too.
All of this can just add to the confusion though as it just adds more potential reasons that bees are being attracted to the dog urine in your yard or garden potentially making it more difficult to work out the exact reason and fix it.
What Do Bees Get From Dog Urine?
It is rare that bees will get anything of value from dog urine due to it being a waste product from your dog and the fact that bees can be attracted to dog urine is almost always down to the bees getting confused due to some sort of a unique scent from the dog urine.
The bees aren’t actually attracted to the urine due to an actual benefit as they are to pollen, it is simply a mismatch in their scent receptors getting confused.
We have seen some people saying that they have seen bees actually drinking their dog’s urine and although this can actually be correct, it is not a preferred source of liquid and is usually due to extreme dehydration in the bee.
This is not a normal behavior for a bee and although bees may be attracted to urine and then investigate the liquid once they arrive, as soon as they realize that there is nothing in it that benefits them, they tend to quickly leave.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over why bees are attracted to dog urine and we hope that we have been able to help you better understand the more common reasons that your pet dog may be attracted to dog urine. Although many people think that this is a rare occurrence, it is surprisingly common, especially on hot days when the heat of the day can cause reactions between urine and sweet things on the ground such as gum to rapidly result in a sweet smelling scent that can attract bees.
