Dog drinking and weeing too much!

Mrs_Wishkabibble

Mrs_Wishkabibble

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I have a chunky Yorkie bitch nearly 4 years old and she drinks absolutley loads, will lap for about 25 odd seconds in one go then sit on sofa shaking and then go our for a long wee!
The cycle goes around like that all day.

We have taken her to the vets and had bloods taken which came back fine.

We then did 2 urine tests where we got a wee sample early morning and then mid day which showed she could concentrate her urine but not as much as would be expected.

She then went into the vets for the day to monitor how much water goes in and how much comes out! The little monkey never drank a drop all day - she is a nervy dog with strangers, real bouncy with people she knows though!
The sample we got at the end of the day showed again the urine was not as concentrated as should be.

The vet was swaying towards Canine Insipidus (Water Diabetes) and said the only way to see if that was what the problem was to treat and see if it cured.
So, collected the tablets DDAVP Desmopressin - 90 of in total which cost £133 and have had her on them 2 days now and absolutely no change whatsoever.

Have got to go back to vets in 3 days but am a little disappointed that the tablets are not working so don't know what the next step will be.

Has anybody had a dog with anything similar?
 
If she is able to concentrate her urine properly and will voluntarily restrict her water intake when she's in the vets then it is less likely to be diabetes insipidus - but depends how much she is able to concentrate the urine.

Ask your vet about psychogenic polydipsia and whether they think this is a possibility in your dog's case.

Have you tried measuring the volume of water she consumes in a day?
 
Thanks for the reply.

It is difficult to measure how much she drinks as 4 cats and 2 dogs (Both Yorkies) share the same inside bowl plus we have a self filling bowl outside and she also drinks from the horse water troughs!
They get through at least 3 pints a day just in the inside bowl.

We did debate caging her for the day but she wees so much it wouldn't be fair on her - we have had a dog flap fitted as she is always wanting to go out for a wee.

We barely see the other Yorkie drink but the other one is non stop, worse in the mornings and not so bad in the evenings.

The vet said she is able to concentrate her urine but not as normal.

We also didnt want to limit her water (if it is in her head!) in case it was Canine Insipidus or any other condition where limiting her water wouldnt be a good idea.

I will ask him about that condition, would just like to get her sorted.

Thanks again :-)
 
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Try sectioning off a room with a baby gate or something, in an area where you can clean the pee, or let her have free rein and isolate the other dogs. It won't be cruel, just for a day or so, to get to the bottom of a distressing problem, better in the long run.

Might be barking up the wrong tree here but ask for a scan/scope - my dog's urinary tract is basically upside down :o and has caused a lot of waterworks problems, it leaves him more open to recurring infections because of the way everything is positioned.

Don't discount a second opinion either.
 
Agree with the above, second opinion and potentially ultrasound scan etc with a specialist might be worth considering

Also make sure they've checked for things like urinary tract infection
 
Thanks for that, I think we may have to do this just to get an idea of the volume.

We tried a course of antibiotics in case it was a urinary infection but no change.

Think I may ask for a scan next.

Thanks both of you.
 
My dog had had so many infections that we didn't notice (very stoic dog) until I noticed lots of blood in his urine in the snow :o that a mass of tissue had built up in his bladder - it was so large we thought it was a tumour - short courses of anti-biotics had not helped in the long-run so he had to have a two month blast of strong drugs to clear it up. Only the scan revealed the true extent, also we know now to keep him out of smelly water and mud etc to prevent infection travelling up his short urethra through his wide bladder neck :o :o :o but you get the idea :p
 
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A UPC urine test sent off is the most sensitive test for kidney function,bloods tend to show nothing until 75% of the kidney is`nt functioning.UPC should read well below 0.3.
 
Update for anybody interested. She has now had an ACTH stimulation test to check for Cushings which we are praying it isn't. Results back early next week.
We thought we had it sussed as took her off the pedigree chum dried and put her onto tinned meat and she has drunk so much less in fact if you didn't know you would say she was normal!
Then had 2 more urine samples but showed again she cannot concentrate her urine so although we have lessened the symptoms it hasn't actually made a difference to the problem :-(

Fingers crossed for us!
 
We lost our 6 year old dog in March due to aprocrine adenocarcimoma. This cancer is very aggressive and grows quickly but can be treated if caught early on. One of the first signs is excessive drinking and urinating. Unfortunately by the time we took him to the vet it was too late to save him. It would be worth getting a scan and further tests to rule this out, I wish we had acted sooner.
 
That is one of my main dislikes about dried food,it is my belief that having to drink so much to hydrate the stuff is so much more of a drain on the kidneys than naturally getting adequate fluid in raw meat.
Being in a breed prone to kidney problems it seems too much risk to take,so raw food and soaked biscuit is the way we prefer.
 
Pleasure2own, so sorry to hear about your dog. Luckily we noticed the change in her fairly early as she was constantly at the water and forever weeing.
Just hoping we can get to the bottom of it and that it is something that we can treat.

We will be really unlucky if she had Cushings - especially if it is the Adrenal one as my son had a rare Pheochromocytoma which is a tumour on his adrenal glands and he spent 14 hours in surgery removing it, very very rare condiditon so surely we cannot be unlucky again?

EastKent - it is quite amazing the difference in fluid intake and the amount she is weeing since being on the tinned meat. I had heard that Pedigree Compete has alot of salt in it so that wouldnt have been helping either.

Only problem with the tinned meat now though is the smell they "let off" sat on the sofa - it makes your eyes water! Urgh!!
 
My big male greyhound does this too. It started fairly suddenly and he's only three but he started wetting the floor in the night after always being very good in the house. Took him to the vet and had a series of blood tests and some antibiotics and vet had to really do her research as the breed can have fairly unique blood results. No abnormal results form urine and blood so she concluded psychogenic polydipsia as another poster has said. We are monitoring him and making sure he has access to water as he needs it during the day, then restricting it to half a bowl only in the evening - he's not dehydrated, just have to sort of regulate it for him. No specific treatment, the vet concluded he's a bit of an odd ball. Also at the same time (possibly coincidence) he started eating soil out of plant pots and small sticks?!

Hope you get to the bottom of it.
 
Thanks Mrs W.

I would urge anyone with a dog that has excessive thirst/urinating symptoms especially if incontinent to ask their vet for a scan unless they can categorically rule out cancer with bloods. I believe the condition my dog had is quite rare and difficult to diagnose and my vet said that it could go from being treatable if caught quickly to terminal within as short a period as a month.

Hope you get to the bottom of it soon and it isn't serious
 
Ponyperson - That was also discussed as we did wonder but we did the urine sample first thing in the morning after not drinking overnight and then one at tea time. It showed she cannot concentrate her urine which raises the alarm bells.

The original bloods came back with nothing out of the normal really apart from low sodium which was a bit of a question mark.

It will be a long weekend waiting for the results of the bloods today and even if they come back negative then we have to repeat this test with another drug to make sure as doesnt always show on the first one.

Poor dog, she is like a nervous wreck in the vets, seems to be all needles and jabs and with us following her around getting urine samples she isnt a happy bunny!

Hope ours doesn't start eating soil - that will just about push us over the edge but may well improve the smelly flatulence she has on the tinned meat! :-0
 
Another update.
The results of the ACTH stimulation test came back negative. Not even borderline but negative so that is good so far.
Took her in today for a needle in the bladder to take a clean sample of urine to check for any infection that is getting missed. Results back 5 days.
If they come back clear then she is having a Low Dose Dexamethasone Suppression Test.
We just cannot get to the bottom of it. The good thing is she is back to her usual tigger bouncy self and since taking her off dried food and onto tinned she isn't drinking nowhere near as much - it's just the non concentrating urine that is bothering us all.
I will keep doing updates in case anybody else has this problem and may read this in the future.
 
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