Help! My 10 year old dog, who has always been a bit highly strung, has got herself into a terrible cycle of drinking, weeing, drinking, weeing, drinking, weeing, drinking some more etc etc etc. She has now also starting weeing and pooing at night. She has had all the tests at the vets and it's nothing medical - it's all phsycological. We are at our wits end. We are trying to withhold her water as much as we can and going by our other dog if he gets thirsty but she gets very tense and goes outside looking for any available water. As soon as she's been out, she's straight back to her water bowl. Can anyone advise or offer any help??

What medical tests have been done?

Has a veterinary behaviourist been consulted at all? If not, has a vet referral for a behaviourist been sourced?

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Anne, owned by Rufus & Tripod

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She had her urine tested for diabetes etc only yesterday and had all sorts of blood and urine tests a while ago and all were negative

Check with your your vet if she has been tested for Diabetes Insipidus- water diabetes. The usual test is water deprivation over a period of time (I had to go 24hrs myself - pure hell) and testing blood levels of anti diuretic hormone and urine output. It is very unpleasant and can lead to severe dehydration if water is withheld as the body can't concentrate the urine to conserve water loss even already really dehydrated. If it has been ruled out try putting just ice in her bowl for her to lick in between her water. If at home you could ration her to 50 - 100mls every two hours depending on her size, from morning until 7 - 8pm then remove overnight. The other thing is she may just have a very dry mouth for whatever reason and water will soothe it.
Is she showing signs of dementia, as this is another thing that can affect dogs in strange ways.

did she have a UPC check ..this is a check on the urine for protein and creatine ratio..this will give an early indication of any problems with the kidneys...well before the blood test can give an indication....blood tests don't tend to give an indication until the kidney function has gone below 60% apparently...
its worth asking your vet about it..they normally can do it in-house ...mine charge about £15

try not to withdraw her water especially through the day..there could be a medical reason as to why she needs this water and it could do more harm than good...just speaking through experience...

hope all turns out good


juliex

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