Hello Everyone, I hope no one minds me posting a new thread, I am only about 15 minutes new to this group and I first would like to say I love the forum...the reason for my new thread is just recently my 4 year old doggie started drinking excessively,,,well a lot more than she normally did, and it has me worried, I have already taken her to the vet but her vet says everything seems to be okay, if anyone has any advice they can give me I'd greatly appreciate it.

how much water exactly does your dog drink?

ive heard excessive water drinking can be a sign of diabetes...
but your vet doesnt seem to be worried. and you shouldnt either.
my dog drinks alot of water too, because he is always moving around and is really active.


you can get a second opinion if you want to ..from another vet if you are still worried.

Make sure that she is checked for Diabetes. This will cause excessive water drinking.

My mother's dog drank what we considered an excessive amount of water and she never had diabetes or any other condition that we could find.

Has her activity level changed at all? Maybe she's just feeling dehydrated for some reason. I'm sure if your vet sin't worried, you shouldn't be either.

I agree, diabetes can be a cause of excessive intake as well as renal problems.
Although drinking can be dependant on a dogs activity level, the weather, size and diet as well as health.
How is the temperature in california now? Has her activity level gone up? Any changes to her diet? Has she put on any weight?
Dogs that eat dry food also tend to drink a lot more.

I know how difficult this is for you and your little one. I have three dogs, all of the same breed (Mt. Cur), two of which are fine. My middle guy has had a series of health issues from about 2 years old, he is now 9. My Trooper has hypothyroidism and has been on Soloxine since 2. Until last December he was fine with it, but all of a sudden he started with heavy panting, drinking more than excessively and peeing every five minutes. His urine is clear with no smell to it. I took him to the vet several times in one week (many times throughout the year) for diagnosis. First they thought diabetes, came back negative. Then 3 different vets diagnosed him with suggestive of cushings disease. They wanted to start him immediately on Lysodrine but he all of a sudden got this football size fatty lipoma on the right side of his back and shoulder. The vets suggested to have this lipoma removed before we started the Lysodrine and we would start that up after the healing process. After the surgery he came down with bronchial pneumonia, so again we held off. I at that time stopped all medicine except his antibiotics. His heavy drinking, urinating and panting stopped. But because I stopped his thyroid medication, he blew up like a balloon. Two months ago I started his thyroid medicine and he lost a ton of weight, but now he is drinking bowls of water that I can't even keep up with, I am up all day and night with him letting him in and out and filling water bowls. I can't leave for even an hour without him peeing in the house. I lost my temper two days ago and yelled at him, then I cried because it is not his fault, I felt so terribly bad about that. He is the sweetest thing you could ever imagine. But, his breath does smell bad, he has been to the vet so many times and I have spent so much money on trying to make him better, I am at my wits end. I have another call into the vet for a return call tomorrow, but I don't know if they will have answers for me. Do I not leave water down for him? If I don't will he dehydrate? Does he have cushings? This poor thing has been poked and prodded so much with no conclusive answers. Any information that anyone can give will be greatly appreciated by me and my Boopers (Trooper).

My 7 year old male Vizsla has been drinking much more water in the last year. I have had blood work done and all comes back normal. It has gotten so bad that he sometimes drinks so much after he eats that he throws his food up. I am trying to decide if I need a second opinion. He seems healthy, but just drinks a lot more than he used to. My husband says he's just excessive in general and will make him stop drinking, but I say that he wouldn't be drinking if he wasn't really thirsty. I'm not sure what to do. I just have this gut feeling all of the time that there is somethign wrong, but my husband says to trust the vet. Please share anythoughts that you have.

There is a condition called psychogenic polydipsia, which just means that the dog likes to drink water excessively. There is nothing wrong with the dog -it's just a habit. Drinking the water excessively makes them feel better (for whatever reason). I've had one berner with this problem - did all the tests to rule out diabetes and such.

The cure - limit the access to water. But before one thinks of simply picking up the dogs' water dish - do make sure that the dog has been tested for diabetes and other diseases.

BIS

Hey, Commenting on the excessive drinking. I have a post on here also under dog behavoir you can read about excesively drinking. We just gothim so we arent sure if this is his normal amt of water or not. BUT we do know that he has been neglected inhis past and there is susupected abuse. He is only 9 months old and I find it hard to believe that he has cushings or diabetes as do most of the vets I have spoke with. However no testing yet as we just got him a few days ago. I am sure that he has been deprived of water in his past and I wonder if mine is just emotional. I wonder if he thinks this might be the only chance h e gets to drink so he better drink up!! Will dogs do that for that reason? He has been in a good home for the past week and a half so I know he should of had time to catch up on water if he was dehydrated, but maybe his little mind is telling him diffferent than his body.??

I have had the same concerns as you and will be doing testing this next week. I have also wondered about a Urinary Tract Infection. When he pees in the house , he will pee like 4 or 5 spots in a short period of time, such as a human would be going with a UTI. I am praying not for anything major.

ANy comments on the emotional aspect of this? Do you think he could be thinking about his past deprivation of water?

Thanks, KIM