Drinking Lots Of Water.. And Limping

[Guest Kpparker]

1. Tavi will drink his entire bowl on water at one time. This usually happens when a. we've just come in from a walk (could be short or long) and b. when DBF or I come home and he gets all excited and then drinks the whole thing. Is this something I should be concerned about? I think it is just behavioral considering he's not doing it all day long like he's dying of thirst.. but just want a few more opinions.

 

2. Tavi for the past 2 days has been limping a bit. However his leg (front right) doesn't seem to be in any pain - I've squeezed it, moved it around and he doesn't seem to be in any discomfort. He's walking and jogging like normal - but I notice that his walk seems a little off sometimes. His head dips a bit more than usual if you know what i mean. I'm going to monitor him and hope that it goes away. Im thinking it might be an old injury acting up with the cold.. any other ideas for a minor limp?

 

Thanks!

[RobinM]

I am the queen of limps here.

 

Do you know for a fact that Tavi has an old racing injury? If so, give him Deramaxx as necessay for the inflammation or whatever anti inflammatory you favor.

 

If you do not know for sure if it is an old injury, I always err on the side of caution and take them in.

 

How long has he been doing this with the water? How old is he?

Edited October 30, 2007 by RobinM

[Guest jurishound]

I would be concerned with excessive drinking that lasts longer than a day or two - and also have read somewhere that any limp lasting longer than about three days should be evaluated by a vet. Good luck with this.

[Guest Kpparker]

I am the queen of limps here.

 

Do you know for a fact that Tavi has an old racing injury? If so, give him Deramaxx as necessay for the inflammation or whatever anti inflammatory you favor.

 

If you do not know for sure if it is an old injury, I always err on the side of caution and take them in.

 

How long has he been doing this with the water? How old is he?

 

 

I don't know if he's had an injury in the past. I need to make a vet visit to check his anal glands, so I'll get her to look at this too. Im just hoping it is nothing serious.

The water he's been doing for a few months at least. He's newly 7. I just assumed that he drinks so much because he gets so worked up and excited when we get home.. or else he thinks we are taking him out for a pee. Then when we come in sometimes he drinks a lot, sometimes he doesn't. When he knows we're going out he drinks water usually, but never the whole bowl like how he does at those particular times.

[Guest daberle]

Please check the pads of his feet. Annabelle limped on and off for a mth. The only thing you can see was a tiny tiny hole.

It wasn't until I took her to the UW Madison Vet School and they took digital xrays and did surgury it was a tiny piece of "GLASS" embedded in her pad... poor baby.

I could of had a nice diamond for the $1000.00 this piece of glass cost me!

 

My friends greyhound started limping on and off. Come to find out he was running in the bushes and got splinters in the webbing of his feet.

Since this has happened she has taken out all the bushes in the backyard.

 

Happy to report both hounds have recovered from surgury and are limp FREE!

[RobinM]

I am the queen of limps here.

 

Do you know for a fact that Tavi has an old racing injury? If so, give him Deramaxx as necessay for the inflammation or whatever anti inflammatory you favor.

 

If you do not know for sure if it is an old injury, I always err on the side of caution and take them in.

 

How long has he been doing this with the water? How old is he?

 

 

I don't know if he's had an injury in the past. I need to make a vet visit to check his anal glands, so I'll get her to look at this too. Im just hoping it is nothing serious.

The water he's been doing for a few months at least. He's newly 7. I just assumed that he drinks so much because he gets so worked up and excited when we get home.. or else he thinks we are taking him out for a pee. Then when we come in sometimes he drinks a lot, sometimes he doesn't. When he knows we're going out he drinks water usually, but never the whole bowl like how he does at those particular times.

 

 

Yes, i think you should have his limp checked out if it lasts more than 5 days. And yes, you should definitely check pads and web with a magnifying glass if possible.

 

The water? i'm not sure. The only thing I can think of is diabetes, but he is not losing weight and is not exhibiting any other symtoms, right? when was his last blood panel done?

 

Make a list of all these things and have them checked out. Please let us know.

 

Praying for a soft tissue injury that goes away quickly and just a thirsty dog!!!

[Guest Kpparker]

His last blood panel was done shortly after we got him - around March.

 

I looked at one of the pads closely, what I originally thought was dirt now does look like there's some kind of tiny hole and something white inside of it. Tried squeezing it a bit to see if that would force it out, but it's not moving.

I'm going to call the vet tomorrow and see if we can go in.

 

Thanks guys.

[inugrey]

I came to GT a while ago when Inu starting drinking in the same manner you describe. I also went to my vet. After a pee test and conversation both GT and the vet decided it was all in his head, "polydipsia" or something like that. I now have to give out water in a limited way when I am home. It's an adjustment, but manageable.

 

The limp if the pad looks funny like you describe, I vote go see the vet and explain it may be a corn or other sort of owie. I'm a big fan of iodine tea soaks for pad injuries.

[Burpdog]

Do a tick panel As long as he goes outside to pee, I wouldn't worry about the drinking--yet.

[Jiffer]

For the thing in his pad, soak his foot in a lukewarm epsom salt bath. It will help draw out whatever it is, if it's something embedded. We did this for Icarus when he had a piece of glass lodged in his paw... after the Evet charged us $150 to say that he had nothing in there.

After a few days of soaking, it popped right out.

 

As for the drinking, does he have any chew bones or anything like that that he chews on during the day? I know when ours get a rawhide or anything like that, they tend to be excessively thirsty afterwards. I attribute that to the saltiness of it. Pig ears were the worst for that because they are "cured". Definitely get him checked out, though. I know mine like to "tank up" when we get home from work, but they don't consume the entire bowl.

[Guest snakes]

I would take him in for blood tests. My old grey and a friends cat both had a limp and drank lots of water when their kidneys had problems. Both situations were managed easily.

 

Good luck, hope its something much more minor.

 

[Guest Kpparker]

Update:

We just got back from the vet - $400 later ( )

The vet said he had some small pieces of rock lodged in his foot - no idea how that got there. So now his foot is bandaged up and he'll be on antibiotics for a week. She also gave me something for pain. He's quite unhappy at the moment - acting as if his leg is broken and hobbling around way more than he did before the bandage was put on.

It turns out he hadn't had full bloodwork done, it was only a heartworm test before so we did that as well as a urinalysis (when I was at the vet I noticed some discharge coming from his penis - she looked at his penis and it looks okay - but the test should help see if it is anything abnormal). So all this hence the hefty vet bill.

Oh, but on the positive note his anal glands look good! He was having some problems with one of them earlier this summer but now it looks like they are clearing quite well on their own

 

I'm so glad I ordered the winter booties from itscath already as they're now coming in handy - I've put one on his leg so he wont bite off the bandaging. Poor pup - now he's sleeping and happy to be home I think. I hope the results of his bloodwork and urine test are good.. should hear something tomorrow she said.

 

 

 

[Jiffer]

Make sure the bandage isn't on too tight. It could be bothering him.

 

I still stand by my epsom salt bath idea. It's tried and tested in our house I use it on myself too when I'm having foot problems. It's great to ward off infection.

[Guest Kpparker]

Make sure the bandage isn't on too tight. It could be bothering him.

 

I still stand by my epsom salt bath idea. It's tried and tested in our house I use it on myself too when I'm having foot problems. It's great to ward off infection.

 

I dont think I have any epsom salts, so I'll have to go by the drugstore and get them.

I think the bandage might be too tight - it looks like he cant fully extend his paw pad, and is walking on only the first 2. He definitely looks uncomfortable. I think i will unwrap it and try to rewrap it.

[Guest tapin2thefuture]

1. Tavi will drink his entire bowl on water at one time. This usually happens when a. we've just come in from a walk (could be short or long) and b. when DBF or I come home and he gets all excited and then drinks the whole thing. Is this something I should be concerned about? I think it is just behavioral considering he's not doing it all day long like he's dying of thirst.. but just want a few more opinions.

 

Thanks!

 

I know someone else mentioned Diabetes. But I'd like to mention Diabetes Insipidus specifically - http://www.petdiabetes.org/diabetes_insipidus.htm as a potential. Even for those posters who said they are managing their dogs water intake. This is not good for DI dogs.

 

Blood tests were not helpful for our DI dog. Nor were urine tests completely. We only knew he had partial Diabetes Insipidus after trying the hormone replacement Desmopressin. It almost immediatley changed his drinking/peeing habits.

 

DI is rare and not easy to diagnose. If concerned - print out the link and take it to your vet. It took us 3 vets saying it was behavioral/psychological before we got one who had even seen another DI dog before.

 

-Lisa

Mom to "Ranger" - see our posts about re-homing him because of his DI in the GreyTalk Medical section.

 

[Guest Kpparker]

Update: Just got home from visiting my grandmother and DBF said the vet called. I dont know if it was his blood test or urine test - but his test was showing he had dehydration, and bad kidney readings. So they are not sure if he had bad readings because of the dehydration or because something is going on with his kidneys. They want me to bring in a urine sample first thing tomorrow morning. I'm hoping for the best

 

tapin - thanks for the info - I'll read up on it and keep it in mind to bring up with the vet.

[Guest Kpparker]

Update: Just got home from visiting my grandmother and DBF said the vet called. I dont know if it was his blood test or urine test - but his test was showing he had dehydration, and bad kidney readings. So they are not sure if he had bad readings because of the dehydration or because something is going on with his kidneys. They want me to bring in a urine sample first thing tomorrow morning. I'm hoping for the best

 

tapin - thanks for the info - I'll read up on it and keep it in mind to bring up with the vet.

 

 

Just got a call from the vets office. His urine test was fine

[Guest suzye]

Oops, somehow I missed the last post before I replied... I'm glad the urine test was good! I hope he was just a little dehydrated or it's something easily fixed.

Edited November 1, 2007 by suzye