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Drinking Lots Of Water


Guest MtnBikerChk

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Guest MtnBikerChk

My dog drinks lots of water. If you give her a full bowl she'll drink it. And then she'll have go to out out 20 times.

 

She has been to the vet, uti tested both from a sample I brought and in a culture - both were fine. And she was also on a course of Clavamox for 14 days.

 

Bloodwork done twice - both were fine. I'm just trying to rule out everything medical that we can think of before I decide it's behavioral.....

 

Also she used to make it through the day but now once in a while her crate is wet when we get home (which is what really started the tests above).

 

So what other possibilities are there??

1. UTI

2. Diabetic

3. Dog food? (she's on Timberwolf Organics)

4. Behavioral (aren't all greyhounds a little NUTS?)

 

What's bothering me is that we got her off the track in July and she was fine for at least 2 months. Then this started. And this is our second dog - if it is behavioral she didn't learn it from our other dog.

 

Thanks :)

Edited by MtnBikerChk
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I'm guessing behavioral since you've dealt with most of the medical possibilities. Has anyone's schedule changed at home, so you're not there on the same schedule she first got used to? Has something changed in the neighborhood--noises that could be distressing her? (Construction work?) Less exercise or shorter walks in the colder weather? And the time change didn't do anyone any favors. (It's dark already and mom isn't home! Oh, woe, I've been abandoned!) (Also, since it's dark earlier, evening walks may be getting curtailed.) And was she on the current dog food from the time you first brought her home? Or has that changed?

 

Try limiting her access to water before you have to crate her. If possible, close curtains and leave on lights in the room where she's crated so she's less aware of the time of day. And maybe leave her some music playing so outside noises don't disturb her.

 

Do she and your first dog get along with each other? Like each other? If so, can she and first-dog see each other during the day? (I've got a girl with separation anxiety, but she doesn't give a fig whether the other dog is in sight or not. I'm the one that's supposed to be at her beck and call every hour of the day. She's on clomipromine and getting better. I've had her since August. She's been on the meds about four weeks now.)

Edited by KF_in_Georgia

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Kathy and Q (CRT Qadeer from Fuzzy's Cannon and CRT Bonnie) and
Jane (WW's Aunt Jane from Trent Lee and Aunt M); photos to come.

Missing Silver (5.19.2005-10.27.2016), Tigger (4.5.2007-3.18.2016),
darling Sam (5.10.2000-8.8.2013), Jacey-Kasey (5.19.2003-8.22.2011), and Oreo (1997-3.30.2006)

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Guest mcsheltie

I have a dog that drinks excessively and it is behavioral. I have done extensive testing, changed food, redone the blood work to see if the food had any effect for several years. He is addicted to drinking. When ever I put down a bowl or he walks by it, he will drink until I interrupt him. Then it is like he says...Huh?...Oh!...okay and walks away. Some dogs do respond to anxiety by drinking.

 

However in your case I would not be too quick to write it off as behavioral. You don't want to make that assumption and then in 6 months be kicking yourself. I would keep at the vet and get a second opinion for medical reasons that could be causing it. There are so many things that can medically cause this. Addisons, diabetes, bladder tumor.

 

As far as food goes, high protein can cause some dogs to drink a lot more. Higher sodium content, synthetic Vitamin C additives are others that come to mind.

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Guest MtnBikerChk

So many good things have been brought up - thanks!

 

I do have a call into my vet today so we'll see what she says.

 

I'm also changing her food back. She was on Kirkland off the track but we transitioned her to TO. I honestly can't remember if the timing matches but I have a feeling it does not.

 

Nothing really has changed except SHE no longer wants to go for walks. She doesn't seem to mind being in the back yard running around looking for squirrels etc but when I take her out the front to walk, all she wants to do is get in the car :) I kinda chalked it up to her personality coming out after leaving the track.

 

edited to add: MY cousin has a lab that drinks excessively (behavioral) and she may have seen him do that - I have no idea!

Edited by MtnBikerChk
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You didn't mention whether you have had blood work done - you probably want to get glucose and kidney tests. Sometimes if there is a food allergy it will cause greyhounds to drink more so you might want to transition to another food - maybe a limited ingredient or sensitive stomach and see if that helps any.

 

One other note, if some greyhounds are stressed, they can also drink more water. With some greyhounds I fostered, the first week or so they are drinking & peeing up a storm but as they settled in the drinking slowed down.

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We have one who had to be switched to a medium-protein kidney diet. On any other food, he's incontinent. The kidney food we use is Royal Canin MP. His creatinine is only 2.2, his BUN just slightly over normal. But ultrasound doesn't show any kidney damage either.

 

Clearly, he has a problem of some sort, and we suspect it originated with a case of Babesia that went undiagnosed for years. By the time we treated it, there was probably some kidney damage, however slight, which can happen. Kidney diets are not cheap, but it's better than the alternative. If it were me, I'd run TBD tests if they haven't been done already. If you rule them out, that's something you can cross off your list. If you find one, you can treat it relatively easily.

 

Other than that, you might try foods that use sweet potato rather than regular potato or grains. If it's a dietary problem, there's some chance that will rectify it. Have you considered the salt content of what you're feeding? (These are things our vets recommended we try before we figured out our particular problem.) Good luck, I know how frustrating it can be. And how much laundry is involved.

Mary with Jumper Jack (2/17/11) and angels Shane (PA's Busta Rime, 12/10/02 - 10/14/16) and Spencer (Dutch Laser, 11/25/00 - 3/29/13).

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest MtnBikerChk

So the plan the vet and came up with was to change her food back to the Kirkland and wait a week or two and do another urinalysis. I dropped that sample off this am and this time - BINGO

 

My vet is very smart and talks kinda fast and I was on my cell so this is what I got from the conversation:

 

Specific gravity was lower than before

PH higher

Lots of white blood cells

Crystals

Inflamatory cells

 

What's odd is that it in the 2 prior samples we saw none of this - but she said a sample is a point in time and you can get a very different reading on any given sample.

 

She thinks it warrants atbs and a change to a crystal diet. I'm game to try it. She said it works then in 3 months we can try to switch her back to her other food. FYI she's getting Royal Canin SO.

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Guest Energy11

Our Goldie is 11. Her urine and bloodwork are great, but, boy, can that girl drink, especially at night! She has Canine Cognitive Disorder (Doggie Alzhemiers), mostly noticable at night, and THAT is when she guzzles water. Hers is definitely behavorial.

 

Like the others have mentioned, if the urine and blood results are ok, then, it is most likely behavioral. Some people take up the water, but I choose to leave hers down. She actually doesn't go out too much at night.

 

Good Luck!

Edited by Energy11
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Just a note: if it WAS a behavioral thing--I don't believe a dog would learn something like that from watching another dog drink a lot. She's not a second grader who is likely to copy something she saw.

 

I'm glad your vet rechecked the urine. Drinking too much sometimes happens with dogs who are new in the home, but it isn't something that typically starts after six months in a home.

 

Hope she's feeling better soon!


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Susan,  Hamish,  Mister Bigglesworth and Nikita Stanislav. Missing Ming, George, and Buck

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Glad you found the problem. Hope it clears up with no further problems.

 

I had a girl who would drink the bowl dry. It was behavioral and with time and patience we were able to "interrupt" her drinking and redirect her. Eventually it played out and she was fine.

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keep up w/ the urine checks and look for changes. we just went thru something similar w/ felix. but he repeatively showed the same urine analysis(healty #s). i changed him to rice for a while, rice w/ beef and eventually went to a lesser quality kibble. btw, all of this started w/ the introduction of nature's domain(very similar to TOW). it took 2+ months to clear out of his system and he is now doing well on NURTRO lamb/rice large breed. it could have been a toxin,we also eliminated all treats(kirland dental chews), could have been a reaction to the food.my vet immeaditly though treats/chews reaction. we did not have any irregularities in urine samples.

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Guest benfrench

Matchbox was the same way. He still drinks what I would say is a lot of water but he goes out regulary. When I was crating him he wet the crate almost every day. Now that I don't crate him he has not had an accident in the house. Period. I would chalk that up to behavioral.

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