Excessive Drinking

[Guest Mordechai]

Hello all!

 

I have had my wonderful brindle boy for a year and a half now. Sometimes he would drink a lot of water (excessive, without stopping) and then we'd have to take him for a walk afterward. Then, he urinates for a very long time when outside. (On regular walks, he prefers to mark everything we pass). He only does this when we are home, and we are able to time his next walk for him to relieve himself. Once in a while, we didn't notice him drinking excessively and he peed in the house (usually on our living room rug that is easy to wash). When it happened indoors a few times, we took him to the vet, testing his urine and blood and they found nothing (no signs of kidney issues or diabetes).

 

However, it has gotten worse to the point that he has peed in the house 3 times this week. It's honestly not that much more water than he normally drinks, and yet he goes in the house. He is so good about holding his bladder normally.

 

We've talked to the vet about it this week, and because we did tests, we all seem to think it's behavioral. Does anyone have experience with this? Anything we can do to help him? We think it could be a habit that we can break, but we aren't sure how to remedy this.

 

I appreciate any experiences, thank you!

 

[LBass]

I don't have any brilliant suggestions. My male hound, Spirit, does something similar. Water is always available to him, but on occasions he will stand at the bowl and drink for far longer than usual. Most often this behavior occurs in the evening. I too took him to the vet for tests, trying to make sure he had no issues with kidney, bladder, or diabetes. No health issues were found. Yay! Since his "tanking up" happens in the evenings when we're home and it's easy to heed his frequent demands to go out, we just let him out as necessary.

 

I think that approaching your hound's issue as if he needs a refresher course in Housetraining 101 might be wise. Maybe if he steps up his asking-to-go-out technique and the humans step up their watching for his asking-to-go-out messages the problem will resolve.

Edited February 15, 2016 by LBass

[Guest Mordechai]

Thanks for your insight! I'm thinking it may be because of the use of heat in the winter. We don't keep the heat too warm when we arent home during the day. And we turn it up in the evenings when we are home. I think it could be his way of trying to get moisture back? Any experience with that? I think I may need to invest in a large humidifier!

[greysmom]

If this is a sudden increase, you should go in to the vet for repeat tests. It's always best to eliminate medical causes first since they are easier to fix.

 

If he doesn't drink much during the day he may be a little dehydrated by the time you get home at night. Most greyhounds spend a work day at home by themselves just sleeping and hardly ever move, so if he doesn't get up to go out, he might not remember to take a drink. If you don't already, try putting some water on his breakfast in the mornings to make sure he has some liquid in him during the day. If he's going in the house during the day while you're gone, you can try a belly band (with an incontinence pad inside) to save your rugs.

 

I do also think they dry out indoors in the winter - both the heat and the cold can sap the moisture right out of their thin skin. You might try setting up a humidifier and see if that helps at all - though it will take several weeks for that to make a difference, most likely.

[Guest Mordechai]

It's actually been somewhat of a gradual increase. The past two nights we've increased to taking him out around 2 or 3 am (he normally comes into bed from the couch at that time, but these past two nights, he's paced so we went out).

 

I've always put water in his food bowls, but I've increased his breakfast water since he doesn't drink much during the day. I also have a pot of water steaming when we are home to increase the humidity in the apartment, but I think we'll need to get a large humidifier that we can leave on when not home. He has not peed while we weren't home, and his bowl of water is typically the same level of water from the morning, after I get home from work.

 

Thanks for your insight!

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

If you are in Chicago, did you adopt through Greyhounds Only? If so, give them a call. If you dont have the number, just post here and I will get you the number.

 

Chad

[greysmom]

He might be getting cold in the night. If he does and wakes up because of it, he will probably have to go potty. A nice pair of dog jammies will help him stay warm and asleep, even if he moves around.

 

Is he peeing in the house at the same time every day? Are you missing his cues that he needs to go? If there's no medical reason, he might need a potty training refresher.

[Guest Mordechai]

If you are in Chicago, did you adopt through Greyhounds Only? If so, give them a call. If you dont have the number, just post here and I will get you the number.

 

Chad

 

No, we adopted in Florida, but we've been in touch with Greyhounds Only.

He might be getting cold in the night. If he does and wakes up because of it, he will probably have to go potty. A nice pair of dog jammies will help him stay warm and asleep, even if he moves around.

 

Is he peeing in the house at the same time every day? Are you missing his cues that he needs to go? If there's no medical reason, he might need a potty training refresher.

 

We don't shut the heat off at night, we just lower it. He always feels hot when the heats on, and he prefers the weather outside when it's cooler.

 

And it's inconsistent. It's not every day, it was only because it was 3 times in one week that made me a bit worried.