Excessive Water

[joydemaria]

I just adopted an 8 month old puppy that will drink every ounce of water in bowl no matter how much I put in. He literally water logs himself until his bladder can’t hold it. The weird thing is he won’t touch it again after that. He does this twice a day instead of drinking throughout the day. I’ve never had a dog do this before. 

Edited June 25, 2020 by joydemaria

[Adrienne]

Hi there, 

Welcome the forums!

This is something I would suggesting reporting to the vet, just to play it safe. There are some medical conditions that can cause dogs to drink excessively which can then trigger them to have accidents around the home as their bladder gets so full. In these cases, it's important to not restrict water, considering that if there there may be an underlying medical condition, and this increased drinking may be an important compensatory mechanism. Once all medical causes have been ruled out, the veterinarian may confirm there is nothing medically going on, and perhaps may suspect a case of psychogenic polydipsia, which is a form of compulsive drinking in dogs, although often it turns out to be more than an annoyance than anything. These dogs just want to have their full and aren't happy unless they empty the water bowl.  I have seen some dogs develop this when they were deprived/limited from drinking water in their former homes or maybe lived off the streets, or perhaps there was competition with other dogs and they wanted to drink all the water before another dog would get to it. Stress can do this too considering that dogs may drink as a displacement behavior. 

 

[JMFS]

Hey Adrienne!  Do you have any articles on this condition?  Esther is still obsessed with water to the point that if she's being difficult about coming inside all I have to do is say "water" and she comes running.  I give her 10 oz at a time (she was 40 lbs at last weighing).  Each time she pees she gets another 10 oz (more if they've been playing of course!).  Last night she got at the pool again and her bladder was full to the point of leaking while she was walking.  She leaked three times on the way to the door, no squatting, just leaking.  She's Trying to hold it while we're walking but just can't.  Then there was another accident 20 minutes later (no new water was given because I knew what was coming).  No warning from her so I'm assuming she leaked on the bed. 

At 9 months I expect her to have better control than she does, especially with the training.  She practically taught herself to use the bells after watching Gertie do it 3 times (I never asked her to touch them) and she bumps me with her nose when she needs to go if we're away from the bells.  The only time she messes in the house is when I miss her cues Unless she's had too much water.  She doesn't meter herself at all.  If I gave her a gallon I think she'd drink it to the point of discomfort.  I've tried ice cubes to slow her drinking but she chomps them up, which is bad for enamel and defeats the purpose.  I've tried a gerbil-style waterer thinking maybe it's just the sensation of the licking and the coolness of the water but she drains it.

I am making a Vet appointment for her and crossing my fingers she doesn't try to eat them again.  If she does I'll bite the bullet and try the other Vet who lets me go in the room with her.  I really think it's the masks.  The first basket muzzle I got was too big - waiting on a smaller one to be delivered today.  She's going to be a tough case on that, too.  I put it on Gertie, whom I've Never muzzled, and she just flopped down and went back to sleep (oh, Gerts . . .).  Esther wants it Off her face immediately.  Just measuring her with a ruler, not even a tailor's tape, was too much for her and I Barely got her measured (hence the wrong size).

Please don't spend too much time on this - you have given me so much in the 3 years I've been asking questions!  💜 If you have resources, though, I sure would appreciate them.  I have the forms downloaded for the trainer you found, just need to fill them out and contact her.  Other than last night's light showers we've been doing quite well with management of everything else.

[Adrienne]

OK, please take this info with a grain of salt, it's based on what I have learned in the past working at a vet's office and it can be outdated. It's therefore not meant to be used as a replacement for professional veterinary info. 

Generally, -very generally-the normal intake of water in dogs is 1 ounce (30ml) of water per pound of body weight in 24 hours. For sake of an example, a dog weighing forty pounds, should be drinking around 5 cups per day of water (which is around 1182.94 mL, as one cup of water is 237 mL). So what's important here is determining whether your dog is drinking too much or not. Now, this is not easy and should be strictly determined with the help of a professional. There are many things to factor in  here (heat, humidity, activity level, etc. 

For instance consider diet. Dogs on dry kibble tend to drink a lot more than dogs on canned, raw or soaked kibble. Some dog foods have more sodium than others. I know dogs on Blue Buffalo being reported for drinking a lot. Dogs fed treats may drink more too as treats may contain some good amounts of sodium. Too much peanut butter may pack a punch too unless you feed an unsalted variety or make a homemade version.

 You'll therefore need to work with a vet to determine whether Esther is drinking too much and how much is too much for a dog with her diet/activity levels etc with accuracy. 

In regards to psychogenic polydipsia, this is something that is typically diagnosed only once other potential medical conditions have been ruled out. It's therefore a disorder that's diagnosed by exclusion, with the veterinarian possible going through a loooong list of medical causes (differential diagnosis) for excessive drinking in dogs. 

Several of these medical conditions can be ruled out by having the vet perform some baseline tests such as a complete blood count and serum biochemistry profile, a urinalysis, and a urine culture.

However, if I recall well, there is no blood test to confirm diabetes insipidus (DI). In the past, veterinarians used to run a water deprivation test, but this was time consuming and had some associated risks.  So in order to confirm it, or rule it out, a trial of treatment for diabetes insipidus is ran (desmopressin) and the dog's response to it is monitored. If the excess drinking reduces, bingo! it's likely that, if it doesn't than likely it's something else, which may put psychogenic polydipsia higher up the list of possibilities. 

The good thing is that if you decide to work with a veterinary behaviorist, he/she can help you out in this department too! 

[JMFS]

You have Far more experience than me so I am open to whatever you have to teach.  I won't ever get upset with information given because you've been there, done that, probably have the t-shirt in a few different colors.  :)  I know you're not a fan of water dosing and that's a-okay.  The Only reason I limit is because if I don't she will leak.  She does get at least 40 oz in a 24-hour period, easily.  Probably closer to 50 - 60 (more if they play hard outside). 

Her gums are staying wet, as is her nose, stools are just right (not hard, not soft), and her coat is healthy (no flakes, no itchiness) so I'm fairly certain she's getting enough daily.  I worry about her inability to control her bladder more than her extreme thirst.  Last night she had 12 oz and in 20 minutes she managed to leak.  She can normally go an hour or more after drinking.  I pull water 4-6 hours before I go to bed (they fall asleep about 2-4 hours before I'm ready to turn in).  We go out for one more potty break before I go to sleep.  This morning the husband took her out after she'd gone 10 hours without water (sleeping that entire time) and she peed and pooped.  Then about 20 minutes after being upstairs, no water given yet, she peed by the door.  It bears mentioning that they're normally fed and have had water by this time, but we were leaving for a couple hours so I held their food until we were ready to go.  She was allowed to wander around the large area of the office instead of being in her kennel like usual.  Maybe being able to move around / change of routine could have had a role, but after 10 hours of no water, and having peed twice before the accident is odd.  She held her bladder for the couple hours we were gone.

I'm suspecting there's something perhaps medical at play with her bladder.  I know all dogs are different, but at this age Gertie (because she's the freshest on my brain) had excellent control with no need to meter her water.  Mo was even better with potty training, but I got him at 16 weeks so worked him from the ground up pretty much.  She's not giving any signs of discomfort, but this morning's accident was out of character.

Banfield is still doing masks so I'm seriously considering that other Vet.  If I were Esther I probably wouldn't feel very comfortable with two strangers with no faces and wearing gloves restraining me in a small room.  The other Vet didn't wear a mask and I was in the room with them the entire time.  I'll keep you posted!

[Adrienne]

I get the point of water restriction for preventing leakage, it makes totally sense, I am just not a fan of restricting water mainly because if there's an underlying medical condition at play, it can cause problems along the road. For example, excessive drinking can be a compensatory mechanism to flush out something the body perceives as foreign and potentially harmful (think toxins, excess calcium levels, excess glucose etc) so if we restrict water in those cases, concentrations of these potentially harmful substances could accumulate with harmful effects. 

On top of this, with some dogs of unknown history, like if water was scarse for some reason or the dog had to compete with other dogs for it, restricting water may cause it to become more valuable, causing the dog to crave water more and drink more in abundance. 

Increased water intake (polydipsia) often goes hand in hand with polyuria (increased urination, even to the point of leakage) so that excess drinking leads to excess urine output, therefore, it's likely that vets will be more concerned why the dog is drinking more than the other way around (urinary incontinence).

In some cases, when there is a history of drinking a lot and consequential frequent peeing, I have heard that kidneys may somehow "unlearn how to concentrate urine" and get lazy, I think the phenomenon is known as 'medullary washout?"  and the vet may have to find ways to retrain them through gradated water restriction. 

It seems like this started as a once in a while ordeal (like last time you mentioned drinking water from the pool I can't find how long ago that was) and now it is happening in other circumstances, so yes, I feel vet visit is important. If it's just a tiny leak versus a puddle, that can sometimes be a sign of a UTI or spay incontinence, this latter can happen in young puppies too although not that common. It's triggered by estrogen dropping and affecting the muscles of the bladder and urethra. However, the extreme thirst you describe may point to something else. 

 

[JMFS]

Spay incontinence, interesting.  So many potential causes!  I wish it were just a little piddle, but it's enough to take 3-4 paper towels to soak up, or if I'm lucky one of the hand towels I use as rags.  With the way she greedily laps it up and chases the bowl when I take it up (she's still trying to lick every last drop out though it's empty) I wouldn't be surprised to find it was a lack of water availability causing the yearning.  It's as though she's stocking up sometimes, just in case there's a shortage.  Without that history, though, it's only a guess.  I'll be sure to make that appointment tomorrow so I can get her in.  The Banfield vet dismissed it as puppy excitement over water but I would expect that exuberance to have waned by now.  Then again, I could be compounding the problem by limiting her intake, which makes the need for an appointment even more pressing.

Thank you as always!

[Adrienne]

You are very welcome! When you make the appointment ask your vet if they want you to bring in a urine sample, it's much easier to obtain at home than trying to collect it at the vet's office. And if you refrigerate it, remind your hubby what it is, or he'll think it's some type of juice😁!

[JMFS]

I cancelled the Banfield Optimum Wellness plan for Esther.  They're still masked and not allowing pet parents in the room.  To get her in they don't even have an appointment today or tomorrow and would need me to drop her off in the morning so she can be seen between appointments.  Ain't happenin'.  She already has negative feelings towards the place and I'm thinking dropping her off is going to cause all sorts of harm and set us Way back.  So I'm looking for a new Vet who has insurance who can see her sooner than later.

I did find out yesterday that 10 oz is the maximum I can give her at one time.  I tried upping it and she leaked like a sieve.  Just 2 oz more without play (I'll give 14 after play) and she had 8 accidents - all but one was leakage (she snuck upstairs to pee on the mat so that's now been christened) and none of the leaks were small.  I just don't get it.  2 oz shouldn't make That big of a difference.  There were two trips outside amidst the accidents as well. 

[JMFS]

Edit button disappeared again.  Elusive little guy.  :D  We have an appointment tomorrow morning.  Their site says they do home visits and I'll inquire about that if she doesn't do well.  They've asked that I give her the trazodone beforehand.  They don't allow me in the room with her.  Both Vets are female so we'll see if that helps or not.  They're calling our previous vet to get the 4-1-1 on Miss Esther's visit.  I just hope they're prepared.  We've gone as far as we can with restraint training.  I can lie on top of her and scratch the base of her tail and she doesn't care.  They're not me, though.  I've restrained and lightly pinched or put finger pressure on the insides of her legs, palpated her tummy, run my fingers along her gums, cleaned her ears, etc . . . and she has no cares to give. There's not much else I can prepare her for.

The smaller muzzle finally arrived but it's too late to do the training for that, though we did start.  She'll be a challenge with it for sure.  Girl has trust issues big time - those first 6 months must have been bleak.

[Adrienne]

That's a lot of accidents! Remember to mention to the vet that this behavior has recently started getting out of hand, her extreme thirst and increase in accidents. Many vets chalk it up to potty training issues, but the thing that strikes the most and should raise a red flag is the sudden increase in drinking/urination. 

Home visits would be great! Back when I lived in PA, there was a mobile vet who just did that, went home-to-home to do vet visits.

I was about to tell you, that if she saw the vet recently at Banfield, they may accept a urine sample without seeing her as a starting point to rule out UTIs and see how concentrated or dilute her urine is, however, eventually they may want to see her if they need to dig deeper into diagnostics. When my sweet Petra was sick, we had an established veterinarian-client patient relationship, so that even though she saw the vet 3-4 months ago, the vet would prescribe her stuff or I could drop off urine or fecal samples or I could just call the vet and ask questions without Petra needing to physically see the vet. 

You can only do so much to prepare for the exam in these COVID times. Normally, it would help to swing by the vet's office and make great things happen and have family/ volunteer friends practice (possibly with a muzzle in place, just in case), but in these pandemic times everything is more complicated. Hopefully, the trazodone will kick in and help keep her under threshold. 

[JMFS]

Well, everything came back normal.  Labs were sent on the urine to get more detailed information, just in case.  Ultrasound was good on the bladder and spleen and whatever else she looked at.  They don't allow humans back there, but the vet called and started laughing when she said, "so I'm sending someone out with gloves and a mask . . .."  Esther let them give treats and peanut butter, but when it came to them touching her she wasn't having it.  Thankfully they have more autonomy over their clinic and made the decision to bring me in.

We did end up muzzling with a cloth muzzle and the 10 minutes of training we did with the basket muzzle yesterday helped with that.  She tolerated it enough for us to get the job done.  I restrained her from the shoulders up and she only got upset a couple times but nothing like a gator roll, no growling, just "let me up!"  She was a good girl imo.  She's 46.8 lbs now so the dosage I had for the trazadone was too low and just barely took the edge off.  Next time they suggested we do it a couple days in advance to let it build up in her system (for a Friday appointment we'd dose Wed, Thurs, and Fri).  By the time we were ready to go she and the doc were friends and Esther was sitting for her instead of whale eyeing and hiding.  I feel good about the vet, just need to find a wellness plan / insurance now.  $500 to be told Esther's healthy, lol.  $300 for today and $200 for the labs that we'll get results for in a week.

From today's labs three items were in the high range, but one was offset by the protein.  One was normal to be high because she was stressed, and the third is normal to be high in a puppy because they're growing. 

The kicker?!  The boy gave her a full bowl of water (I cringed, haha) and she Wouldn't Touch it!  I was thinking, "grrrreat, I'm the crazy lady who claims her dog has an issue, but is totally normal."  Fortunately I have the hubby to back me up on this!  The vet laughed and said they tend to believe their clients and dogs act in unpredictable ways when they're stressed. I did give them a full history, even going back to the first pool incident.  I want to give all the info I can because it can help diagnose.

We were sent home with the recommendation to measure her water intake.  Let her have free rein and then tally up the results.  She laughed at my face, even though the mask was covering half of it.  Apparently I have expressive eyes.  I'm about to give her a big ol' bowl to drink out of and the husband is going to take her for a walk to see what happens.  I'm scared, lol.  I don't think we have enough towels!

Oh, and if they'd chalked it up to potty training issues I was going to show them all our conversations on this!  The child is trained, she just can't make it to the door when she's gorged herself on water.  She did give me the name of a local trainer as well, so I'll explore that.  Nice to have a name in case the doctor you gave me won't do the trip to us.  I think we'll be able to build the type of rapport with this vet that you had with Petra's.  She was very conscientious of ensuring Esther had a good experience and working with me to make that happen.

Edited August 26, 2021 by JMFS

[JMFS]

2 pm:  10 oz

2:10 pm:  16 oz

And so it begins . . ..

Just have to figure out how to keep Gertrude from drinking it so I can measure since it's supposed to be all-you-can-drink-when-you-want-it for Esther.  Off to put down puppy pads galore!

[JMFS]

Several accidents; all but one was leakage.  I put puppy pads everywhere and held them down with painter's tape so I can grab them up easily.  She missed most of the time, lol.  In all she drank 78 oz.  We'll do it again tomorrow because today was kind of weird with the vet visit, and not our normal routine. 

It's 10:20 pm now so I took the water up.  She threw up in the husband's truck - I suspect too many treats and peanut butter at the doc's office combined with a run with the husband.  All that food and rich PB jostling around in her tummy with the water and her normal meal was likely too much.  He said she peed 5 times during the run, which was after the 26 oz she gorged on before the run.  He was impressed with how well she did on the leash so I'm not feeling like a Total failure.  I'm doing Something right!  Then again, he was moving and she was having to keep up.  He was running, he said she just trotted along, lol.  Dogs and their athleticism. 

Incidentally, it is Not easy to measure water drinking when they're supposed to have the freedom to drink it.  I used a 32 oz measuring cup and poured it into that after each drinking session so I could see how much was left.  However, it's kind of difficult to know when to measure, and write down the times, when they can have it whenever they want.  Oh, and when Gertrude wants to drink it, too! 

Doc checked for kidney stones, diabetes, Cushing's, UTI, and a few other things.  They actually read and addressed (most of) what I wrote and are only a 3-minute drive away.  They took the time to warm her up to them and called me in before Esther had a chance to snap or anything.  I may have found our new Veterinarian.  :)

[JMFS]

We're already at 42 oz for the day . . ..  Towels at the ready.

• 1215: play with Gerts (remember, I go to bed around 3 or 4 am so we're all shifted about 4 hours from normal people)
• 1230:  16 oz water / 1.5 c food
• 1300:  Poop / pee, no play
• 1302:  8 oz
• 1325:  pee, no play
• 1326:  16 oz

We go to to dinner around 4:30 pm to beat the crowds on Fridays so I'm not sure what to do there.  Tomorrow may be the best day for this experiment because she can't go more than 30 minutes without needing to pee with all she's drinking.

[Adrienne]

Thanks for the update. I am happy to hear that you found a great vet. She sounds very thorough and willing to listen. Best of all, she seems collaborative in making sure Esther is comfortable. 

Wow, 42 ounces already and the day isn't close to being over yet! 

[JMFS]

We'll have a better idea with tomorrow's run since I'll be home all day to do the test.  Today we ended up with 82 oz even with us going out, and no access to water, for 4 hours.  She pooped in her kennel while we were gone, ate it (ugh, gross!) and drank 32 more oz when we got home (24 right when we got home, which I don't blame her - I'd drink the entire pool if I'd eaten what she did!) and then another 8 before I took the water up for the evening.  We're at 3 leaks, 1 full accident, and 4 outdoor excursions so far at 11:00 pm.  I don't know if she licked up any accidents in the kennel.  I say she likely did - she has a tendency to lick up accidents.  Haven't decided if it's pica or hiding evidence - she doesn't act as though she's doing it on the sly.

[Adrienne]

Wow, that's a lot of drinking!

Is the pooping in the kennel something new? 

[JMFS]

Found an event tracker that's easy to use, much quicker than writing it all down!  It's supposed to export the logs into an Excel or csv file but so far that function isn't working, which makes me sad.  This has been the best tracker so far and I tried 9 of them yesterday. You can I spent my day basically taking her outside to get rid of all the water.  About to start again for the day since she just ate.  My insomnia is getting worse so we're on a weird schedule.  She drank 24 oz after eating.  /sigh  This is going to be a Very long week.

This is the first time she's pooped in her kennel that I can recall.  She May have had an accident in the beginning, but it's not typical behavior for her to do it in the house at all.  Eating it was my big red flag.  Aside from being really gross it's surely not healthy.  The stuff is excreted for a reason after all.  I'm almost certain it's because her tummy was still upset with all the treats and peanut butter from the day before at the vet's.  Or it could be because of all the water loosening things up; however, she only did the one poop yesterday, unless I forgot to mark one down and did it as pee instead (I feel like I did given the number of mosquito bites I have - usually only get those when I take her to the perimeter to poop) and she could have snuck one in while playing with Gertie since I can't see them if they go into the woodsy area.

I have a timer set for 20 minutes so I can catch her before she bursts.  Sometimes she starts doing the dance a bit before then, but for the most part 20 min is a good timer.

It's difficult to work with her needing to go out so much and I'm hoping we figure something out soon.  Maybe we'll see a pattern emerge with my logging, like the big drinks in the "morning." Then again, with the hurricane hitting Louisiana we may not see shingles for a while so our business may screech to a halt with the shortages and I'll have all the time in the world.

Already time to go outside.  My day has officially begun, lol.

[Adrienne]

Oh wow, setting a timer every 20 minutes brings me back to memories of fostering 7-week old puppies. That's crazy peeing for a dog her age. I hope this gets sorted out soon, it must be very tiring for both of you. 

[JMFS]

I'm exhausted.  Mentally and physically.  There have been 16 trips outside today, yesterday was about the same so the frequency isn't changing much.  Her morning intake was a little less today, but that didn't affect the number of eliminations she needed.  I've been up and down the stairs 13 times myself just for her and I'm scared to leave her in order to do anything else because we're dangerously low on puppy pads and clean towels at the moment.  It's good to know that this is not normal behavior - was starting to think we were bonkers.

The good news is this convinced the husband that my kennel, dog wash station, and dog-only washer / dryer ideas are viable.  😆  The kennels will be 4' x 3' with a loft bed in each and a concrete floors with drains.  That way if there are accidents the beds are safe from harm.  The kennels will also have energy-efficient doors that go out into 6' fenced runs so the girls can step outside while we're out and if they get all yucky we can hose off the kennels.  Without moving the beds.  We've built two houses for custom home buyers now with dog washing stations in their houses so he has a good idea of what's needed so I get that wish item in the garage.  My back is rejoicing because I'm in rough shape for 3 days after bathing them these days.  I'm not yet 50, but my joints say I should be 70.  Having the girls elevated for baths will be a huge help.  After this adventure he also conceded to a dog-only stackable washer / dryer in the garage.  I still think it needs to be full-size because dog stuff isn't small, but I'll savor this win for a bit before I push for that.  :D  After all, a Building Contractor should have all the bells and whistles to showcase what he's capable of doing, right?!  I'm just helping with advertising.

On the not-so-good side I just don't know what's going on with this girl, especially if the remaining labs come back okay.  Some sort of abuse or deprivation in those first 6 months?  Labs and the ultrasound should point to any physical issues.  I do know that I'm not getting any work done and almost missed our payroll deadline so we need to get it nipped in the bud.  I want to try having the husband give her 6 oz of water after he takes her out in the morning.  Maybe she'll be less thirsty for that first pull of water.  He did comment that she's stopped licking the dew off the grass so maybe we're getting somewhere.  He's worried I'll doze through her pacing / whining since I don't fall fully asleep until the morning, but I think after a couple days of that maybe I'll be so pooped at a regular hour I'll be able to sleep like normal people.  The veterinarian wasn't very clear as to how long this experiment should go on, and I forgot to ask, so I've decided to continue until we get the labs back and we can discuss treatment options or strategies at that point.

Because I like to end on a positive note, the muzzle training is going Very slowly, but she wags her tail and comes to me when she sees it.  We're up to a couple seconds on the face before she takes her nose out and she doesn't really tend to paw at it.  I've been holding on to the treat so she has to work to get it, thus acclimating to the feel of the muzzle on her nose.  I haven't gotten anywhere near being able to get that strap fastened, yet.  I have night and day over here.  I put it on Gertie again and she flopped back down and went to sleep, lol. 

[Adrienne]

For sure this is mentally and physically draining!  I share your concern about wondering what may be going on if all the labs come back normal. What is odd is that this seems to have started out of the blue- well sort of. You mentioned about the pool drinking back at the end of May, then things seemed to go back to normal for some time and then things seem to have snowballed lately.  

I think it's worthy to give your vet a call just to keep her in the loop on where she's at drinking these days and inquire how long the testing is done for. I know we often feel like we're bothering them considering their busy lives, but you have spent a whole lot on that last visit and I think it's your right to know where to go from here. At least, if the vet is too busy, they let you leave a message for the vet and the vet assistant will note the message in Esther's chart, the chart will be put on your vet's desk and she should return your call at the end of the day or when she has a break or have vet staff call you to give you some type of instructions (like if you still need to log things or if what you have is enough). I think it's important to let her know if you are planning to try reducing water intake.

I love the kennel/washing station ideas for when you head out. When I worked for a kennel, they were easy-peasy to hose down quickly, so I can see how dog owners may like something like that somewhere in their properties especially if they have dogs prone to potty accidents. I wish you continued success in building these and yes, you should advertise them as I am sure many dog owners would love them!

Glad that the muzzle training is progressing well. Sounds like you are starting to get a positive CER to it when she sees it. Not pawing at it is a great sign! 

[JMFS]

I think the reason we had control over the peeing is because I was metering her intake with 10 oz at a time.  Now that she gets to drink what she wants when she wants we're seeing what caused me to restrict her in the beginning.  It's a method I've used for all my dogs, but they all grew out of the excessive water drinking and became responsible drinkers.  Having to continue to restrict Esther, and her having accidents when I tried to increase the amount, as well as your input, caused me to get her to the vet before getting an in-person trainer to help with the vet fears or finding a new wellness plan.

I asked the husband to give her 6 or 8 oz this morning to see if that my slake her first morning thirst, but he didn't so I'll have to wait until tomorrow for that.  We have an appointment at 2:30 today so I've taken up the water - don't need her soiling the kennel because we don't have those drains just yet!  She's still going to pee like crazy, but I really think if he gives her something to "wet her whistle" before that first drink of the day she might spread her drinking out a little more evenly.  I was taking up the water at 9 pm, but now I'm leaving it until midnight since I don't bother trying to sleep before 3 am.

I'm going to compile all the information into a spreadsheet that we can maybe drop off on our way to or from the appointment unless they'll give me a way to email it.   Those labs should be back today or tomorrow I think.  They said 5 days and our appointment was at 9 am Thursday.  If the lab doesn't work weekends then we may have to wait until Thursday.  I'll keep giving her water and measuring it.  More data = better chance of figuring it out and we do have a lull in the bills right now because cabinets are taking 5 months (normal is 4-6 weeks) and windows 5 months (normal is a couple weeks) due to Covid.  That means I have a little more leeway in my schedule so this was good timing.  I ordered 8 reusable pee pads from Chewy yesterday to add to my other 2 because our grocery store is out and it made sense to stop wasting resources and adding to landfills.  $50 for 75 XL pads or $56 for 8 reusable.  They were out of the 6 pack, dangit.  Sometimes you can find changing pad or mini crib pads at Walmart for a good price, too, and they work just fine for this purpose. 

[JMFS]

Found the data, just had to connect my phone to my pc.  This app made my life So much easier!  I have all the data crunched in a nice table for the doc as well as the individual instances of all the events.  Here's where we're at so far, but we're not out out of the woods for tonight just yet.  She sucked up 16 oz before falling asleep and we've already been outside once since then.  Think I'll take it up here at 11:15 pm and then my husband asked me to set out the water for her in the morning so he doesn't forget.  Going to go with 4 oz just to keep her mouth from going dry to see if that affects her first drink of the day.  Fingers crossed!  28 stairs roundtrip for each venture.  I'm tired.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Ah..I see... so likely her tendency to drink so much was sort of there, just buried, and happened to come out once she had free access to an "all you can drink buffet"😉 

I am thinking based on those last lab tests results and your data recording, you vet should be able to rule out of confirm any possible underlying medical causes and then go from there. If nothing medical comes up, at least you would know that it is safe to start restricting water (under the guidance of your vet) considering that, in dogs with certain medical conditions (like diabetes insipidus) they can dehydrate very quickly with even life threatening consequences. I guess your vet may then give you some guidelines on how to gradually restrict water to "re-train" her kidneys and calm down her "thirst center."

Is the water intake on your form in ounces? In one of you last posts you measured 82 ounces (and then you mentioned she drank 32 ounces more?) but I don't see it mentioned in the above the table.

August 30th has the most drinking and peeing can you recall anything special happening that day? Was she more hyper than usual? Was it hotter? Did she eat lots of peanut butter or high- sodium foods? I can't recall if you ever mentioned it in the posts, but what diet is she on? 

Wow so many potty trips! I hope you can get to the bottom of this soon.