 Barked: Sat Jan 12, '13 6:27pm PST |
 | |  | | I adopted Levi, my 2-year old neutered German Shorthaired Pointer, 6 months ago and noticed immediately that he had an issue with excessive thirst and urination. He weighs 55 lbs and drinks roughly 10-12 cups of water a day and asks to take frequent potty breaks as a result.
If he is crated during the day (7-8 hours) he will not have an accident in the crate but will ask to take breaks throughout the night. At its worst, he would ask to be let outside to pee every 2 hours at night. When he goes outside, he does his business and comes straight back in the house.
We have been in and out of veterinary offices since his adoption, but are still without a proper diagnosis. He has had blood work done more than once, urinalysis, urine culture, and even a kidney scan. His urine specific gravity is low (1.011 first test, 1.017 2nd test) and appears almost clear it is so diluted. His BUN level was a high 27 also.
This is what has been ruled out so far:
- UTI/Bladder Infection
- Leptospirosis
- Cushing’s Disease
- Addison’s Disease
- Liver function (Bile Acids Test)
- Kidney Disease (Ultrasound)
I’ve worked to make sure he gets enough exercise and adjusted his diet a couple of times and have been able to get the nighttime potty breaks down to 1-2 a night. As much as I hate to be woken up at 4am, I also want my dog to be happy and healthy. During the holidays when I was with him during the day he was able to sleep throughout the night since he received plenty of freedom to have breaks all day long.
He is now eating a half raw diet of Bravo! Lamb chub (contains lamb, bone, lamb organ meat, celery, squash, sweet potato) and half diet of holistic kibble. The kibble is Nutri Source Pure Vita Bison Entrée. It has a single source of protein (Bison) and is grain-free, corn-free, etc.
The next test we are looking at will be a deprivation test to rule out Diabetes Insipidus. My vet mentioned this on our very first visit and we even bought the medicine eye drops and did a brief test but never saw a huge difference in his condition. The vet thinks maybe he just needs a larger dose, but I want to know for sure if this is the problem before we do another medicine trial.
If anyone has any advice on supplements that may be helpful or steps we might want to take to improve his situation, we would be forever grateful. I know I miss sleeping and if this issue could be getting worse, I’d like to solve as soon as possible! |  |  | |  |
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4
It means, I'm crazy about water 
