Dog drinking more than normal

[JanetR]

Hello,
I tried to search this but didn't find an answer. I have an 10.5 years old dog that hardly drinks water, but today has drank multiple times from the bowl for longer than normal. This morning he threw up twice and was shaking and wouldn't eat his piece of banana. I made him a very small breakfast and thankfully he ate that. I'm finding his energy is about 70% back to normal and he has an appetite. I took his rectal temperature first thing this morning and it was 38.9C and tonight it's 38.4C. His stool has mucus in it and isn't as formed as I would like to see. The water drinking is very unlike him.

Three years ago he did go into a near liver failure situation (cause still unknown) where he even turned yellow. His pancreas was enlarged but after a week of being in the hospital he was released and thankfully my holistic vets (Dr. Jeff Grognet and Dr. Louise Janes - now retired sadly) as well as my chinese medicine vet Dr. Corinne Chapman got him better. Since then he's been on 1mg of prednisone daily and then 3 chinese herb powders twice daily. I feed him either home cooked (well balanced) or raw that can be cooked.

His energy has been great for a while and he was quite energetic this week - even running for most of the beach walk yesterday which we had never seen him do. He didn't eat anything (after that event three years ago and 8k later we watch him like a hawk). Would abnormal excessive water drinking make you go get a blood panel done, seeing as his liver level was at 800 last October and he does have a history of liver and pancreas distress?

Appreciate the advice.

Janet (and Bugsy Brown - picture taken two years ago)

 

[Dr. Christina]

While doing blood work is always a good idea, his recovery indicates that this was something temporary and his body is healing itself. Since he was running on the beach it was possible he ate something that upset his digestive system.

I would, however, schedule an appointment with your Chinese medicine veterinarian to see if you can move more towards a cure where he no longer needs to be on the Chinese herbs and the prednisone.

Dr. Christina

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hey Janet!

Welcome to HA!, and thanks for making your first post.

Bugsy is adorable.

Yes, the liver flare-up may very well have been an acute event.

Has he had any blood or urine testing done since Oct.?

The chronic dosing of steroid can elevate his liver enzymes and skew the results. Depending on the units of the test tho, 800 seems like more than just that (do you know the normal values for the lab?).

Would abnormal excessive water drinking make you go get a blood panel done

Great question! Since Bugsy is an older pup, you may want to err on the side of caution.

Having a vet exam, TCM and some blood and urine testing is a good idea.

However, 1 day of drinking a lot is not necessarily a reason to run bloodwork. If it persists for a few days (or longer) then definitely get some testing.

Most important tho is his BEAM score as it reflects the degree of his internal imbalance. It sounds like it was great this week, but how about now?

Optimize Your Pet's Quality Of Life Using BEAM

4 simple symptoms - behavior, energy, appetite, and mood - could help you track and increase your pet's health

www.holisticactions.com

It sounds like his body is already re-balancing so please let us know how he's doing.

For now perhaps go easy on food and water until his BEAM is back above an 8/10 (10 is equal to his being 100% normal).

 

[GinnyW]

Just a teensy thought: he could have exposed himself to more salt than usual while at the seashore. Maybe not drinking the water, but sniffing, licking, or just inhaling the sea salts. Even if this weren't enough to physically act, there could be a response to that environment which made his body feel it needed more H2O so as not to become dehydrated. He's just a little guy, and dogs are very sensitive to such environmental events. Steroids, too, would increase thirst responses. In any case, I, too, feel this is a passing event of no huge import.