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Loki thirsty all the time, incontinent

WMBigs

Active Member
Hi all,
Loki has become very thirsty about a week ago. Female, spayed, 5 yrs old.
She has always liked water, eats it when we are at a river or lake, stream, puddle.
Go to bed about 10ish, she would wake us about 4:30-6:00am to go out.

Now she wakes us about every two hours to get a drink, we do not let her drink until we get up. When let out, she barely pees to come in and get a drink, then go out again to empty her bladder.

When at the vet, I took her out to potty 2 times because she was leaking. Two hour time period.

The vet checked blood and urine, all good. Maybe very early stage of kidney disease, maybe not- just speculation.

Loki is now on Proin Er 74mg for incontinence. Don't know if that is helping.

Vet said 1.8 liters will meet her needs per day. Measure out 2 liters and she will finish it about 5:00 pm, but we let her drink freely after that until 7:00 pm. She is kenneled on work days when we are not home. She did make it ok, now the bedding is wet when I get home. I have come home at lunch to let her out, bedding is wet.

We have always shut off her water supply at 7:00 pm.

This started with the extreme cold weather. We used to get out 1-2 times a week for 1-2 hours of off leash running. We went 2 weeks without getting out.

In past I have learned to limit our time at the water edge because she would leak in the car on the way back home. We can't water the lawn with her outside, can't wash the bicycles, can't hang dripping laundry out to dry- she will play with/drink whatever she can.

To be clear, she has always drank too much in her playing when able. Now she is telling us she is thirsty and needs a drink, not playing with water.

No changes in our 7 yr old neutered male Cody. They have the same diet.

Help!!

MikeB
 
This started with the extreme cold weather. We used to get out 1-2 times a week for 1-2 hours of off leash running. We went 2 weeks without getting out.
We had a polar vortex for just over 2 weeks and a UTI was on my radar for Kaiser. He limited his water and wouldn't go for potty breaks until he just couldn't hold it, and then he would only give a few squirts before rushing back inside. It was worrisome. So your vet DID check the urine and came up with nothing? He checked for a UTI? It does sound like a UTI to me - the timing with weather, the thirst, the leakage. I was going to suggest early spay-related incontinence, but that wouldn't explain the thirst. At what age was she spayed?

Limiting her water intake doesn't seem like the solution to me...hopefully there will be more comments on what to look for.
 
We had a polar vortex for just over 2 weeks and a UTI was on my radar for Kaiser. He limited his water and wouldn't go for potty breaks until he just couldn't hold it, and then he would only give a few squirts before rushing back inside. It was worrisome. So your vet DID check the urine and came up with nothing? He checked for a UTI? It does sound like a UTI to me - the timing with weather, the thirst, the leakage. I was going to suggest early spay-related incontinence, but that wouldn't explain the thirst. At what age was she spayed?

Limiting her water intake doesn't seem like the solution to me...hopefully there will be more comments on what to look for.
We got her at 2 yrs old. She was spayed, we don't know when. UTI and Diabetes testing negative. Nothing abnormal with urine and blood tests.

I just finished brunch. She leaked while laying at our feet. Had been outside just 1/2 hour prior. 37F out, she loves being out side. She loves to go out to go potty. She sits on back deck as sentry at times. Sometimes difficult to get her in when 0F and below.

If we didn't limit her water, we would be up every two hours to let her out at night. She prefers the toilet water over everything we offer. Old fashioned toilet, lots of water in bowl. She will drink it to the very bottom at times, 2 gallons???? In the morning she is not limited on water. On the weekends she is not limited through the day. But everyday we cut off water at 7PM, and life used to be "normal".

At bedtime, now she wants drink. Wakes us at 1:30am to go out, she will pace for 1/2 hour then start barking. No interest in going out, shows us she wants drink out of toilet. We have let her get a small drink to wake up to wet bedding, her wanting to go out, and then wanting more to drink at about 4:00 am. When I get up at 6am, potty, then unlimited water until about 7:30am on work days. Today she has not been limited at all.

Maybe she has Covid????????????????

Taking them out in shortly to get their running freaks on.

Thank you, MikeB (aka slave to Loki and Cody)
 
Have you had a second opinion by another vet? It really sounds like kidney failure or diabetes issues. Something is definitely not right. I hope you find the answer, has to be frustrating for all.
 
We had all this done at an animal hospital. The vet we saw had conferred with others on staff.
 
Sounds very much like Diabetes Insipidus.
Did they check the pituitary gland for growths or tumors or to check it for normal function?

DI can be treated successfully and all symptoms resolved but it is a lifelong treatment.

Without treatment you need to provide all the water they want and take out to urinate frequently due to possible dehydration which can be life threatening with DI.

A full kidney panel needs to be done to rule out CKD.

Have the vet check for DI as soon as possible.
 
Don’t know about animals but increased thirst and urination are signs/symptoms of diabetes.
 
I am mostly a lurker here but wanted to reiterate that this is likely some kind of kidney tubule issues or diabetes insipidis which is not related to sugar but instead the concentrating hormone that makes your kidneys concentrate urine. Any chance she had toxic ingestion? Ibuprofen is a biggie.

My dobie puppy got into my son’s ibuprofen when she was a puppy and she had kidney tubule damage. She had the exact same thing as you describe. She drank gallons per day as her kidney could not concentrate urine for about 2 weeks after the ingestion. I had to take her out every 90 mins or so.

You must allow free access to water until you figure this out. I am also a physician and can attest to the danger of limiting water in this case. There is medication to treat if it is diabetes insipidis. If it is tubule damage, it would be wait and see. My dogs tubules took 2 weeks to recover after the toxin exposure.
 
I had put up an update, it's gone now. Tests came back. Thyroid tested one of 4. She is now on Thyro-tabs, .7mg.
Kidney disease ruled out. We will see how she does on this med. The Vet has not ruled out Diabetes Insipidus, as it could be related to the poor Thyroid test result.
She felt this was the way to proceed. Vet will call early next week to see how it is going.
I'll keep you updated. Thanks, MikeB
 
Well Loki did not wet the bed last night, a first since this all started. Didn't wake us to go out or get a drink. We did wake up at 4:30 and encouraged her to go potty, then she came right back in and jumped in bed. I got up at 5:30 and Loki got a drink, but wasn't ravenous and drank a more normal portion for her. She at her breakfast, got another more normal drink and went to cuddle up with mama. Looking good so far.
 

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Well this is great news! I love that the meds are kicking in fairly quick too. I had read that Dobermans are prone to thyroid issues, but so far, I hadn't heard of it being related to thirst. Learn something new everyday. Great picture of her in the snow!
 
Update, Loki is still waking us 2-3 times a night to go out. Drinks a lot in the morning and a lot more when we get home at night. I come home from lunch and let her out with a very small drink. Her day bedding is dry if I get home at lunch, wet if I can't get home for lunch. Her symptoms are definitely reduced, but the Vet is getting us setup with eye drops to treat Diabetes Insipidus. We will be getting urine samples for the vet during that first week.
 
We started the eye drops (really a nasal spray that we shoot into her eyes) two days ago. Yesterday, her kennel bedding was dry. She let me sleep all night last night with no seepage. This am she got a more normal size drink and was not ravenous about it, she ate breakfast before getting drink, that is the way it used to be.
The drops are to treat Diabetes Insipidus. We need to collect urine for three days starting on day five and the density will be checked.
It is all looking very promising!!
Thanks everyone!
 

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