Drinking tons of water

[AddyBaby]

So for the past 2 weeks Addy has been drinking a ton of water, approximately 3 gallons a day. She has also been acting off - she doesn't want to pee in the backyard and will pee in the house rather than go in the backyard and she is eating a ton of grass.
I took her to the vet had her urine checked and bloodwork done both came back within normal limits. The DVM said she is a perfectly healthy three year old, that it is probably stress from changing food or treats or something in her environment that is not noticible to me but huge to her. But I can't think of anything that has changed except obviously I started taking her to the front yard for her last midnight pee break but that was after it started.
He said if it doesn't clear up on its own then in a couple more weeks we need to do a urine culture and an ultrasound.

Does anyone have any ideas?

[Misskiwi67]

What kind of bloodwork was run? That doesn't sound normal to me at all...

[AddyBaby]

A complete blood cell count and internal organ function screening.

Didn't sound normal to me either.

[AddyBaby]

Does anybody have any ideas about this?
Its getting worse, I took her back, ultrasound showed nothing, I made them redo the urine and blood tests and they were all still normal. I can't find anything on the internet.

I appreciate any ideas anyone could offer.

[Maryellen]

drinking 3 gallons of water a day? something is very wrong.. is she eating fine?
i would get another vet, and run every test possible, were xrays done?

[AddyBaby]

She is eating her food normally. But she is eating tons of grass. She wants to stop on our walks to eat grass. We can't train in the grass b/c she won't focus she is so determined to eat grass.

Is there any merit to the idea that that behavior is due to something lacking in the dog food? She eats Diamond Natural Lamb & Rice 16oz/day. I thought that was just an educated guess, that no one really knew why they eat grass.

No Xray. Ultrasound only. I thought the ultrasound was better. Should I have had them do both?

What tests should they run?
I've called around to various vets and they just keep saying if she is acting normal otherwise she is fine. It just doesn't feel fine.

Thanks.

[Maryellen]

i would have them run every test possible- urine, blood, thyroid, EPI, SIBO as something is going on.. she is eating fine and pooping fine? what color is her urine?

[AddyBaby]

Yes, eating and pooping normal. Urine is dark yellow.

[Leslie H]

Diabetes is my first guess. However, I do know someone who went through this recently (greatly increased drinking and urination), the vet found nothing conclusive, and it has substantially decreased over a couple months.

[WGPKlaus]

Diabetes is my first guess. However, I do know someone who went through this recently (greatly increased drinking and urination), the vet found nothing conclusive, and it has substantially decreased over a couple months.

Isn't that indicative of cushings as well? when Boodha was drinking alot and fluid was building in his belly, I believe the docs mentioned the possibility of diabetes and/or cushings?
http://www.kateconnick.com/library/cushingsdisease.html

Goodluck with Addy regardless of what it is, you'll be in our prayers.

[jewelsdaddy]

Diabetes was my first guess too. The only other thing I can think of is has your dog took Pred (steroids) recently?

[ZiggysMom]

Diabetes mellitus would have shown up on bloodwork if that was the problem. Cushing's is also a cause of drinking and peeing a lot, as is prednisone if they're on it. There's also a disease called diabetes insipidus that causes them to drink and pee like mad with no bloodwork abnormalities. If all other tests are normal, the next step is to do a water deprivation test to differentiate diabetes insipidus from a behavioral thing. The good news is that it's treatable. The bad news is that the hormone to treat it is kinda expensive.

[Starbux1]

Diabetes is my first guess.

Isn't that indicative of cushings as well? .

That's what I was thinking, too. When I had to take high-dose adrenal corticosteriods due to a health condition - the side effects are the same as those for Cushings - I drank water like mad, and when I would realize I had to pee, it was very sudden and very urgent. Also, I was always insanely hungry, even if I had eaten a meal only two hours before.

I agree with Klaus and Leslie, getting checked for diabetes and Cushings would be something I would look into.

[mxmom]

HI,my 1st thought is cushings disease.my dog has cushings and before he started treatment he was drinking about 3 gallons of water a day.some of the other signs of cushings are pot belly,hair loss and huge appatite.A lot of vets are not that familiar with cushings and its treatment so i would definately go see an IM doc if you do suspect this.keep us posted.dorothy