7 month old boxer who is drinking but not eating

Question
Hi Jennifer,
We are just after a bit of advice. My husband and I helped our friend to but a boxer a puppy recently. She is white, with a little brindle in her and her name is Cassie.
We have noticed since she has been with our friend that Cassie has an obsession with drinking water. She will drink as much as she can before she is sick, and then if she is sick she will try to drink it again. Also if she pees on the floor she will try to drink that too!!

We have taken her to the vets and they have done urine tests and kept her in all day to do kidney and liver tests, also she has had blood tests done and they have all come back clear. The vet also tested for diabetes, which came back clear. So much money later we do not know why she drinks like this.

She recently went into kennels, with our own boxer, for 3 days and is now not eating! She is very thin and you can see her ribs and hip bones. She still has the water obsession though and so is taking on more that enough fluid but we cannot get any food into her. My husband thinks that it may be stress from the kennels and that she has been staying at ours whilst our friend has been away.

So my question is, could the drinking be down to a thyroid problem as she has not been tested for this?
Also how can we tey and get food into her? We have tried boiled chicken, eggs, rice and pasta and she has turned her nose up at it all.

Please help,
Thanks,
Sam.

Answer
Hi Sam,

I am sorry for the delayed answer, I neglected to sign out for the holiday!  

It would be unusual for a thyroid problem to show up in a puppy - not impossible, though.  The excessive drinking and then throwing it back up is not uncommon in puppies, though it can certainly be frustrating!  Limiting the amount of water she can drink at one time may help - only put an inch or two in the bowl, refilling it fairly often throughout the day.  Also, see if you can get her to keep her head up for a minute or two after she drinks - I've found that the water generally comes back up with a burp, and if the head is up the water generally stays down.  If neither of those works, try giving her ice cubes instead of water - but watch to be sure she stays well hydrated.

As far as her not eating, it could well be the stress.  Usually a dog will not starve itself to death as a cat might, but they do sometimes seem to push the limit!  You might try some broth, perhaps watered down or a low-sodium type (again restricting her intake, as she's just as likely to bring the broth back up a water), to at least get some calories into her.  There are also some high-calorie pastes available like Nutri-Cal.  You might also try some highly-palatable foods like cooked liver, liverwurst, anchovy paste, macaroni and cheese - you want to be careful with a puppy not to upset her nutritional balance too much, but it's also important that she gets some sustenance.

Good luck with her!