water, water, water

Question
Our 8 yr old boxer has been drinking water whenever and wherever he can.  He will drink out of our pond, puddle, toilet,etc. It started a couple months ago and is getting worse.  He now gets up at night and searches out water, checking the toilets.  We have always made sure he has water in his bowl but now have to limit it since he will continue until he throws up.

We have taken him to the vet and had the blood and stool tested. All was normal.  It's starting to cause havoc in the house.  Could it be OCD?  What can we do about it?

Answer
Hi Doug,

It's very doubtful that this is OCD.  OCD normally manifests in behavioral actions...tail chasing, light chasing, staring at points on the wall, etc.  

True excessive water intake is called polydipsia.  There are underlying causes which can include:

Diabetes
Kidney disease and/or failure
Abnormal pituitary gland
Liver disease
Uterine infection

A Boxer of average weight (about 60-70 lbs.) should drink about 9-13 cups of water a day.  To verify that you boy is drinking in excess, you should fill his bowl with measured cups and monitor his intake.  More water ingested, than the normal amount, regularly and under normal conditions (no excessive heat, exercise, etc.) is considered polydipsia.

I'm not sure why your vet ran a fecal test but a urine test should have been performed.  Blood is tested for different things...your boy should have been tested for thyroid problems and organ function specifically.  Was he?  

Polydipsia is not a condition in itself but a symptom of an underlying condition that will need to be treated.  If your vet is writing this off as having no underlying cause, a second opinion is warranted.

This, of course, is assuming that there have been no changes to his diet or environment.  

Here is a very good link to information about polydipsia:

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/polydipsia-and-polyuria-in-dogs/page1.aspx

I hope you get this sorted out...good luck!