Does your dog appear to be emptying his water bowl a little more frequently than usual? If so, you'll find he's probably also urinating more than he used to. After all, what goes in must come out. If this behavior goes on for long enough, it can become a nuisance. That's when it's time to look closer at what's going on.
It can be hard to tell if your dog's water intake is in fact higher than normal, and the only way to do it properly is to measure it. Give your dog one water bowl for the day, and measure how much water you put in it. At the end of the day, measure how much is left. A dog's average water intake is around 90ml per kilogram body weight, or 1 oz. per lb.
If your dog has been exercising a lot, or if the weather is warm, he may be more thirsty than usual from time to time. However he won't necessarily always drink to excess. How much he drinks is also affected by his diet; kibble has lower water content than canned food, so dogs fed a predominantly dry diet will drink more than those fed from a tin. However if he is always thirsty, and you can't find any simple reason for it, it is likely that there is a problem with his health.
Some types of medication will make your dog thirsty, and your vet can advise you whether this may be a cause of his increased water intake.
Excessive drinking and urination are often early symptoms of internal diseases. The most common of these conditions are diabetes, kidney disease and Cushing's disease.
Most of us have heard of diabetes, where the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin to metabolize glucose. One of the first indicators that your dog may be a diabetic is that he is always drinking from his water bowl. He also has little energy for his usual activities, and is constantly hungry. If your dog is not eating, however, this could indicate a different medical condition, as I discussed in my previous article "
Why Is My Dog Not Eating?"
- Kidney disease can occur in dogs of any age. In the early stages you may only notice that your dog is always thirsty, and you need to let him outside to go to the toilet more often. As the disease progresses, he will go off his food, start to vomit and be quite depressed. In my next article "Why Is My Dog Vomiting?" I discuss the most common reasons why a dog throws up.
- Cushing's disease occurs when there is an excess of adrenal gland hormone in your dog's body. Corticosteroid medication, often used to treat allergies, can result in this condition. It may also occur because a tumor in your dog's body is causing overproduction of these hormones. Symptoms include a potbellied appearance, hair loss and an increased appetite.
These diseases are potentially very serious, so if your dog is drinking a lot, make an appointment with your vet to have him examined. Blood and urine tests will help to work out what's happening in his body, so treatment can be started straight away. The sooner he is treated, the quicker his symptoms will abate, and you won't need to constantly top up his water bowl.
Our dogs are like family to us and so naturally it's very upsetting when they become sick. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you knew how to give your dog a check-up, so you could spot a problem early? Before it became truly serious or even life threatening?
