Retriever drinking - how much is too much?
Discussion
I am looking after a Retrieverpoo ( or doodle??) for a week - I am noticing that she drinks about 10X more than my Saluki on a daily basis.
I was wondering if this is a sign that she has an underlying health issue, perhaps Diabetes??
She is just over 2, spayed and a little overweight but otherwise appears healthy.
Any thoughts??
David
I was wondering if this is a sign that she has an underlying health issue, perhaps Diabetes??
She is just over 2, spayed and a little overweight but otherwise appears healthy.
Any thoughts??
David
I have two dogs of the same breed, one male one female. The male drinks loads...probably not as much as we think he does as he does love to walk across the kitchen with a mouthful so need to account for losses, but nevertheless, he's a very drinky dog!
He inexplicably lost weight at the end of last year so the vets did a lot of investigative work. They asked about how much he drinks, so we said loads but he's always done it and this is nothing new.
They did a whole load of tests but found nothing wrong with him and he eventually has put the weight back on. The vets also concluded that he just drinks a lot so assume they'd done some kind of tests for things that may cause him to feel thirsty but all came back clear and that his constant drinking wasn't down to ill health.
Our female is just as lively as him but can honestly say that I hardly ever see her drinking. Even after returning from a fairly long walk / run she doesn't tend to go straight to the bowl. She's in excellent health (well, apart from the pyometra the other week!) so not concerned. It just shows that some dogs drink loads, other have 'normal' amounts and some don't drink much at all, we happen to have two dogs that sit on either side of the average.
He inexplicably lost weight at the end of last year so the vets did a lot of investigative work. They asked about how much he drinks, so we said loads but he's always done it and this is nothing new.
They did a whole load of tests but found nothing wrong with him and he eventually has put the weight back on. The vets also concluded that he just drinks a lot so assume they'd done some kind of tests for things that may cause him to feel thirsty but all came back clear and that his constant drinking wasn't down to ill health.
Our female is just as lively as him but can honestly say that I hardly ever see her drinking. Even after returning from a fairly long walk / run she doesn't tend to go straight to the bowl. She's in excellent health (well, apart from the pyometra the other week!) so not concerned. It just shows that some dogs drink loads, other have 'normal' amounts and some don't drink much at all, we happen to have two dogs that sit on either side of the average.
bexVN said:
Ahh, the Dobie's ^^^. 
. Hope she's doing ok, unlucky to get a pyo at her age, though it does happen often in GSD's and aptly named juvenile pyometra!! The one time you might have expected her to drink more aswell but sounds like not in her case!
Sorry, completely forgot to reply to this!. Hope she's doing ok, unlucky to get a pyo at her age, though it does happen often in GSD's and aptly named juvenile pyometra!! The one time you might have expected her to drink more aswell but sounds like not in her case!She's doing fine thankyou. Amazingly she left the stitches alone but ended up cancelling the appointment to have them removed as I turned my back for 1 minute and the male had managed to expertly remove them for her. Luckily they'd been in there as long as they needed so no harm done.
It's bit of a shame that she had to go through this so young but never mind. We hadn't planned to breed from her but is bit of a shame the option was taken away as we got her from Serbia, fully DNA/Health checked, from great bloodlines (Altobello) so would have been great for keeping the breed healthy.
I think I'd had my male for about 4 months before bumping in to a local owner with female Dobe wanting to use him to stud. Her dog is quite aggressive (seems to be poor handling and no idea how to control the thing), got it from a rescue centre, knows nothing about its health (Hip scores, VWD carrier etc etc), knew nothing about my dog, the fact it was a Dobe was enough to meet the right criteria. She just wanted them to breed to pocket a few quid and the fact 'puppies are cute!'. Irresponsible breeding at its finest!
bexVN said:
OP hope things were ok in the end.
Well I measured her water intake over a couple of days and it worked out about 10% more than the guideline amount - I advised the owner when she collected her that she may want to ask a Vet if this is within acceptable parameters.It did show that my Suki only drinks about 2/3 of the guideline - I now know why her wee is so dark!
David
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