<p>Drinking and peeing a lot can also be a sign of a urinary tract infection.</p>
<p>I would plan on a much sooner vet visit with a drastic change like this that is lasting.</p>
<p>We were all too familiar with UTIs from our last dog, and when we first got this one and realized his difficulty in house-training, we had him tested. He did have one UTI, but since then, I’ve taken specimens in several times, and it’s always been clear. The new thing is just that he’s drinking so much, so fast that he’s obviously swallowing air, then when he burps, water is coming back up. </p>
<p>Generally speaking, people seem to have a much harder time housebreaking toy dogs. Many of them don’t ever really become trustworthy in that regard, it seems.</p>
<p>My dog drank gallons of water and began urinating profusely over a period of several days. By the time I got her to the vet (we were out of town out in the middle of nowhere), her blood sugar was in the 800s!</p>
<p>I’d get your pooch checked out sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>OK… just got an appt. for Friday morning. And I was wrong, he doesn’t have his annual exam coming up. As of today, he was five days overdue for it. So we will take care of both issues.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone.</p>
<p>Keep us posted, teriwitt.</p>
<p>Will do.</p>
<p>Fingers crossed, Teri. Knocking on wood for your super cute pooch. </p>
<p>Update - everything is fine. Saw the vet for his annual today and talked to her about the drinking. She said she’s not concerned about it because the only time he’s doing it is in the morning when he’s been without water during the night. She said if I notice he starts drinking a lot like that throughout the day, then bring in a urine specimen. She suggested that in the morning, we just put a little water in the bowl, and add a couple of ice cubes. The ice will take time melting so he can’t drink so much so fast. However, he has gained 4 lbs. since last year, so we have to cut back on his food. When I told her how much we were giving him (based on what the bag says), she said it was too much, so we’re going from 1/2 c. 2/x day to 1/3 c. 2/x day. </p>
<p>As an aside, this goofball dog did the strangest thing Wednesday night after I posted here. We have a routine that is followed 98% of the time we go to bed. He goes out at 10PM to potty; when he comes in, H has a treat and they both head down to the basement powder room where his crate is. 95% of the time, pooch is ahead of H on the stairs down and gets into his crate before H makes it down. H gives him his treat in the crate, shuts it, and pulls the cover over the top. It’s almost as predictable as the sun rising every morning. Thursday night, he went outside, came in, headed down the stairs and hallway (which are carpeted) to the powder room ahead of H; I could hear them from the first floor - then all of a sudden I heard a yelp and I thought, “H must have stepped on his foot or tail or something, or perhaps caught something on him when he shut the crate door.” Next thing I know, I hear the dog running back up the stairs. So I asked H what happened, and he said nothing. He said pooch got to the front of the crate, and just as he was about to go in, he yelped, turned around and headed back upstairs. H wasn’t even all the way down the hallway yet, so he couldn’t have stepped on him. So we tried to get him to go back down again, with the treat, and he’d go, but get to the front of the crate, stop, turn around and run back upstairs. Then, we tried to start from the beginning - we let him outside again, closed up the first floor like we usually do, took the treat, headed back downstairs - pooch went down there again, got to the front of the crate, turned around and ran back upstairs without taking the treat. We were at a total loss. There is absolutely nothing that he could have gotten hurt on going down the stairs or hallway. H said it was almost like he got electrocuted or something as quick as the yelp came with no obvious reason around. So we caved and let him sleep upstairs with us that night; I had bought a belly band a month or so ago, but had never put it on him. As soon as he realized he was going upstairs with us, he was the happiest dog in the world. And I thought, “Oh, no, this is a slippery slope here.” So it was fine Thursday night with him sleeping with us. Last night? Went outside at 10PM, peed, came inside, heard H was getting a treat out, ran to the stairs and headed down to his crate. Was in the crate waiting for H when he got down there with the treat. Didn’t hear a peep from him all night long. So we have NO idea what happened Wednesday night. This is also a dog that you never hear yelp, unless he’s been really, really hurt. Today at the vet, not a peep out of him. Go figure!</p>
<p>Ugh… D2 just called - she and her boyfriend are on the way to an emergency vet hospital after being referred by their vet. One of their rescues did something to her back, and can’t walk - they did x-rays. She is bawling on the phone to me because their vet is already estimating surgery is going to cost $5000. We’ve been fortunate enough to never have had anything major like this happen to any of our dogs. They can’t afford this; we can. What would you do?</p>
<p>If the dog was relatively young and I had the money to lend to my child for the surgery, I likely would. Now if the dog was middle/older age, I think I would have a harder time justifying the expense. </p>
<p>Oh God. I would probably “loan” it to them. That’s just me.</p>
<p>Wait to hear what the treatment options are and the prognosis. If it were me and I could afford it, I would offer to help. </p>
<p>The dog is young… three or under. I just don’t know how I could live with myself if I said no. They have two dogs… both rescues, and D2 has gotten very active with their local rescue organization, volunteering a lot of time. </p>
<p>My poor pup is licking a Frosty Paws to perk her up. We went for our walk this afternoon and she stick her head in a bush and was stung by a bee on her eyebrow. I just gave her some Benadryl slathered in peanut butter which went down easy (tiny tabs and LOTS of peanut butter) and she is now having her treat to help her to feel better. Poor pup. :bz </p>
<p>That would be me, teri. I couldn’t say no. </p>
<p>3 years old…If I could afford to pay, I’d do it. </p>
<p>Knowing the dog has potentially a good 10 years left if surgery is successful, I definitely would loan the money. Even if my child only paid me back a dollar at a time. </p>
<p>As someone who spent multiple thousands on our dog over the years, I would lend your D2 the money if you can. We spent $3,000 when our dog was 9 & 1/2 yo. He had eaten socks and one was stuck in his colon and the other was floating in his stomach. He lived 6 more years. He was a very expensive dog to keep going because he seemed to bring life threatening issues on himself over the years. In hindsight, I would not have done things differently and he lived to be 15 & 1/2. </p>