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Old July 6th, 2007, 04:07 PM
psywzrd psywzrd is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2007
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12 yr. old female pug drinking and peeing a lot

My 12 yr. old female pug had her gallbladder removed about 2 1/2 months ago due to a mucocele - they also did a liver biopsy during the surgery and that came back normal. Ever since the surgery she has been urinating more frequently and seems to be drinking a bit more as well. She definitely does not drink all time so I can't really say that her water consumption is really excessive, but it does appear to have increased a bit since the surgery.

Anyway, her urine specific gravity has tested out around 1.005-1.007 and my regular vet says that is very low. Her urine has been cultured - negative for any type of infection and no sign of glucose spilling over into the urine. Bloodwork has been done - everything normal (including kidney function) except for elevated liver enzymes which the surgeon told me to expect after gallbladder surgery. An ACTH stim test was negative as well. Because of the elevated liver enzymes, my primary vet put her on Marin and Denosyl for a month and she is having more bloodwork done next week to determine if the liver enzymes have come down. She has urinated in the house several times (4-6 times) since the surgery and she hadn't done that since we housetrained her as a pup. She is not leaking urine at all (her beds, couches, etc. are never wet) and seems to have no problem holding it in through the night (10+ hrs sometimes). Basically, I can't really say there's been a pattern to when she has peed in the house. The first couple times it was less than a week after her surgery and it was first thing in the morning before we had a chance to take her out, so I kind of wrote it off as a post-surgery fluke (we've since been extremely diligent about taking her out right away in the morning). Those two times first thing in the morning were the only times I actually saw her pee in the house (she actually squatted and peed - it didn't leak out) The other times I've come home to wet spots on the rug and even though I can't be 100% sure it's urine (it didn't really smell like it ), I can't imagine what else it could be.

My vet wants me to start measuring her water intake over the next few days so they can do a water deprivation test for diabetes insipidus. I'm a little hesitant to have them do it because of the risks (she always has access to water at home) but I want to know what's wrong with my dog. Also, I understand that condition is extremely rare so the odds are that it's something else. Her appetite is great, no weight loss or weight gain, there were no masses or abnormal cells on any of her ultra-sounds, etc. - it's just the increased peeing and drinking. She's an indoor dog who only goes out to go to the bathroom and we don't live near any woods, streams, etc.

Any ideas what this could be?

Last edited by psywzrd; July 6th, 2007 at 04:54 PM.
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