Standard Poodle. Excessive Thirst and Urination. A REAL UPDATE!

[DawnCt1]

On Easter Sunday we had baked ham. Annie got into some of it after dinner. I also think some "kind hearted person" slipped her some. Since then she has been excessively thirsty and urinating a LOT. On Tuesday morning I discovered that she couldn't hold it all night and we had some accidents that we hadn't had since she was a puppy. Yesterday, I boiled the meat off of some prebaked (from the store) whole turkey and I felt that it was a little salty. I removed the bones from the turkey and the house (thank goodness), DS 24 comes home, picks at the meat and leaves the turkey too close to the edge of the counter. She ate all of that. Again, more pee and drinking all of the time. I have to go around to be sure the toilet lids are down. I called the Vet and he told me to restrict her water to a normal amount and not allow her to drink as much as she wants. I am assuming that it is due to consumption of sodium but on the other hand, what if the ham was a coincidence and she has diabetes. I will try to collect a specimen today if I can. The only other time this happened was when she was on Prednisone a couple of years ago. Has this ever happened to anyone else's dog? If so, how long will it take it to resolve. It seems to me that if she is trying to flush sodium she should have all of the water she wants so I am puzzled by the vet's instructions. If she isn't better by Friday, I will take her in to be seen. Tonight she will be sleeping in the mud room.

 

[Christine]

Ham, hot dogs, anything with nitrates is very hard on dogs.

Our neighbors dog got "into a ham" once and I thought the dog was going to go bonkers. I haven't had this happen to my dogs but I have heard about it. I heard of one dog who died from eating too many hot dogs at a picnic (people were feeding them to the dog ). I guess your vet knows best, but do you think it would hurt to run a blood chemistry panel to check for kidney function and glucose level?

 

[Christine]

Dawn,
I googled this:

5. Ham and other salty meats and foods are very dangerous to pets. In addition to being high in fat, they are also very salty which can cause serious stomach ache or pancreatitis. Also, large breeds of dogs that eat salty food may drink too much water and develop a life-threatening condition called "bloat." This is where the stomach fills up with gas and within several hours may twist, causing the pet to die. Please avoid giving ham and salty foods to your pets.

 

[ilovepcot]

Pancreatitis caused by comsumption of pork would be the thing that would worry me. Highly doubt that's what you're dealing with here....symptoms aren't the same. All my dogs have had excessive thirst and urination when DH has slipped them fried chicken in the past. Does seem to take quite a bit of time for their systems to overcome. Hope that's all that's going on with Annie (from the ham) and hope she can avoid a vet trip Friday.

Hey, did you get that convertible????

 

[DawnCt1]

Thanks everyone! I feel a little better now. She doesn't seem sick just thirsty.

Christine. When Annie was 18 months old she did "bloat". Its called gastric torsion. She isn't a big eater, just a big thief. I let her out that morning and she didn't come back 20 minutes later as usual. I found her standing motionless in the back yard in shock! Eyes glazed over, almost non responsive. We rushed her to the local vet who anesthetized her, put stomach tube down and said she needed immediate surgery and he "didn't have time". We rushed a dog emerging from anesthesia to the hospital and and she was on the table within 30 minutes. Thank God for those caring people. They only gave her a 50% chance of survival, she was in ICU for 5 days and step down for 2 days. The bloat caused a heart arrythmia so she was on Pronestyl and weekly cardiograms for 6 weeks! She made it through all of that. I won't tell you what the bill was. It was worth it though. I feel encouraged about the fried chicken story. That's about how salty yesterday's turkey was actually. She rarely gets an opportunity to steal table food but did two days in a row. I should have given her hydrogen peroxide when I found the turkey missing but I didn't think it would hurt her.
Nope, didn't buy the convertible yet. Waiting for DH to get home from Iraq.

 

[salmoneous]

I'm surprised your vet didn't ask about the dog's temperature - excessive thirst is often a sign of fever. Could be something else is wrong, and the whole ham thing is, as you say, a coincidence.

Hopefully it's just a quick passing thing from the ham.
.

 

[gris gris]

LOL I thought you were describing me You could have changed the title to Pregnant Lady - Excessive Thirst & Urination.

Seriously I hope your doggy is okay! I brought ours (he's a big guy) to the vet once because he was drinking way too much so of course I thought he had diabetes. The vet just had me track his water intake and he decided it wasn't excessive. Then one day he just stopped drinking as much.

 

[puggymom]

These all sound like classic symptoms of a uninary tract infection. My little guy has had one.

 

[DawnCt1]

These all sound like classic symptoms of a uninary tract infection. My little guy has had one.

Except its not small frequent amounts. Its copious amounts.

 

[Jynohn]

Dawn:

Is your girl spayed? Excessive thirst and urination is a classic sign of pyometra, a uterine infection. Hopefully it's just the salt from the ham, but just wanted to throw that out there in case...

What a scary experience you went through with the bloat. Owning Great Danes, bloat is the number one thing we worry about. You were very lucky you were able to get her help in time.

I hope your girl is feeling better soon!

Jynohn

 

[DawnCt1]

Dawn:

Is your girl spayed? Excessive thirst and urination is a classic sign of pyometra, a uterine infection. Hopefully it's just the salt from the ham, but just wanted to throw that out there in case...

What a scary experience you went through with the bloat. Owning Great Danes, bloat is the number one thing we worry about. You were very lucky you were able to get her help in time.

I hope your girl is feeling better soon!

Jynohn

She is spayed. Does that eliminate that possibility?

 

[Jynohn]

She is spayed. Does that eliminate that possibility?

Yes. It shouldn't be pyometra then, which is good news because it can be life threatening. I also had a Great Dane rescue once who suddenly started leaving HUGE puddles on the floor. She was later diagnosed with Addison's Disease, which I think affects the kidneys. I think Addison's is more prevalent with Dobermans and Danes, I'm not sure about poodles. Not trying to scare you with all sorts of diseases, just throwing out possibilities...

How is she doing today? Any better?

 

[Queenie]

Does anyone know if ham has the same effect on cats as on dogs? My sister's cat is crazy for ham and if there's any in the house he's been known to leap into the fridge withing seconds of it being opened to find the darned stuff!

 

[DawnCt1]

Annie was pacing all night looking for water. We took her out at 3 am and again at 6 am. Because I was limiting water I was able to get a more concentrated specimen this morning. I gave her about two cups of water, called the vet and took her in. Her urine tested negative for glucous but she is just not herself. Totally off of her pattern. She goes to bed promptly at 9:30 pm and doesn't get up until 8 am. She was up all night and lethargic all day for the last three days. They have admitted her, will do a work up and I think he plans to do an Xray although I didn't ask him of what.

 

[phillybeth]

Poor baby. I wonder if she had pancreatitis from all that rich food. Hope she feels better soon!

 

[alliecats]

Does she act like she's in pain? Was her temp normal?

 

[luvwinnie]

Be sure the dr. checks for Cushing's:

http://www.kateconnick.com/library/cushingsdisease.html

 

[minkydog]

I know you must be beside yourself with worry. Minky(my standard) loves to counter surf. I was up at 3am last night cleaning up sparkly aluminum-foil-vomit in the hall. Got into somebody's Easter basket, I suppose.I hate to hear about your experience with bloat. I won't even ask how much that cost. I glad he lived though. Our St Bernard got bloat when he was 7yo. It killed him in about 2hrs. It was horrible.

I hope it turns out okay and something easy to treat. Minky sends good luck

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Dawn, make sure your vet checks for Cushings. It's unfortunately common in poodles.

We thought Reilly was developing it or diabetes a few months back because for 2 nights he would wake us up every hour for water and he actually peed in the house which he never does. The doctors tested him for both and both were negative. We did find the culprit later though - the little bugger had found a 3/4's full package of Dentastix and polished them off. The doctor said those things will make them thirsty, especially when you eat more than your stomach should be able to hold

One sign of Cushings is hair loss.. have you seen any thinning or patches of hair missing on your dog?

 

[DawnCt1]

She has lost 4 pounds since we were last at the vet. A lot of the Cushings symptoms could fit her except for the hair issues. I will ask abou the Cushings tomorrow. She has just sort of crumped since Easter.