At My Wits End

[WearingMidnight]

Poor Bri has just not had a good month health-wise. She's recovering from an ear infection and conjunctivitis that the vet thinks were brought on by environmental allergies. That's the good news. The bad news is that she's got bilateral entropion in her right eye.

In addition to that she's been having issues drinking excessively and peeing on herself for seemingly no reason. She'll be lying down on the floor or bed fast asleep, then when she wakes up she'll get up and there will be urine dripping all down her back area. It started a few months ago and has been increasing in frequency since then. She doesn't seem to realize she's done it.

We've done blood work and urinalysis tests. Blood work was beautiful, the vet said that it looked just about as good as it gets. The only thing the urinalysis turned up was dilute urine. Kidney disease, UTI, normal diabetes have been ruled out.

Our vet would like to try medicating for central diabetes insipidus and see if that works. He also mentioned the possibility of a liver shunt, or possible parasites, but thinks that the diabetes insipidus is the most likely cause.

Does anyone here have any experience with it? Anybody had issues like this with their Newfie? We're reaching the end of all the most likely causes and even the vet has mentioned that we may never figure out what's going on. Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

[DAWNMERIE]

Let's get some more info to go on, How old is Bri? Spayed? What do you feed?

 

[WearingMidnight]

Sorry, I should have included that earlier.

Bri is 2.5 years old, spayed, fed Taste of the Wild (a rotation of all flavors). Currently not taking any supplements. Last weigh in two weeks ago was 115lbs. She gets several long walks every day and plenty of access to the backyard to run. Sometimes her back legs tremble if she's been standing too long or run too hard.

 

[chumleysma]

Continual dilute urine could be from diabetes, a UTI, excessive drinking from another health issue, or the kidneys losing their ability to concentrate the urine. She should have more than one urinalysis spaced apart to compare results. Does the urinalysis reveal positive protein? This shows the kidneys are dumping protein into the urine which they should not be doing. False positives can come from RBCs, WBCs, and/or epithelials.
She should be checked for lyme as this is especially hard on the kidneys. Long ago I had an older excessively thirsty female that lost her urine while laying down. We later discovered she had lyme disease plus a vaginal infection of an antibiotic resistant strain of bacteria. The vet swabbed the vaginal wall and ran a culture and sensitivity. However, I don't know the prevalence of Lyme disease in your area.
Parasites? She should be checked for these anyhow at least yearly as routine maintenance. That's great that her chemistry profile is all totally normal. If you don't get answers, try another animal hospital because something is obviously wrong.

 

[Ginny]

Spay incontinence?

 

[WearingMidnight]

The vet hasn't mentioned anything about spay incontinence, I'll definitely be asking about that at our next visit. Thanks Ginny!

Stacy, Lyme disease is pretty rare around here, as are ticks. She hasn't been in an area where she would have been exposed to any either. Certainly worth asking about though. So far there's only been one urinalysis, but that one showed nothing other than dilute urine. We tried medicating for a UTI, but that didn't make any improvement. According to the bloodwork that was done her kidneys are functioning great, no signs of any issues there. There's only been the one urinalysis test so far though, I'll ask about having some more spaced out. If we start medicating for diabetes insipidus there will be regular urinalysis tests to see if the medicine is working. She's had a fecal test within the last year, maybe time to do it again. Thanks so much for all the ideas!

 

[MC Sullivan]

I have a friend that is having her German Shepherd checked for Cushings. The GSD is lethargic, drinks excessive amounts water, always hungry, experiencing incontinence and displays weakness in her back end. She is spayed but also 10 yrs old. Good luck.

 

[Sound Bay Newfs]

I too would say spay incontinence. It is easily treated with meds such as Proin.

 

[MC Sullivan]

Update on my friend's GSD is her blood work and other testing came back normal. The vet is saying its part of old age and spay incontinence. I would definitely look into spay incontinence.

My Ripley is on Proin. She is a very high energy dog (border collie mix) and I've noticed that her leaking mostly occurred when she was sleeping after a lot of exercise and/or running. Some people recommend cutting back on exercise but with Ripley you might as well ask the wind to not blow. She would go nuts. I bought a waterproof absorbent pad and put her Proin. So far so good.