Why Your Dog Is Urinating Too Much

Do you think your dog is urinating more than it should? Are you perhaps concerned that the reason for the excess urination is due to an underlying medical condition?

Generally, a healthy dog will drink 3-4 cups of water for every 20 pounds of body weight, and will on average urinate 10-20 ml for each pound of body weight per day. If you are still unsure whether your dog is drinking and urinating a healthy amount, you can always leave out a specific amount of water, and then at night time measure how much water is left over to get a picture of their water consumption.

A dog's size, general health, age and sex will effect a dog's urination frequency. Usually, small and younger dogs will urinate more than larger and older dogs. Typically, an adult dog should be urinating 3-5 times a day.

Taking all of this information in, if you are at all concerned that your dog is either drinking and/or urinating too frequently, take them to your vet where tests can be performed. There are many different reasons and types of conditions that could be causing the increased thirst and urination, so your vet will initially perform a physical examination and take blood and urine tests and a blood cell count. If a cause has not been found from these preliminary tests then your vet will consider hormonal disorders, psychogenic (illnesses caused by emotional or mental stresses) causes or other rare conditions.

Possible causes for excessive thirst (polydipsia) or excessive urination (polyuria)

• Cushing's disease
• Pyometra (infection of the uterus)
• Liver disease
• Pituitary gland problems
• Kidney failure
• Canine diabetes
• High blood calcium levels
• Urinary tract infection
• Hyperthyroidism
• Cystitis
• Kidney infection
• A congenital disorder
• A reaction to a particular drug
• A tumour, possibly in the pituitary, liver, adrenal glands, anal sacs or malignant lymphoma.

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