Why is my dog drinking lots of water and weeing more than usual?

Overview

• Is your dog drinking lots of water and weeing more than usual?
• There are many possible reasons for this. The two symptoms often come together because the more a dog drinks, the more they need to pee, and the more they pee, the more they need to drink.
• If you think your dog is drinking or peeing more than normal, contact your vet.
• Never restrict your dog’s water to control the problem and always allow them access to fresh drinking water.

Is your dog drinking lots of water and weeing more than normal?

Have you noticed your dog:

• Drinking more than usual.
• Thirsty all the time.
• Emptying their water bowl more quickly than they usually would.
• Drinking from taps, puddles or streams more than usual.
• Drinking so much that they vomit.
• Peeing more often or peeing larger amounts.
• Stopping more often on walks to wee.
• Weeing in the house during the day or overnight despite being previously house trained.

If this is the case, contact your vet for an appointment. It can be helpful to take a urine (wee) sample along with you and tell your vet exactly how much your dog is drinking in a 24 hour period. Take a look at our helpful videos.

How to: collect a urine sample from your dog

How to: measure how much your dog is drinking

Causes

There are many possible causes of drinking and peeing more than normal. Some of the most common causes include:

• A urine or bladder problem
• Diabetes
• Cushing’s Disease
• An infected womb ‘pyometra’
• Kidney disease
• Certain cancers
• Liver disease
• Medications that cause increased thirst or peeing e.g. steroids, some anti-seizure medications and some heart medications

There are certain problems that might look like your dog is drinking or weeing more than normal but have another underlying cause. Such as:

• Urinary incontinence - if you notice your dog leaking urine for example wet patches on their bedding or dribbling urine, they may have urinary incontinence.
• A lack of proper toilet training – this is when a dog doesn’t yet fully understand where a suitable place to go to the toilet is. This can be trained using positive reward-based training.
• Submissive urination – this tends to happen if a dog feels scared, anxious or if they are being submissive and trying to please. Some dogs are particularly prone to this when they greet their owners or new people. This might look like they are weeing through overexcitement, but it’s actually because they are being submissive. It’s usually seen alongside other submissive behaviours such as flattening of their ears, avoiding eye contact, lowering of the head and neck, sitting or cowering, tucking their tail, or rolling onto their back and exposing their belly. We know this can be frustrating but it’s important not to punish them as your dog is not peeing on purpose.
• Pain – it may be too painful for your dog to walk outside or get into a squat position to toilet.
• Dementia in dogs: Cognitive dysfunction syndrome or dog dementia affects older dogs and can lead to a mix of incontinence and forgetting house training.

There may be other non-medical reasons your dog is drinking and weeing more but these are usually short term changes, for example:

• Doing more exercise
• Hot weather
• Their age as puppies tend to wee more often
• Their diet if they have had a change, particularly if the new diet is more salty or dry. Wet food contains more water, so if they change from wet food to dry food they may need to drink more.

When to contact your vet

Always contact your vet if you think your dog is drinking or peeing more than normal.

You know your dog best, always contact your vet if you’re concerned.

Cost

Treatment can become expensive, so it’s important to speak openly with your vet about your finances and what you think is right for your dog.

Consider taking out dog insurance as soon as you bring your dog home, before any signs of illness start. This will give you peace of mind that you have some financial support if they ever become unwell.

FAQs

Published: July 2024