This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Is Your Dog Having Accidents In The House? She May Have "Water Diabetes"

Many dog parents are baffled by what seems to be an apparently inexplicable back-slide in their dog’s formerly “well house trained” behavior.  Suddenly they notice that a dog is having “pee” accidents in the home that are uncharacteristic of their pet’s normal habits. Pet parents may be surprised to see the pet urinate on the floor right in front of them after giving no indication that they needed to go out, or find that the pooch has wet itself and its bed during the night without even seeming to notice. This will often be accompanied by more frequent urination during walks, with the dog stopping many times but not releasing much, and what is released is often so diluted that it is practically clear.

There can be many reasons for accidents in the home ranging from being left alone too long and simply no longer being able to hold it in, to an assortment of medical issues.

If you have noticed a frequency in urinary accidents occurring with your dog, especially if they seem not to be able to “hold it” overnight anymore and release in their own beds while they are sleeping, it’s most likely that there is a brewing medical issue that needs to be accurately diagnosed and addressed. Don’t write it off as just being “age related”.  A healthy Senior dog shouldn’t need to urinate any more frequently than they have in the past. 

Find out what's happening in Port Chesterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

One of the most overlooked and under-diagnosed urinary incontinence issues is something most people have never heard of: Diabetes Insipidus, also known as “Water Diabetes”.  Most Vets never even look for it let alone diagnose it and treat it; some Vets have told me there is no such thing.

Diabetes Insipidus does indeed exist and it’s imperative that if your dog has developed changes in their urinary habits and ability to “hold it” that this issue is looked for and either ruled out or detected and treated. This can happen in dogs of any age – old or young – so it’s not strictly a “Senior” issue.

Find out what's happening in Port Chesterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A few years ago I adopted a senior dog, “Daisy” from a local animal shelter. At the time she was estimated to be approximately 11 years old and came with a diagnosis of Lymphoma, so the idea was to get her out of the shelter and into a home for hospice during her final months. Turns out Daisy didn’t have any kind of cancer at all (and she was mis-diagnosed by nine different Vets with three types of cancer – none of which she had). Daisy is no longer with us now, but I learned a lot through her numerous Vet visits. One of the problems Daisy did in fact have was something that I had never heard of before, Diabetes Insipidus, sometimes referred to as “Water Diabetes”.  And it didn’t get correctly diagnosed until we got to Veterinarian number ten.

One of the problems Daisy presented with was constant urination. This poor dog had to pee anywhere from fifteen to twenty times a day, and most of it was in the house.  When she wasn’t out and about with me she had to stay in a large penned in area in my home that had a plastic tarp laid out on the floor which was then covered with wee-wee pads. We went through a lot of wee wee pads, paper towels and Nature’s Miracle. It was no way to live – for her or for me – and with an accurate diagnosis that could have been prevented.  Daisy did know she needed to pee outside, she just couldn’t hold her bladder.

None of the Vets that mis-diagnosed Daisy with cancer had any answer for me as to the constant urination. They said she wasn’t diabetic and that her kidneys were “fine” (they really weren’t) based on numbers on a page that came with standard blood tests. Then they just shrugged it off. At one point they tried treating her for a UTI, which changed nothing. None of them tried to look any deeper. They didn’t check her hormone levels or anything related to her endocrine system.  I didn’t get an answer until I finally took her to Smith Ridge Veterinary Center in South Salem, NY where she saw Dr. Jacqueline Ruskin.  With just a preliminary diagnosis of DI, and a week on some non-pharmaceutical herbal supplements there was a 50% reduction in Daisy’s urinary output. 

I am sure now that the reason that poor little old dog even ended up in the animal shelter to begin with is that as her medical condition got worse and she had more and more accidents in the home, they just couldn’t take it anymore.  Most likely they were baffled as to why she had suddenly become “un-housebroken”. Her previous family probably got no answers from any Vet (if they even knew enough to think maybe there was a medical reason behind her sudden constant need to pee), and gave up.  I believe that, like Daisy, many more dogs go undiagnosed with this treatable condition and that it is not as uncommon as is often stated. I think it’s just uncommon for it to be correctly diagnosed, and what a shame that is for the dogs and their families.

Water Diabetes has that nick-name because it is not related to Insulin and blood sugar levels like the regular “Sugar Diabetes” that most of us are familiar with. Water diabetes is related to a hormone in the body called Vassopressin.  Vassopressin signals to the kidneys how much water to retain and release. If the dog’s body is either not producing enough of the hormone, or if the problem lies in the kidneys not being able to detect and read the Vassopressin correctly Diabetes Insipidus ensues.

The number one way pet parents and families have of knowing that there is a brewing internal medical problem is by watching for changes in eating habits and elimination habits. Know your dog’s usual output, and if you see accidents in the house, changes in amount or frequency, color or smell, or if you see blood, get them to a Vet.  And if the problem doesn’t get solved…get another Vet until you find one who will look at the BIG PICTURE and get to the bottom of the problem.

Don’t blame your dog, remember: Recurring ‘accidents’ in the home are far more likely to be a medical issue than a behavioral issue.

For more information on Diabetes Insipidus, you can visit these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes_insipidus


If you suspect your dog may have Diabetes Insipidus, try taking them to Smith Ridge Veterinary Center for an accurate diagnosis:

http://www.smithridge.com/index.html

 

(Deirdre Curran of Curran’s Pets has been a Professional Dog Walker/Pet Sitter serving Rye, Rye Brook, Port Chester, Harrison, NY and limited areas of Greenwich, CT since 2003.  She is available for regular daily dog walks, pet care on an “as needed” basis, overnight stays in the home as well as pet care advice and counseling focusing on Senior issues and pre-acquirement pet advisement.)

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?