The Peeing Dachshund

I'm currently working towards a diagnosis on a little dachshund I'll call 'Molly'. I've known Molly since she came to me as a wiggly little puppy 10 years ago. She's one of those special patients who, no matter how much I poke and prod her, always comes into the clinic with bum wiggles and kisses for me. She's a real sweetheart. Last week her 'dad' brought her to the clinic because she was urinating in the house; something she hadn't done since a puppy! When I asked her dad if she'd been drinking any more water than usual, he said 'no', she seemed fine aside from the need to pee all of the time! Molly was her happy self on physical exam, though her coat seemed to have a little more dandruff in it than usual and her fur seemed a little thin on her neck below her chin. Thinking she may have a bladder infection, I sent some of Molly's urine off to the lab. It revealed that her urine did contain blood, though there was no evidence of bacteria. The results also showed that Molly's urine wasn't very concentrated. This explained her urinating in the house! When I questioned her mom this time, she admitted that had been drinking increasingly large amounts of water since the summer and was now up to a quart a day! That's about twice as much as she should be drinking! She had been spayed as a puppy, so a uterine infection was out of the question. Now I'm starting to wonder about Molly's kidney function. When the kidney's aren't functioning properly, they can't do their job of concentrating urine. As a result, the patient drinks and drinks and pees and pees. Other diseases, such as Hyperadrenocorticism, or 'Cushing's' Disease popped into my head. With Cushings, the adrenal glands don't function properly, causing a whole whack of problems. We'd have to do some more testing to find out.

I had Molly return the next day. Her blood's currently at the lab being analyzed and I took a radiograph (an xray) of Molly's bladder. The blood in her urine made me wonder if she may have a bladder stone. I'll hopefully have the results back when I get back to work in a couple of days.