Twelve year old collie cross. We moved him from wet to a dry senior food about three weeks ago and he is now emptying a 1.5 litre bowl most days when it used to last two. He is also asking to go out once in the night, which he never used to. Otherwise bright, eating well, same weight as far as I can tell. Is this just the dry food, or is that a convenient explanation I should not settle for?
If you do want him drinking a bit less while you sort it out, adding warm water to the dry food gets some of that intake back into the meal. Do not restrict his water though — free access matters, especially if there is something going on.
Strongly agree on never restricting water. If a dog is drinking more for a medical reason, taking the water away does not fix the reason and can make things considerably worse.
Ours changed to dry at a similar age and drinking went up by roughly a third and then stabilised after about two weeks. Yours is three weeks in and still elevated with a new night trip, which is the part I would not attribute to the food. Worth checking, and I say that as someone who did settle for the convenient explanation once and regretted it.
Also worth noting the weather over those three weeks and whether the heating went on. Ours drinks visibly more from the first week of central heating every year and I forget every single time.
@vettech_marla · 9mo ago · 3 replies
Switching from wet to dry genuinely does increase drinking, because wet food is mostly water and that intake has to come from somewhere. So the explanation is plausible. But increased drinking plus a new overnight toilet trip in a twelve year old is exactly the combination our vets ask people not to sit on, and it is a cheap thing to check rather than a scary one.
What helps them: measure it properly for three days. Fill the bowl with a measured amount, top up with measured amounts, note what is left at the same time each day, and note his weight. "He seems to be drinking more" and "he is drinking 2.4 litres a day at 22kg" are very different conversations.
Book a routine appointment rather than an emergency one, and bring the numbers and a urine sample if they ask for one.
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@pentalobe_junie · 9mo ago
The measuring advice is the useful part of this whole thread. I did the same thing and discovered ours was drinking far less than I had convinced myself.
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@thermal_theo · 9mo ago
Measured it over four days and it is a lot more consistent than I thought. Appointment booked with the numbers written down.
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