How long have you had Ollie? Is the lack of water reduced water/urination normal for him? If you have not had him for long, you might want to give the shelter a call and ask.
I wonder if perhaps this is a behavioral rather than medical thing. The shelter I got Pepper from expected the dogs to go to the bathroom in their pens and I think only took them out once a day to get exercise/play. If Ollie was in a similar situation, its possible he started drinking less so that he didn't have to urinate in his pen. If this is the case, it might be helpful to take Ollie out to the bathroom at set times each day, whether or not he needs to go, so that he knows he will have more than once chance to go.
Pepper must have been punished a lot for going to the bathroom in the house, because whenever he had an accident in the house (from diarrhea), he would be fine, playing and acting normal, until he noticed me cleaning it up. I never got upset about it or even said anything about it, just cleaned it up and pretended it never happened, but he would still run off to hide under the bed or couch and absolutely refused to come out, even when I tried to lure him out with toys and treats. So bathroom stuff can have a big impact on dogs and even when they are in a different situation, those behaviors can stick around.
If you want to check out his urine, get some paper towels or a wee-wee pad (I prefer the wee-wee pad) and take him out to the bathroom. After he's done urinating, put the paper towels or wee-wee pad down in the spot he just went in and step on them. This will absorb some of the urine and will give you some idea of the color.
Ways to check how hydrated he is.... lift up his cheek/lip and touch his gums. If they are dry or sticky, he may be dehydrated. You can also pull the skip up on the back of his neck... it should go back to normal quickly. If it doesn't, he may be dehydrated. Sunken, dry eyes are also a sign of dehydration.
My dog has been dealing with chronic diarrhea for some time and I worry about him being dehydrated and have two suggestions to increase fluid intake...
1. Add water to his food... Pepper is on a bland diet of chicken and rice and sometimes he gets chicken and rice soup rather than just chicken and rice.
2. Make him some popsicles... I make them in an ice cube tray and also in those little plastic popsicle molds. I give him plain water popsicles as well as very watered down broth/boullion ones. Pepper prefers that I hold the ice cube so that he can lick it, but you can also just stick it in his dish.
As far as calling the vet goes, I would definitely call him on Monday. If this isn't a change for Ollie and he is acting normally/healthy, then it's probably not a big deal... but it's always better to check it out.
Good luck... please let us know how he's doing.
Sid
PS. One last thought... what kind of food is he eating? Wet food has a lot of water in it already so he won't need as much as if he were eating dry food.
Quote:
Originally Posted by monkeygirl  Thanks for the quick response. Ollie is not drinking really regularly -- some days he won't drink anything; other days he will drink an entire bowl of water. I can't really tell what color his urine is. He's a pretty stubby little guy and usually stands right on top of the tree he is peeing on -- not much opportunity to see the urine color, despite my best efforts.
We did take him to the vet the day after we brought him home and he received a clean bill of health, but at that time we had not had enough time with him to determine whether or not he had any regular habits. A call to the vet might be in order on Monday morning if tomorrow goes the same as today. |
Infrequent urination? 
