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My dog drinks, pees a lot, pants, and gained weight. What's wrong?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Medium (23 - 60lb) | Female | spayed | 5 years and 4 months old | 168 lbs

For the last 3 days our 4 year old medium mixed breed dog has been drinking excessively. She cant hold her urine very long. She is on cefpodoxime prox tabs daily for infection prevention of an open sore on her stomach (likely caused by scratching from allergies). She pants a bunch as well as the excessive drinking. Our vet is not open for 2 days and we are very concerned about these changes. I should also say she has gained close to 10 lbs in 10 months and had odd injuries. What could this be?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jessica Keay, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on May 28th, 2017

I would recommend having your dog seen as soon as possible if her symptoms are not improving tomorrow, even if this means taking her in to another vet or an emergency vet. Diseases we worry about with these symptoms include Cushings Disease (where the adrenal glands produce too much steroids), diabetes, kidney disease and liver disease. Some of these conditions can worsen quickly and become life threatening so having her examined and having bloodwork and urinalysis done as soon as possible to determine the underlying cause is the safest way to proceed.

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    Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

    Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

    Published on

    Poor Gracie! Based on your description, the first thing that comes to mind is a hormonal problem called Cushing's disease - this is common in middle-aged and older dogs, and causes excessive drinking and urination, excessive panting, and weight gain. Skin problems are also common in dogs with Cushing's disease, so it's possible that her itching and sores on her stomach could be related to this as well. I'm not sure if she's on any other medication besides her cefpodoxime right now, but these symptoms can also be caused by oral or injectable steroids - so if she's taking prednisone tablets, or if she had an "allergy shot" or something similar recently, this could also be the reason for these symptoms. Other problems that could cause the symptoms you describe would include diabetes, liver or kidney disease, or a thyroid problem. Most of these problems would not be considered an emergency, although you could certainly opt to take her to an emergency vet if you are concerned and don't want to wait until your regular vet to be open again. Otherwise, I would recommend calling your vet or taking her in for an exam on Tuesday - he/she can do some diagnostic testing if needed to help determine the problem and get her started on appropriate treatment.

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