# Excessive drinking??



## Ginn (30 August 2010)

Firstly apologies for multiple forum postings - the posts seem to disappear so quickly I'm never sure where is best to post and I don't know whether I'm being overly neurotic or whether I'm right to be concerned and in thinking dropping a line to the vet tomorrow is required!

Basically my mare (approx 520kg, 16.1hh, tbxid) seems to be drinking a lot at night....

She has started coming in at night for about the last week and whereas normally 1 large tub-trug of water (I'd guess approx 20L) would see her through the night she has been draining it dry. When checked around 2 1/2 hours after coming in it transpired she'd drunk half!!

So last night I gave her a second bucket and I'd say in total she drank approx 30-35L between 8pm last night and 9am this morning. She clearly didn't drink it all as although neither bucket was tipped she'd obviously done her trick of filling her mouth up, standing in her doorway, and "chewing" resulting in most of it falling out as the floor behind and infront of her door had a lovely puddle! 

The only major change is that she's started coming in and this winters hay is absolutely gorgeous - very green, very dry, very soft and she loves it so wolfs it down (think half a bale small in 4-5 hours!) whereas normally she'd pace herself throughout the night.

She looks (and feels) well in herself, her coat is gorgeous, glossy and soft. No thick/wooley cushings type coat so I'm thinking that is unlikely?? She isn't looking uncomfortable at all or like she needs to pee, nor have I noticed her peeing excessively though her bed has been slightly wetter (which I'd expect if her water consumption has gone up by 50%!). 

The only thing I'm not sure of is how much she's drinking in the field. It definately doesn't seem to be as much as in the stable. She shares her field with one other horse and between them I'd say they drink approx 20L while out (9am-5/7pm). When they were out 24/7 they'd drink approx 50-60L between them in a 24hr period. Water in the field is clean.

So ideas?? Am I being paranoid? Should I give it a week and monitor carefully given she is well in herself? Or should I ring the vet tomorrow and see what he thinks? (having a GP in the family I appreciate how irritating minor concerns are and don't want to end up wasting the vets time over something which may be completely trivial!)


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## oscarwild (30 August 2010)

My horse is currently being treated for excessive drinking but he wasn't peeing the quantity he was drinking.  He was in during the day and out at night when I noticed he wasn't peeing and then he went on boxrest and it showed up even more.  I spoke to my vet who advised to monitor his water intake and not be too worried about sheath and legs swelling at that stage.  After another week vet came out as the swellings was massive and not controlled by getting outside.  

How is your horses poo?  Just wondering as thats where my horses water intake was going.  At present he is being treated for IBS and is currently happy on long term steroids.

I would if I was you give your vet a phone and ask for there advice.  No harm in that.  I had to monitor Oscar water intake and output and check his poo etc and keep and eye on his swelling and phone the vet after a few days.  May well be worth monitoring it to see what happens.

Sorry not much help but let me know how you get on


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## cptrayes (30 August 2010)

If she keeps it up have her kidney function tested. It's rare but I had one die of kidney failure.


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## alfiesmum (31 August 2010)

we have just had a simlar thing and it turned out they were not drinking out the field trough x hope thats the same for you x


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## Box_Of_Frogs (31 August 2010)

TBH I wouldn't worry as long as the horse is happy, weight is stable, poo is normal, ridden work normal, his nature hasn't changed etc etc etc. You'd be surprised how easy it is to think a horse is drinking either not enough or too much. Are you 100% certain your bucket hasn't got the teeniest invisible crack in it so that water seeps out overnight and is evaporated before morning? It's very dry in S Wales at the moment and I've seen a significant increase in drinking over the last few days. Are you sure the field trough is working properly? Could it be constantly filling and overflowing or the ballcock not working properly or grotty green stagnant water or a dead bird rotting in the bottom? Things like that would mean a fussy drinker wouldn't drink the field water so would be mega thirsty in the stable. It could be that the other horse is keeping your ned from getting to the water trough. Or the yard cat could have frightened the life out of your horse at the trough wo he won't go near it again, knowing there's water in the stable. A thousand weird and wonderful things could be behind it but you need your Sherlock Holmes hat on and some serious lateral thinking!


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## MochaDun (1 September 2010)

A friend's horse on the yard did this when she was stabled overnight when she first came to the yard - she was healthy and fine but owner got vet out for a check and they decided it was a stress thing..she doesn't like being stabled, it's just what she does rather than box walk etc.  Obviously it might not be the same thing that your horse is doing but this mare was getting through the best part of 2 large trugs a night. It has a proper name but the name escapes me...poly something possibly?  Once she'd got used to the winter routine (of having to be stabled overnight every night) her drinking reduced and now she just has most or part of one normal trug a night.


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## oscarwild (1 September 2010)

Your thinking about polydipsia MochaDun.  Its when they excessively drink and they urinate the quantity they drink.  Its when the horse brain thinks it needs to drink and it does.


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## TheBlack (1 September 2010)

This can be first signs of Cushings:


Clinical Signs: Polydipsia (excessive thirst) and polyuria (excessive urination) are the first symptoms often noticed. Normal horses often drink from 6-10 gallons of water per day. A Cushing's affected horse might go through as much as 21 gallons of water a day. Because of muscle weakness and atrophy (shrinking), Cushing's disease also causes a swaybacked or potbellied appearance and a loss of muscle over the top line. The horse may experience an increased appetite without the corresponding weight gain. A history of chronic laminitis, often without any known cause, is a common sign.


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## debby1 (2 September 2010)

Does she use a salt lick at all, as my pony was slightly OD'ing on the salt lick and drinking and weeing a lot whilst on box rest, now he only has the lick every now and again and that solved the problem!


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