Possible health issues

[Partsman19]

Hello,

I have a 13 year old female cockapoo, 5 year old male Bichon Frise and a 2 year old female Bichon Frise. I took our 13 year old, Tootsie, to the vet recently as she was starting to drink a lot of water. He told me that it could be either the early signs of diabetes or Addison's disease but he would not know for sure unless he did a blood test. I asked him what could we do about it either way and he told me that if it was Addison's that the cure would be worse than just doing nothing, which did not make sense to me. She is eating and is acting fine except she is just drinking a lot more water than usual. Also, it has been extremely hot here this spring and summer which may be playing a roll as well. My problem is that she is waking up at all hours of the night and starts barking until I go downstairs to let her our of her pen so she can get some water. What can I do to make her sleep through the night as she is starting to affect mine and my wife's sleep as well.

Also, our little girl, Abby, our 2 year old Bichon Frise is just picking at her food and is starting to scratch more and is chewing on her hind legs. We are feeding them 4Health grain free hard food with some soft food in the evenings and now I have received some samples of Taste of the Wild hard food and I purchased a couple of cans of Nutro soft food and she is still just picking at it. It seems all she wants is table food, which she is not getting. How can we get her to eat and stop her scratching?

Thanks

[JudyN]

My problem is that she is waking up at all hours of the night and starts barking until I go downstairs to let her our of her pen so she can get some water. What can I do to make her sleep through the night as she is starting to affect mine and my wife's sleep as well.

Put a water bowl in her pen, or let her sleep outside of her pen? If you then need to let her out for a wee, there's nothing you can do training-wise as it's almost certainly age and/or health related. Did the vet do a blood test? Even if there isn't any treatment that would be appropriate, it might help to know what you are dealing with, what she's experiencing, and how it's likely to progress.

When dogs get old they need as much care and understanding as an elderly human - they will need to wee more often, may become incontinent, might go senile and bark at nothing in the night or stand in a doorway literally not knowing if they're coming or going while you wait for them to shift. It's all part of pet ownership, I'm afraid.

Also, our little girl, Abby, our 2 year old Bichon Frise is just picking at her food and is starting to scratch more and is chewing on her hind legs. We are feeding them 4Health grain free hard food with some soft food in the evenings and now I have received some samples of Taste of the Wild hard food and I purchased a couple of cans of Nutro soft food and she is still just picking at it. It seems all she wants is table food, which she is not getting. How can we get her to eat and stop her scratching?

You've already had some suggestions for getting her to eat here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=22197&p=153028#p153028 If you answer the questions, we may be able to help more. As for her scratching, you need to work out what the problem is before you can fix it, so unless you can spot anything obvious like fleas, you'll need to consult the vet. It could be grass allergy, food allergy, or several other things.