Consume lot more of water, abnormal?

Increased thirst can be a sypmtom of several different medical conditions.  I'd take him in for a full vet check and mention the increased thirst.  Hopefully, it's nothing, but in older dogs especially, it's not something I'd ignore.

 The vet will do a blood draw for lab work, and a urinalysis.  They look for things like thyroid issues, diabetes, Cushings disease, and maybe one or 2 more.  Well worth it, as catching any of those early is best!

Absolutely -- vet visit!!!  have a urinalysis done (not just a strip test - particularly since he's 10) and senior bloodwork.  It could be renal or something simple like a urinary tract infection. 

I took my golden retriever in for the same reason.  Honey is somehwere between 10 1/2 and 11 years old, but looks and acts more like a 4 yer old (acodring to our vet).  When she started drinking a lot more water a few weeks ago I took her in thinkging either uniary tracty infection or diabetes.  Turns out to much protiend and her kidneys were working over time to try to get rid of it.

She is on Science Diet KD for kidney problems, and also cipro antibiotic.  Goes back in in 2 weeks for check.

Thank you for everyone input.  I will bring him to the vet.

Pretty please let us know what happens???

Hi, All,

The vet called and told me the result of the blood work shows my boy has a very hight rate of thyroid, triple high of normal.  She wants me to bring him back to let her check on him again and it will be done on tomorrow.

Is it called hyperthyroid?  What causes it?  What kind of diet or supplements can help?  Thank you!

wow, I am SO glad you got your dog seen -- hyperthyroid is **VERY** dangerous.  It can cause high blood pressure which can truly be fatal.  YOu must find out if your vet can take your dog's bloodpressure (not all of them can).  But honestly if you know there is hyperthyroid you **must** get his bloodpressure checked.

to be honest -- you're going to have to go to hypertension medicine to get this leveled out.  And from there you will likely want to investigate something alternative like TCVM (email me - I can help you on that). 

HyPER thyroid is pretty uncommon in dogs -- so it is honestly a really good thing you have caught this -- because I was serious when I said it can quickly be fatal.  I use a lot of alternative stuff, supplements and diet-specific stuff, but you truly need to get this leveled out FIRST. 

The other question to ask is how are his kidneys?  This can all go hand in hand with kidney issues easily.

oylin

Is it called hyperthyroid?

Yes and it's very rare in dogs.  It's caused by overproduction of a hormone by the thyroid glands.  It's a good thing that the vet is going to recheck and they may want to do an xray to rule out a tumor. 

 Glad you got to the vet.  Good luck with meds for treating it.  (rather than surgery)