My dog is losing weight, thirsty, eating, and scratching. What's up?

I am concerned that Marley is uncontrollable thirsty and is losing weight. He could have an infection, kidney disease, liver disease, diabetes, etc. so he should be examined by a vet to determine the cause. Your vet can run a urinalysis and blood work to help diagnose and treat the problem. Please call your vet and schedule an appointment.

I am sorry your dog is not feeling well. The information provided and picture don't really match. If a patient is drinking more and losing weight I would be concerned about endocrine diseases like diabetes and cushings disease. However the picture looks more like possible skin mites or an underlying autoimmune disease I would recommend taking her to a veterinarian to help you resolve the issues. They most likely will need to run basic bloodwork and possible a skin scrape to determine if mites are present.

Poor Max! Losing weight despite being fed can be a sign of a medical illness, such as diabetes, intestinal parasites, or an inability to properly digest nutrients. I would make sure Max is up to date on his deworming treatment, and if he isn't, you will need to get one from the vet. The constant scratching could be caused by fleas, mites, ringworm, or allergies. If he isn't up to date on his flea treatment, he will need a spot on treatment such as Advantage or Revolution. You will need to disinfect the environment as well. I recommend taking him into your vet for an exam. The vet can do a physical exam, routine blood tests, and a urinalysis to see if there is a medical cause behind him losing weight. The vet can also do blood tests, skin scrapings, and use a Wood's lamp to diagnose allergies, mites, and ringworm if he is up to date on his flea treatment. I would take him into the vet tomorrow for an exam.

He may have a severe infection (bacterial, parasites, etc.), malabsorption/maldigestion issues, kidney disease or "simple" malnutrition. There may be multiple reasons for his poor condition. He really needs to be seen by a veterinarian for a physical exam and diagnostics. Hospitalization may be necessary to provide supportive care. Please do not delay and have Jonny seen today.

Drinking a lot of water and losing weight is very concerning and indicates an underlying medical condition. There are many possibilities: * cancer * Cushing's disease * Diabetes * kidney disease * etc.... The weakness and spasms in the back legs is probably due to arthritis, however, she could be just weak from whatever underlying disease is going on. The chewing and licking of the paws could be due to her being generally uncomfortable (displacement behavior), allergies, bacterial infection of the skin, etc. She really needs an examination by your veterinarian to get to the bottom of what is going on.

I would be very concerned about that amount of weight loss and I doubt it would be related to fleas alone. Kidney disease, diabetes or certain types of cancer could cause weight loss and an increase in water consumption. I would recommend seeing a veterinarian- they may recommend checking some blood work after a physical exam.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Without knowing Gunnars full history and tests that have been performed it is difficult to say what is going on. I would recommend starting for scratch even if you have already had labs done. I would have a complete blood panel and chemistry panel with thyroid testing preformed. I would test for heartworm disease and tick born diseases. I would also recheck a urine sample and check a blood pressure. Things can change over 2 months so while there may not have been abnormal results then, there may be now. There are many diseases that cause the signs you are seeing so without new labs there is no way you can rule them out for sure. If everything is still normal I would have an abdominal ultrasound done to see what’s going on inside his abdomen. Good luck and kisses to Gunnar!