Hi Alice,

To determine that this is behavioral will mean you have to rule out all other medical causes.

My advice would be to perform a urine culture (not just a urinalysis) to make sure there is no urinary tract infection. I would recommend you X-ray the bladder to make sure there are no stones that could be irritating the bladder. Then I would perform blood work if it hasn’t been done to make sure there are no underlying medical conditions that could cause her to drink or pee more.

I would strongly recommend that you have a consult with a veterinary neurologist to evaluate this issue of epilepsy. That is a lot of medication to be on when you don’t have a firm diagnosis. A side effect of Phenobarbital and of potassium bromide for dogs is excessive drinking and urination. A potential side effect of phenobarbital is anxiety! These most definitely could be contributing to the problem and I would recommend that you speak to a neurologist about potentially eliminating them. I don’t say this because I think the doctors are wrong, they may very well be right, but a better mix of these drugs may improve this situation.

I hate to just tell you to do more testing and visit more vets, I always try to find simple options for people, but in this case it’s just too complicated to simply make the diagnosis of a behavioral issue right now.

Kenzie is lucky to have you and it’s clear that you love her very much. She’s a young dog and these issues need to be well understood if she is going to be on these medications for the rest of her life. A few of them are very hard on the liver and can create long-term issues so you really need to have them evaluated thoroughly and have the epilepsy confirmed.

I wish you a lot of luck. I think this is a bit too complex to resolve with the behaviorist because I know he’ll just end up recommending evaluating these medical conditions before starting behavioral modification.

All the best.

Dr. Clayton Greenway