Primary Adipsia/Lack of Thirst Mechanism

My Blue Staffordshire Bull Terrier Bella has been diagnosed with Primary Adipsia which means she does not know she is thirsty and needs to drink. No one seems to know what causes this abnormality whether it’s an injury to the brain or whether such dogs are just born this way.
Bella was born on 1st February 2014 and has been our dog from April 2014. Within the first few hours of having her I noticed that she does not drink water, she would however drink milk. We frequently took her to the vets and told them about it and were told on every occasion “a dog will not dehydrate itself, stop pandering”. Bella was lethargic, had bad skin and her appetite was gradually decreasing. We knew she was not right. Her teeth began constantly chattering, hind legs were weak and she developed a strange twitch and her nose was dry and crusty. We tried everything to get her to drink boiling chicken in water (she would drink this) putting dirt in her water bowl as advised by dog trainer, biscuits in her water bowl, water fountain and even leaves, she simply pushed her nose under the water pulled out the object and the water would run out of her mouth. Following a walk our other dog would take a long drink and Bella would just look at her like “what are you doing that for”!
Eventually she completely collapsed and we rushed her to our local vets who took blood tests and kept her in overnight. Whilst she was with them they finally realised this dog does not drink water (hooray)!!! The blood test results showed her sodium level were off the scale and they put her on a drip to hydrate her. After about a week in the vets although improved she was still weak and twitching and we pushed our local vets to get a second opinion. Contact was made with a Small Animal Hospital in Bristol who were absolutely brilliant Bella was transferred to them and they changed her diet to a low sodium diet and began mixing water with her meals. She had MRI and CT scans as well as a ultra sound on her bladder, all clear. She is now a different dog bouncy, naughty, energetic , just as a 14 month old puppy should be! She is still fed the low sodium diet but with normal wet dog food mixed in. She is not to have biscuits or treats as all high in sodium.
Bella has been back home since October last year and we have to feed her 4 times a day with 150ml of water mixed in with her food 3 times a day and 100ml with the last meal of the day and she is thriving. She had a blood test 3 weeks ago the results of which are now normal.
The moral of Bella’s story is therefore keep pushing the vet, you know your dog and if something isn’t right so don’t let them tell you otherwise. This condition, although rare, is out there and interestingly on reviewing the web I note that 3 out of 4 cases are all Staffies. The skin bounce test does not show dehydration the only thing that is a true indicator is the nose. Bella's nose is now constantly wet and running. She has times when she is simply not hungry and does not want a meal every 4 hours and I spend ages sitting on the floor with her coaxing her to eat but she is here, she is healthy and I am very proud of my special little girl!
If anyone would like to discuss please contact me.

Great to read Bella is doing well now. Good for you for pushing for a second opinion.

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Hiya from me and Vinnie,thank you so much for sharing that not something I have ever heard of. Glad Bella is doing well now and yes we do have to push for answers at times xx

hia from me and sasha so glad Bella is doing well now

Welcome from Iza and me

Well done on raising this health condition and glad bella is doing well . welcome from me and mia.

Hi and welcome from us and Suki

Hi & Welcome to the Forum from Flo and me

I have heard of this just the once before but well done on finding the issue and getting the vets to investigate properly. Very pleased to hear Bella is doing well now

Hi from us too

Thank you for sharing this. It's a really good example of why we need to push when we know something's not right.

Just a thought re the treats - have you tried making treats? That way you can control exactly what she's getting but still have the pleasure of treating Bella for being even more wonderful that usual.

Thank you all for your comments and support very much appreciated by me and Bella.

Hi and welcome to the forum from me and the zoo xx

So glad she is doing so well, she's beautiful xx

Yes, Ian, I recall someone else having the same problem - I think it was someone from Australia or South Africa. Wonderful that Bella is doing so well now - never give up.

Welcome to the forums and thanks for sharing Bella's story. I applaud you on advocating for her and pushing for answers. I have never heard of this issue before and glad that I have come across it. This is very informative and I am glad you put this out there.

Hi and welcome from Oz and me Thanks for stating your story I'm sure that there will be others who will benefit from this

Thank you for your comments.  I see your Ozzy has the opposite problem and loves the water!!!

Just a quick update on Bella. 2 weeks ago we took her to the vet who diagnosed a phantom pregnancy and put her on medication to dry up her milk. Bella's appetite diminished daily over 5 days until we took the decision to take her back to Langford Hospital in Bristol. They put her on a drip and took scans and found that she had gas in her womb (apparently this is unheard of in a young dog who has not had puppies) she was spayed last Monday and since then has come on in leaps and bounds (literally) she came home last Friday, has the stitches out later today and hopefully will now be ok for a very long time! Whilst this was not caused by her Primary Adipsia its presences causes complications because if she looses her appetite she does not get the water and becomes quite ill quickly. Please keep fingers and paws crossed that she now leads a happy and healthy life with no more problems. As a type this she is running around playing with her toy so all signs are good!
Thank you for reading.

Aww Bella hope you get well soon. So good to hear she is recovering well from her surgery x

Aww bless her. I hope she has a speedy recovery xxx

Speedy recovery Bella, fingers and paws crossed on my end. HUGS

Have a speedy recovery bella

Am very pleased to announce that my Beautiful Bella is 2 years old today and continues to thrive.  Her condition (hopefully) is under control and she is eating well (3.5 tins a day) a typical bouncy, loving beautiful Staffy.

Thought you all would like to know.

One very proud mamma

Hi and welcome from me and my lot, glad to hear Bellas recovering and doing well. Long may it continue

very pleased for you both great news

Oh that is good news! Happy Birthday, Bella. The 2nd of many.

It is with great sadness that I have to tell you all that Bella sadly went to sleep on 8th August 2016 after a 3 month battle. She simply stopped eating, she spent 35 days in Langford Hospital and they found that she was producing progesterone hormone even though she had been spade last year. They tried medication to stop the production but came to the conclusion that her brain was overriding this due to probably a tumor of the pituitary gland which had initially caused the lack of thirst and developed into a lack of hunger, they feared that seizures would come next. If she would not eat we could not maintain her hydration. I tried everything to encourage her to eat, chicken, liver, beef, fish and lamb but on the final morning she would not even eat the creamy top off a trifle so we had to call it a day.

The only consolation we have is that she was happy to the end and we are told that it is a miracle that she survived as long as she did. Even after all the heartache and worry we are honoured to have been able to spend 2.5 years with our special little lady, who will never be forgotten.

Thanks for reading

I'm so sorry to hear of your terrible loss.
You really gave Bella all the help anyone could have given. This is the one update we didn't want.

You gave her such a wonderful life and she was blessed to have you. You obviously loved her very much. Again I'm just so sorry for your loss.

Rip over the rainbow bridge sweet beautiful Bella. Xxx

Oh I'm so sorry to hear this sad news, you did Everything you could of done for Bella, she couldn't of had a better mummy!!! RIP Bella run free at Rainbow Bridge