Dog is poorly and refusing to drink

[NoCapes]

Our 2 year old Cavalier has been a bit off colour for a day or 2 and has been sick 3 times today
She's always been really bad at drinking, almost every time we're at the vets (for vacs etc) they tell me she's slightly dehydrated and we need to encourage her to drink more, although I'm never really sure how
Anyway today she's completely refused to drink at all, she's very sleepy and a bit floppy, although still going out for wees and still walking around occasionally
I've just syringed about 3ml of water in but she really wouldn't let me do another syringe and I didn't want to stress her out

Any advice? I feel a bit helpless

[ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe]

Sorry, I don't know, I would probably go to the emergency vet, but I do tend to panic.
Hope she's better soon.

[tabulahrasa]

If you touch her gums...are they dry or slightly sticky rather than wet?

[TrionicLettuce]

Not drinking, lethargic and floppy would definitely have me taking them to the vet.

[TheoriginalLEM]

What is her hydration like? When you pick some skin on the back of her neck does it spring back or stay for a while? if it stays she is dehydrated. Dehydrated, refusing water and floppy sounds like an emergency. Can you call your ooh vet for advice. Most willafvise over the phone as to whether the dog needs seen straight away or can wait til morning.

[Madbengalmum]

Vets now if i were you.

[tabulahrasa]

I don't know that the skin test will be that useful on a spaniel? They tend to have kind of loose skin anyway.

Floppy and tired isn't great though and if her gums feel at all like they shouldn't I'd be phoning the vets too.

[NoCapes]

I've done the skin test a few times and it does ping straight back
She won't let me in her mouth but her nose is completely dry (don't know if that's relevant, it's usually quite wet)
I did think maybe I should take her to a vet, but I didn't want to seem like I was panicking, I worry so much when she's ill, but maybe I'll call the OOH now you all don't think I'm over-reacting

[Miloarmadillo1]

Fluid requirement for dogs is approx 50ml/kg/24hrs or 5% of their bodyweight. For an 8-10kg CKCS that's 400-500ml a day. Let's assume she is often 5% dehydrated (that's the level at which your vet would be able to detect and comment) and she's been under the weather for a few days prior to today. She's also losing fluid every time she vomits. 5% is mild dehydration, 10% is severe, at 15% circulatory shock and death are not far off. 3ml is not even touching the sides, she is going to need an IV drip. Lethargic, dehydrated and floppy ought to be worrying you enough that you phone your out of hours vet, not ask Mumsnet. Please phone them right now and get her seen tonight.

[NoCapes]

She's always sleepy in the evenings though which is why it's hard for me to tell if she's just tired or not
When I said floppy I didn't mean seriously so, just meant s bit tired, if you call her she'll still jump up and run over to you, she just generally wants to sleep though

But yeah she never drinks anywhere near 400ml, and tbh I didn't even know the official amount she should be drinking so thank you for that info Milo

[tabulahrasa]

Noses aren't as good an indicator because they'll be dry just from - kind of need a drink but felt like finishing my nap type dehydration.

I don't think you'd be over reacting to phone the vet, she's obviously not great.

[ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe]

What happened OP?
How is the dog?

[NoCapes]

Sorry, I did phone OOH last night, they weren't overly concerned as she'd started playing and barking at dogs on the TV by the time I got through 🙄 Told me to monitor her and go to the vets today

I took her to the vets first thing and they've given me some sachets of dehydration stuff and gave me a new bowl to try (it's not made any difference) so I'm just looking up those fountain things on Amazon

I just don't know how to get her to drink!?!
Really appreciate all of the advice on here last night by the way, thank you

[ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe]

Glad she's better.
No idea how to get her to drink more.

One of mine drinks a fraction of what the other one manages. It's a mystery.

[hillyhilly]

Have you tried putting ice in it or giving ice cubes to her maybe?

[Chansey]

My dogs don't drink much. They prefer a muddy puddle to the nice clean water in their bowl. I add a tiny drop of milk to the water if they seem constipated or if the weather is hot and then they drink it all. They have to see me add the milk for it to work lol.

[stonecircle]

What does she eat? Is it something you could add water to? Chicken and rice is the poorly dog diet in our house and I always make it nice and sloppy to get plenty fluids in. Or get some dog gravy to add to food? You can get small cartons of dog milk in supermarkets which mine get as a treat and absolutely love.

[ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe]

Plain yogurt is good for hydration and dogs love it.

[TrionicLettuce]

If she's currently fed on just dry food you could replace part of her ration of that with wet food to get a bit more moisture into her.