Dog panting and thirsty

[FitzsimmonsMarvel]

Hi all, looking for some help before I run to the vet again. My dog has been panting heavily a lot in the evenings and also drinking a lot more.

He’s 11 months old and he’s had a bit of a disastrous start to life. First allergies which meant fill anal glands and serious itching. We narrowed it down to chicken so eliminated that. Fussy with eating in general so we struggled to get him to eat enough. He then hurt his mouth and went completely off his food -struggling to get him to eat and hand feeding him. He was getting skinny then started getting diarrhoea and vomiting and ended up diagnosed with Giardia. His appetite has come back since and he now loves eating all his food (still not greedy though). He has this past week or so been thirsty, restless and panting heavily, barking a lot at everything. Once he settles down to sleep his breathing goes back to normal and he sleeps well. And when I say thirsty we used to struggle to get him to drink water too so this is a big change where he is draining his bowl.

Is this a concern? I have health anxiety myself which has extended to the dog so I am panicking but with lockdown don’t want to make an unnecessary trip to the vets.

In our dog it was a sign of cushing’s

Symptoms of Cushing's Disease
increased thirst.
increased urination.
increased appetite.
reduced activity.
excessive panting.
thin or fragile skin.
hair loss.
recurrent skin infections.

@Fatherbrownsbicycle how old was your dog? He does have some of those - increased thirst and appetite and more panting but not the others. He seems way too young for something like that at not even a year old?

I guess I better take him to the vets again. So stressful - I love him so much. 😢

Is your dog excessively anxious? My dog pants heavily when she stressed - bonfire night being the obvious example. But the panting seems to trigger the thirst...

Excessive thirst is always a reason for a trip to the vets OP, especially when it's a big change from before - could be kidneys, bladder issues/UTI, endocrine problems etc. In a young dog it's bound to be treatable but definitely go.