Anijosdad Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 So, my 9mo BC doesn't drink enough in my opinion. She has always been a finicky eater and water "phobic". A little background.....she WILL NOT swim, wade or even step in water. She doesn't like to be out in the rain. She will however drink out of the nastiest, grossest, dirtiest puddles (Before they were all frozen). She will also eat snow. When she was younger, I would add quite a bit of water to her food and she would eat and drink it all. I tried that recently and she "air buries" it and won't touch it. I tried bringing in a bowlful of snow. She stood back and barked at it like it was the devil coming to take us all. I have tried adding flavoring to her water. Such as beef and chicken broth, the MIO water flavoring, some different powdered drink mixes. All to no avail. It is getting to the point that I am pretty worried about de-hydration. I don't really want to feed her canned food, but if you all think there would be sufficient water content, I would feed canned/soft. I have run out of ideas to try. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shetlander Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Are you seeing any health consequences of her level of water consumption? Have you discussed your concerns with your vet? If she seems fine and your vet doesn't express concern, I would leave it to the dog to figure out how much she needs to drink. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anijosdad Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 I must admit that I haven't seen or talked to a vet about it yet. She seems fine. Sometimes her stool is quite firm and just a couple "items". (sorry to be so crude). sometimes it is pretty soft. I have attributed that to the fact that we are changing food a lot because she is pretty finicky about eating. It has worried me a little all along but lately I don't think she has really drank anything in 2-3 days. She will stand outside and eat quite a bit of snow, so I figured she is at least getting some hydration. I'm going to call and speak to the vet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shetlander Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 How is her pee? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anijosdad Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Quite yellow. I don't see blood or anything like that. It's a little hard to tell. She INSISTS on wading out into our 3 feet of snow to do her business. Very modest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 If the urine is very yellow it might be too concentrated, indicating a degree of dehydration. I think it would be a good idea to call the vet and ask about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anijosdad Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 I talked to one of the ladies at the vets office. She had a couple of ideas to try. (1) different bowl. I will try this after work. I doubt it as I have used collaspsable bowls while traveling, to varied success. (2) melt snow. Obviously not going to work in the summer, but worth a try. She would eat ice cubes previously. Maybe we will have to keep a tray of ice cubes around (3) maybe we have an issue with our water. Kind of doubt this one. We have never had sickness or other issues from our water. But it's worth trying a bottle of water just to see what happens. And I can't imagine she is sensitive to our water, when she would drink the nasty, dirty, gross puddles. Oh and I have also tried putting the coldest water I get out of the faucet. Also have tried more of a lukewarm/room temp water. Is this just another of the many, many, many, many BC personality quirks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moosikins Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Is she just snarfing up a lot of snow when she's outside? I know Callie has been drinking a lot less inside (and she's normally all about emptying the whole water dish in seconds) because she's eating a bunch of snow when she's outside. She won't touch it in a bowl either, but she loves gobbling it up from the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 One of my dogs definitely prefers rain water to tap water, so I leave a bowl on the porch under the gutter that drips just for her. Does your dog like yogurt or kefir? If so, could you dilute some with water? I do that with my dogs and also add water to their salmon oil. Just a little bit of the oil or kefir (about 1 T of the latter) and about a cup of water gets them to drink more water. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anijosdad Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Is she just snarfing up a lot of snow when she's outside? I know Callie has been drinking a lot less inside (and she's normally all about emptying the whole water dish in seconds) because she's eating a bunch of snow when she's outside. She won't touch it in a bowl either, but she loves gobbling it up from the ground. It could be that she is getting enough "water" from the snow. She does eat quite a bit. Of course I have been letting her eat just about as much as she wants because i thought if she is eating a lot, she needs it. I guess my big concern is that she has never really LIKED water of any sort. Probably overthinking this. I'll try bottled water and a diferent bowl and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anijosdad Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 One of my dogs definitely prefers rain water to tap water, so I leave a bowl on the porch under the gutter that drips just for her. Does your dog like yogurt or kefir? If so, could you dilute some with water? I do that with my dogs and also add water to their salmon oil. Just a little bit of the oil or kefir (about 1 T of the latter) and about a cup of water gets them to drink more water. Good luck. I'll have to google kefir. I don't know what that is. I have not tried (did not think of) yogurt. I'll also try that. Thanks for the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Kefir is similar to yogurt, but more liquid. It's usually sold near refrigerated bottled juices and such. A lot if it's flavored with added sugar, so look for unflavored. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cass C Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 You may also try a pet water fountain. My dogs and cats have turned into water snobs since I got them their fountain and only drink water out of a regular bowl of they have no choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moosikins Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 You may also try a pet water fountain. My dogs and cats have turned into water snobs since I got them their fountain and only drink water out of a regular bowl of they have no choice. Yes, try a fountain! Callie is fascinated by hers. Well, equal parts fascinated and confused by the bubbling sounds. She keeps both eyes locked on it while she drinks just in case it decides to get her. Just beware the adventurous paws being poked into the fountain because that results in large puddles and wet socks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbc1963 Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 I used to have a dog who ate snow like crazy. I was worried she was diabetic or something... until I realized she was scared of her water bowl. It was a metal one, and her tags clinked on it when she drank. We switched it out for a plastic bowl and she drank from it. My current dog doesn't like our city water. (Chlorinated heavily.) I have to put chicken in his dry food and add some water to make a "gravy" or he really doesn't drink much at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogwoppit Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Just a thought, you could try "hiding" water from her (as long as you don't forget and trip over it). Cats and dogs like to find their own water, and she may think she'd being very clever by finding a bowl tucked around a corner of a bookcase or under the basin in the bathroom. I do this to make sure my little radiator hog doesn't dry out too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSW Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 When my old dog was recovering from a short illness I found he would only drink water if I made a big deal out of putting some chicken broth in a cereal bowl with water and made some clanking noise with the spoon as I stirred it up. I also heated the broth first in the microwave. It how you fix people food and makes a bit of an aroma. It got him drinking. My new pup gets kibble as her regular food, but I also put canned dog food in a kong for her when I leave for work. Occasionally I will mix a spoon of the wet food in a bowl with water and give it to her as a special treat. She really likes it. One thing to note, make sure the chicken broth does not have any onions in it, most brands do and it is not good for dogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsmbc Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 I also have a dog that is very particular about what container he drinks out of. The water has to be very cold and fresh. I have water dishes all over the place and I noticed he will only drinks out of certain ones. Others he will never drink out of. the fountain was a favorite for another dog of mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maralynn Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 When adding stuff to her water, keep in mind that flavorings like MIO generally have artificial sweeteners and some of those are very toxic to dogs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anijosdad Posted February 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Thanks everybody for the suggestions. As far as the Mio, propel, etc. and the associated sweeteners....she didn't really seem to like those anyway. I just thought at the time it was worth a try. Not to dismiss the fountain, but I highly doubt she would tolerate that. She is VERY anxious around any running water. We have been out hiking previously and if we came upon a stream, she would hardly even go near it. We even found a couple trails with bridges over streams that I had too force her over the bridge. I had a little luck with melted snow. I may have to get a rain barrel or prefferably move somewhere that has snow year round. I started with stainless bowls. Ani also didn't like her collar or tags clinking on the metal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 Your tap water wouldn't have to be toxic to be distasteful. Remember that they have a much better sense of smell than we do, and smell and taste are linked. I personally find chlorinated water rather distasteful, and since dogs like different tastes than we do it's not really surprising that a dog could like a mud puddle and not tap water, especially if the water has a chemical taste (to the dog). When considering bowls, also consider whether the material the bowl is made of could be retaining odors or leaching a chemical taste into the water. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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