Water and food

[Pili]

As the days are getting warmer I am worrying more and more over how little water Indy drinks. Food and water are the only really concerning issues I have about his health. He is coming around to realizing we are his forever home, but I have never seen a dog drink so little water. My previous dogs (a Great Pyre and a Schipperkee) both drank quite a bit. The Pyre would go through a gallon a day by herself. She didn'lt like drinking (or eating) when away from home unless she absolutely had to (she would never touch the water at the dog parks).

 

At first I though Indy was the same way and would just need some extra time to adjust to us and his new home, but it has been almost three months now and he will only drink one bowl of water in a 24 hour period, if that and never during the day. He will go all day without drinking water, even if he is sitting next to the bowl. He only drinks at night, and by then I am pretty sure he is dehydrated. Also, he is 9 mos old and will only eat once a day (at night once he is in his crate). At first he would eat twice a day, as soon as I put the food down, but after a while he stopped eating his morning meal, and now he will only eat once we are all in bed. I wonder if the fact that I have started training him with tasty meat treats has put him off his kibble. He used to love it. Now he looks at me like I am depriving him when he sees his food bowl. I feel like I am rambling, but basically has anyone else experienced this type of eating .... disorder? Did I cause this or is it just him? I have tried only leaving the food out for twenty minutes and then taking it away, but he ended up not eating and I couldn't stand it, so now I just leave it out until he is done. He does eat it all and he is gaining weight. Any insight would be appreciated.

[Journey]

Most of mine go through that phase. They're too busy with life to want to eat. If they aren't starving and not dehydrated, I figure they won't die! Seriously, I don't fret about mine, they have free access to water, food for 10 minutes in bowls then it's picked up. When they get hungry they'll eat. So long as you know he's healthy I wouldn't fret. He may feel more comfortable eating alone out of sight at night. What size water bowl is he dringking? I have 2 here now that go through about 3 quarts a day more or less.

[Pili]

He is only drinking about two cups of water a day, and sometimes not even that.

[Lewie'sMom]

If you haven’t already consulted your vet, discuss your concerns with the doctor and get his/her opinion. Rule out any health issues so you know Indy is healthy. Assuming he does not have any health problems (and I hope he doesn’t) try flavoring his water just a bit. I’ll sometimes use a small amount of water from a can of chicken or tuna to flavor the cats’ water if it seems they aren’t drinking enough. They love it, of course, and I’ll bet Indy will like it, too. It probably won’t take much added to his water to coax him to drink more.

 

As long as the vet says he’s healthy I wouldn’t push the food; and like Journey said, he’ll eat when he gets hungry. Lewie goes through phases where it seems he eats like a bird but I know he’s healthy so I don’t fret over it.

 

Relax. Indy is fine.

[desertranger]

If he's eating well hel'' naturally drink enough water to help with his digestion. You may have to teach him to drink when offered water. Mookie would only drink water out of her dish at the house never from anywhere else. I ran her pne day until she was ht and then sat there with her and a bowl of water outside. It took almost half an hour before she decided she was thirsty enough to drink from a stranger bowl.

[Lizmo]

Blaze (14 months old) is going through the same phase as Journey was talking about. I usually have to stop play on hot days for him to take a drink and/or get in the pool. He just doesn't care if he gets water or not even if he's panting fast and hard.

 

I would just make sure he has access to water all the time (of course with the exception of when he's crated).

[Soda-pop]

have you tried changing the type of bowl? Especially if it's plastic it may be harboring a funky smell that we can't smell but may bother Indy. Or maybe you have metal and the weird ripples freak him out. It couldn't hurt, anyway!

 

Another thought is a doggie watering fountain, but those are quite costly. If you have a cat though, it's a wise investment.

 

Lastly, what about adding water to his food so he *has* to drink?

[SoloRiver]

I would be worried because you've mentioned before that Indy is very shy, and you also say that he will only eat and drink at night, which makes me wonder if he is too frightened (of something) to do it during the day. When I got Solo he was anorexic and didn't drink much either (although he did figure out how to open the toilet to drink out of it -- and would close it when he was done...)

 

Since he will eat in his crate you might want to hang a bucket in there and keep water available for him that way as well.

[Pili]

I would be worried because you've mentioned before that Indy is very shy, and you also say that he will only eat and drink at night, which makes me wonder if he is too frightened (of something) to do it during the day. When I got Solo he was anorexic and didn't drink much either (although he did figure out how to open the toilet to drink out of it -- and would close it when he was done...)

 

Since he will eat in his crate you might want to hang a bucket in there and keep water available for him that way as well.

 

 

See I think this is the issue right here. He has come a long way, but he shuts down when stressed. I actually do keep water in his crate, but again. He will drink nothing until DH and I are in bed and the house is quiet (the crate is in our bedroom). The bowls are metal and he has never had any reaction or aversion to them before. Health wise, he is fine: gaining weight, no illnesses, nothing. The issues are all in his head. It has not helped that since we had wind storms come through here this week ripping down trees, the neighborhood is full of landscaping crews cutting up the wreckage, but this started before the storms, they just seemed to have exacerbated it.

 

Desertranger: I'll try your suggestion. Maybe he just needs to be taught that it's OK to drink outside. As for indoors, I just don't know what to do other than keeping water available.

 

Melanie: I know it's not funny but I needed that last line about Solo closing the lid...sigh.

[juliepoudrier]

Another trick to increase water intake is to add water to his kibble. I do this because I think it helps keep my working dogs well hydrated.

 

J.

[PSmitty]

Definitely add water to his kibble, I do that with mine, even though nobody has a problem drinking enough.

 

A friend on my flyball team bought her dog one of those self-watering dog bowl dealios, and had the same problem that I had when I tried one....the glug-glug noise it makes as the water feeds down into the bowl freaked the dog out. Her dog (a BC) refused to drink for so long that he became dehydrated. My Jack was so freaked out by ours, he wouldn't even go in the kitchen to eat. So much for that idea.

 

Anyway, it wouldn't hurt to try to change things up, either with new bowls, new food. I know some people will say pick the food up after 10-20 minutes or you're creating a spoiled dog, but if you're worried about him eating and drinking enough, I would leave it down.

[mbc1963]

My dog is a camel. Drinks very, very little water. In the warm months, I have to toss treats into the pond to get him to wade in and cool himself off and take a drink. He drinks less than all dogs I've owned previously. Beyond that, he really doesn't like our tap water, and prefers to drink "wild," so I rarely see him drinking from his dish.

 

Oddly, this winter, he started drinking a LOT. Noticeably, and having to pee frequently. The vet put him on antibiotics for something else, and the weird drinking and peeing stopped. I assume he had a kidney infection or UTI.

 

So... I'm not expert, but I know how it feels to have a dog who seems to drink far too little water. Mine seems healthy and hearty after 4 years.

 

Mary

[Pili]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll try putting water in his kibble tonight and I have some home-made chicken stock I can add to his water.

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

A little late to this one, but I agree with Melanie. If he's stressed then all you can do is leave it available for him. I like the idea of adding water to kibble. I do put warm water on Daisy's food sometimes, just because she seems to like the extra smell....? Daisy is somewhat like Mary's Buddy. She does not drink often at all, except when we are out doors and it's hot. Other wise she just has a few slurps here and there, not much at all. She will wait until I fill all the bowls with fresh water and then go drink out of the toilet instead...

[diane allen]

I think putting a little "flavoring" in the water is a good idea. Watch out for commercial chicken stock - if there's much sodium/salt in it, you may be defeating yourself! You can also put a SMALL amount of milk in the water - just enough to 'cloud' it. These might help if you do the 'take it to a new place' effort. Good luck.

 

diane

[mum24dog]

I think putting a little "flavoring" in the water is a good idea.

 

Do you have anything like this over there? I assume you must have.

 

http://www.powwowdog.com/index.html

 

It does work for my reluctant drinkers but too much and they can't stop peeing.

 

Pam

[silhouettestable]

Anything that smells good/tastes good to bait the water should help. I use chicken broth when we're racing as my dogs don't all drink clear water well at the races where there's a lot of excitement around them (it's homemade broth - we eat a lot of chicken in the winter so I can make broth for the dogs and of course they get some of the chicken too in their dinners!) I've heard of others also using a handful of kibble in the water (different brand than normal will sometimes tempt them more), meat meal, gravy and various soups or a bit of raw ground meat in the water.

[Pili]

I think putting a little "flavoring" in the water is a good idea. Watch out for commercial chicken stock - if there's much sodium/salt in it, you may be defeating yourself! You can also put a SMALL amount of milk in the water - just enough to 'cloud' it. These might help if you do the 'take it to a new place' effort. Good luck.

 

diane

 

I actually make my own. The sodium content in commercial brands is why I won't feed it to my family.