Swimming in the ocean

[puppytoes]

I live on the coast and so a good part of our summer outings are at the beach (Pacific Ocean). Laska, my 12 year old has been swimming for years with no issues. I love it as an activity for her because it is easy on her joints. Last summer, Orbit joined our crew and by the end of the summer was happy in the water. Fast forward to now. Laska is still great and Orbit is super intent on retrieving from the water, which is great given our current heatwave. However, i have noticd that he tends to have very runny stool, even diahrea (sp?) after swmming in the salty water. He doesn't drink the water ever but he must swallow it when he dives in or while he is swimming.

 

Does this happen to anyone else?

 

It is so hot here that anything besides water activities is out of the question.

 

Is there anything that i can give hime (food or supplement) that might counteract the salt he is ingesting?

[MaryP]

HA! If all you have is runny stool or diarrhea, that's nothing. Usually, you'll get what we like to call an a$$ fountain after injesting a lot of salt water. Seriously, it's literally like a fountain. I've had several dogs go through this. Usually, after a dog has experienced the a$$ fountain a couple of times, it pretty much breaks them up their desire to drink saltwater. I'm not sure why because I doubt they are able to see a cause and effect relationship there, but maybe I'm wrong because I've rarely seen a dog that hasn't learned not to drink saltwater.

 

I don't know how to stop a dog from ingesting saltwater or how to couter act the effects. But, I would encourage your dog to drink a lot of freshwater while at the beach. That may help.

 

I understand how you feel. We have the same issue here in the summer. The only safe exercise is exercise that includes water. Since freshwater is not safe for dogs to swim in (gators), we have to go to the ocean. Actually, I shouldn't say it like that. We enjoy going to the beach and the dogs absolutely LOVE it.

[PSmitty]

I am so easily amused. A$$ fountain!

 

We call it faucet a$$.

[bcnewe2]

a$$ fountain

faucet a$$

 

 

2 new words for the day!

To funny

[ShoresDog]

tee hee...

 

Anyhow, yes, my dogs are in the ocean a lot, and if they've had a long play session at the beach, they do get sorta runny. It only lasts at most for that day. They don't drink the water, but they probably can't help swallowing a little. In my experience, Mary's right about the a$$ fountain being a short term problem because they quickly learn to not drink the salt water. Arrggh, I do remember having to go back with a bucket and clean up the sidewalk due to an inexperienced visiting dog who had been having just so much fun in the waves....

[Caerus]

My 3 year old had similar troubles when he was a pup, but has learned to not drink salt water.

Now, our 11 month old still gets runny when we visit my parents (who live on the Gulf). I think in his case though, he just eats whatever he finds lying around the water (dead fish, seagull poo, oysters, etc.).

 

Edit: The worst thing about the dogs going swimming is the smell afterward! A combo of saltwater, dead fish, seagull stink, dead crabs, etc. Yuck! I'm guessing this isn't as big a problem for dogs at an actual beach with lots of moving water, rather than playing off my parents' sea wall and dock.

[nancy]

Wow! I guess we had better be thankful that Fergie doesn't trust the ocean. Water that moves and attacks!

 

We have taken week-long trips to the coast. But all she wants to do is chase seagulls and dig up shells. We have a hard time coaxing her into the shallows. And she refuses to drink any of that evil water.

[puppytoes]

I was trying to be scientific in my description of the problem. But since everyone is sharing their non-scientic terminology, i'll share too. At our house we call it "River Butt"

 

I wish he was drinking the water because i feel like i could teach him not to. But i think he swallows it while diving in and then swimming back with the ball in his mouth.

 

Just a thought, would raw versus kibble potentially play any roll in this equation? Or body weight? Orbit is fed raw and he is very lean.

 

I am grateful that as you mentioned it is very short lived. However, since we are forced to swim every day (it has been about 30C) for almost 2 weeks, it makes for a fairly regular river butt.

 

The joys of having dogs, i guess!

[SoloRiver]

We call it "exploding butt." Solo gets it more and more often as he ages, which is apparently typical for anxious dogs, often for no obvious reason (and no, he does not have worms). He's never gotten it from going to the beach, even though he likes to drink the salt water.

[JBlaylock]

A$$ fountain

faucet a$$

 

Very funny.

 

Ironicaly, I haden't checked in here for months it seems, but I knew I had a beach camping trip planned for this past weekend, and it would be the first time the doggies ever saw the ocean, so I checkd in here on Friday to see if there was anything in here about doggies in the ocean, and this thread was up in the first page. Wierd. Anyways, I was nervous after reading all of this, but I'm happy to say that 2 out of three of my girls sniffed the water, took one lick, and then didn't try to drink it again, the third never even tried it once. They all swam in it, but they could tell not to drink it, it probably just didn't smell right to them. But then again, I'm in Katy just outside of Houston, and Galveston/surfside beaches are really muddy and brown, so had it been a nicer beach they may have tried to drink more, and we may have woken up in the middle of the night with a tent full of a$$ fountain sea-water muck!

[Beth G]

Lmao! I learn something new here all the time!! Those terms are hilarious!! Much better than what my husband calls it- ("Peeing out their a$$")

 

I'm glad my dogs just swim in the river! Haha!! No fountain a$$es here(unless Pepper has a colitis flare up)... just Popcorn peeing rivers after drinking too much river water.