urge to herd Posted April 6, 2015 Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 I'm putting together some tips about water conservation for my business newsletter. One of my suggestions is to use water that you've cooked potatoes/pasta/hard boiled eggs in for your compost heap, (no brainer for me) OR put it into your dog's water dish, rather than pour it down the drain. So is that safe for the dogs? Whether or not they'd drink it would depend on the dog, of course. Hoping for responses from a veterinarian or one of our more science leaning members. Ruth and SuperGibbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simba Posted April 6, 2015 Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 Was wondering something similar about sweet potato/turnip/carrot etc. peelings. I can't see much going into potato or pasta water that I wouldn't eat myself, and some plain starch isn't going to do them much harm. Unless you're salting your pasta water (as you probably should do but I never bother to do). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted April 6, 2015 Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 That will put some dogs off from drinking. Not a good thing in the heat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted April 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 Nope, no salt. I never bothered with that.. On a little further thought, I'd think that as long as it was consumed quickly and didn't sit out to get nasty, it should be fine. Gibbs gets the water from hard-boiling eggs regularly and I don't think there's any problem there. I'd make sure that any water that had potato, etc in it would be drunk up quickly. Thanks, Simba. Ruth and SuperGibbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted April 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 Liz, yes, thanks for that. If I recommend using the water for pets, I'll be sure to add a warning. And I'm going to try it out on Gibbs, as far as the pasta/potato water goes. Gibbs doesn't mind the hard-boiled egg water at all, but haven't given him any of the other. Ruth and SuperGibbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maralynn Posted April 6, 2015 Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 From a food service perspective - the simple starches left in pasta and potato water would make it a prime bacteria breeding ground if left out at room temperature. So I wouldn't use the cooking water to fill the dog's water dish that I left down for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted April 6, 2015 Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 They would need 2 water dishes, plain and "flavored." I honestly don't know the long term effects of giving that sort of water to animals. If enough vitamins and minerals are leaching out during cooking, it could do some harm. My other concern would be that dogs, like kids offered soda, will not want to go back to plain water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted April 6, 2015 Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 Agree. You wouldn't want to leave starchy water out. I used to give my dogs "soup" right before a race. It was mostly water with tiny bits of fatty meat. They only had access to it for a few minutes though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted April 6, 2015 Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 I would avoid salted water, and as others have pointed out, I wouldn't let water like this sit out for any period of time. Commercial eggshells are often coated with something to keep them fresh longer. It might be a good idea to find out what that is and whether it would come off into the water when they're boiled. I'd be curious what vitamins would be harmful. Aren't water soluble vitamins excreted in urine? Minerals I could see potentially being problematic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted April 6, 2015 Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 I was thinking more along the lines of the fat soluble vitamins being in the globs of fat that float to the top of the water. I don't know if anyone has checked to see just how much is left behind when the cooked item is removed from the water, so I have no idea if it would even be a concern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted April 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 Okay, gonna leave that suggestion out of my tips. GentleLake, I buy organic eggs, but they might still be coated with something. Will give the cooking water to the plants from now on. Thanks, everyone, for your comments. Made the decision very easy for me! Ruth and SuperGibbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted April 6, 2015 Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 I buy organic eggs, but they might still be coated with something. If they're commercial organic eggs they could still be coated with something organic. Dunno what. Beeswax mebbe? I'm just thinking it could still be within the realm of possibility. I know I've read the suggestion to use mineral oil to coat eggs so they'll stay fresher longer. Dunno if that would qualify as organic (imo it shouldn't), though it wouldn't surprise me if the regs didn't apply to the shells. I do often use my cooking water to water plants. I think we should all be more conscious about the need to conserve fresh water, even inf we don't live on one of the desert states. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted April 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2015 Oh, yes, every drop of water gets used here. I know that Big Agriculture uses a lot more water than residential, but I need to walk my talk. Cooking water either goes to the container plants or into the compost heap. Whatever is left in a water bottle or the remains of my tea goes into the compost collector that I keep in the kitchen. Ruth and SuperGibbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diane allen Posted April 7, 2015 Report Share Posted April 7, 2015 As far as giving vegetable cooking water to dogs - why not just put some on their food? Consumed immediately (at least in my house it would be!), not a flavor that would put them off of drinking, and the rest could go to the plants. Just a thought. diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloria Atwater Posted April 7, 2015 Report Share Posted April 7, 2015 I put unsalted, unspiced cooking water in my dogs meals. Tonight they got chicken broth and water left over from boiled potatoes. But I wouldn't leave cooking water out for my dogs to drink as I live in the desert and weird things would grow in there ... ~ Gloria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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