How often do females drink?

[Caro]

The cats actually drink more than Tully. Deska goes through a bowl on his own. Tully usually spends a lot of time outside and would drink from the outside bowl but since her hip got bad she won't go out in the cold. I'm thinking of getting a humidifier to see if that helps.

Missy does this. She'll just sit there and drink and drink and I'll tell her, "ok, you've had enough!" because sometimes she'll drink so much she'll make herself throw up.

Tully throws up water if she doesn't sip which means she drinks slow and Deska will try to cut in.

Do you feed her canned food ? It has a higher moisture content.

I make their food - mince with a muesli-type post-mix that is actually made up with water, so it's easy for me to add lots more then I pour more onto her meal. I was wetting both heaps but Deska was waking me up to toilet.

Caro, I just read an article a few days ago at the PawNation site about what to and what not to give your dogs to drink. I read about coconut water and read some interesting facts about it. I however can not attest to the valitity of the claim, but it sure sounds good.

Can Dogs Drink Coconut Water?

Worth trying the coconut water, although will have to check the calories - she'd on a big diet too. I make up the broth (boil chicken) so it's even yummier than the packet stuff, altho the specialist told me not to worry about the salt levels in pkt broth atm as it's more important to get her peeing. I'm lactose intolerant myself so my milk is ok for the dogs, but I brought dog milk yesterday in case that tastes better.

Tried syringing water in her mouth last night - she just dribbled it all out again so I'll have to try a new tactic.

 

[take4roll10]

I guesstimate my dog drinks about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of water a day. She drinks a lot of water and I think it may be a stress reliever for her.

She drinks before she eats, after she eats, when she's playing, before a walk, after a walk, when I return home, after a nap... Basically drinks water before & after every activity. I'm positive she doesn't drink much when I'm not home as she is just sleeping all day.

I go through about a 1 gallon water bottle a week for her.

 

[DPSheltie]

Riley isn't a huge water drinker either.....the cat drinks tons more than him. He has always gotten wet food mixed with his dry food for dinner, so now we just add water to make it more of a stew (or soup on hot days).

 

[Tagg]

Females drink as much as males and vice versa. Some drink more, some less.
None of mine like water that has been standing for long and pretty much will drink as soon as I change it.
Milk is not considered a liquid and will not help in keeping your dog hydrated.
You could try a raised water bowl so that she doesn't have to bend to drink. As for tolieting, she won't put together that drinking = peeing so her not drinking will have nothing to do with that.
Ask your vet to show you how to give subcutaneous liquids or ask them to do it for you. Sometimes when animals are dehydrated they won't drink - odd I know, but I've seen it many times.
Hope you can get her back and ready for surgery so that you can address the pain of her hip.

 

[Shelby's mom]

I didn't know they don't drink when dehydrated. That would explain why Shelby seems to be drinking more since we have been adding water to her food.

 

[Chris]

Layla seems to tank up twice a day, morning and evening. Bitsy is a big time slurper -- any time! Annie Laurie is an after meal sipper. They all have their preferences.

 

[Sheltiemama]

Max doesn't drink. At all. So he gets a "soup" of canned food with a lot of water. Close to 1/2c. 2 x a day. Maybe 2 x a month I see him take a small drink out of the water bowl.

 

[Caro]

I've gone for giving her a drink at certain times - after our walks and at lunch. She's having the dog milk and broth, just a small amount.

The last couple of days she's had a drink herself when we've come back from our walk - so maybe it's about getting her into a 'habit' of drinking. Now I need to get her into a toilet routine, it certainly helps that the weather is warming up and her hip isn't bothering her as much when she toilets. Altho she had an accident last night - too busy guarding her bone from Deska to pee when I took her out.

 

[Tabitha]

Sometimes when animals are dehydrated they won't drink - odd I know, but I've seen it many times.

I'm embarrassed to say that it's not just with animals, people (as in ME) do it to. I've never been a big drinker, to say the least. On an average day I drink about a cup of water. My mouth is always wet, because of this my brain is telling my body that I'm not thirsty. Before anyone starts lecturing me (though I probably deserve it) I have been trying to drink more than 2 leaders a day, since then I'm almost always thirsty and my mouth is constantly dry. I guess that's a good thing. People kept telling me my body was gonna shut down and I was gonna end up in the emergency room at best, I'm glad I finally listened.

I think the more you give your dogs, the more they'll WANT to drink (like me)

 

[celloyogi]

I moisten Olive's dry food with water, enough so that it is floating. I use warm water and let it sit until kibble has soaked up as much as possible. She gets a lot of fluid that way, and since I've started, now she won't even eat her kibble unless it's moistened and warm. Spoiled.

Olive drinks a lot right after a lot of barking, after playing fetch outside or walking or some other physical activity, and usually first thing in the morning. I can also get her to drink more by washing her bowl out and filling it while she's watching, making a big "ooooo... fresh and cool, yum yum" show of it. The bowl was clean and full before but somehow the fuss makes it exciting.

She has a kiddie pool outside that stored on its side, catches water in the rim and becomes the apparently most delicious nectar on the planet. She will do just about anything to get to the nastiness. I clean it out but if your dog has something like that, a thing that really is bad but you can sneakily make good for your purposes, might be worth a shot.