Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 2:33 pm Post subject: Help!!! How do I get fluids into a reluctant drinker
Yes I'm afraid this is about Miss Picky Paws again (aka Fidgit).
I swear she is not a normal lab
She has always been a VERY picky eater and can lose weight at the drop of a hat.
But we now have a new problem. She won't drink water.
I put fresh water down daily but the only time she actually drinks it is if she's mad with thirst from running around in the heat otherwise she will go for days (litterally) without having a drink.
She gets VERY dehydrated, so much so that her skull bones are very prominent and jut out all over the place. The only way I can garuntee that she does drink something is if I put a bowl of milk down for her. I'm currently doing this every other day at the moment just so I know she's got some fluid in her.
I've tried diluting the milk with water but as soon as I do that one sniff and she walks away. I've also tried the do nothing route, all that happens here is, well, nothing. She doesn't drink at all.
As a result some days it's a real struggle to get her to do a wee mainly because there's nothing in there to come out and on others her wee is so strong !!
She's gone off dry food at the moment and the only thing she will eat is tinned wet food. I do sneakily add a little water to this again just to make sure she has some fluid in her but if I overdo it slightly she'll just walk away from it and won't come back to the bowl.
I'm getting really concerned here but don't want to take her to the vets unless I really have to as the last time we went he threatened all sorts of tests if she didn't improve.
At times like these I wish she was more like Crumpet who eats and drinks anything and everything (typical lab).
Any advice you can give here will be most appreciated.
Could it be your water ? does it have a lot of chlorine in it ?
Try a cheepo bottled water and see if she drinks that ?
you can get a vitemin suppliment for dogs water ,that also flavours the water and makes it more pallatable bt i'm not sure encouraging excessive drining is a good idea in an otherwise healthy lab
We always put a splash of water in Rosie's kibble, more in summer, but it sounds as though Fidgit is too fussy to go for that - I have also used stock/marmite to flavour her food when she's had plain boiled rice or yucky tablets to make it more palatable, perhaps you could dissolve some in water to make 'gravy'. I guess you'd want to be careful how much you use as both are salty, but it has worked for us, and I believe some salt is good when you're dehydrated?
You can get doggy diaralyte (sachets of powder that you add to water to make rehydration fluids). We had some when Rosie got gastro-nasties earlier this year, although if Fidgit is as picky as you say she may not go for this - I've no idea what it tastes like - it might even be the same as the human version!
Another thought - does she eat fruit? That's mostly water, and may help a bit.
Have you tried leaving a bowl outside to collect rain water. Lula is always drinking the rain water from the drain cover, she seems to like it better than tap water. Sorry thats all I can think of.
Hope you get it sorted soon. xxx
I have a similar problem with my bitch when she is out at a competition and when it is hot she gets very dehydrated. I tried the milk thing too and like you found that when I watered it down she stopped drinking.
Then when wandering round Pets at Home I found something called POW WOW The Original Isotonic Dog Drink (Chicken Flavour). Rapid rehydration for active dogs and she loves it. So I take a bottle of this along to competitions and training days. I have to admit though that she drinks her water ok at home.
Our two chocolates don't drink a lot of water as they get it through their food (raw fed), they also prefer to drink water out of a mucky puddle than from their water dish. Rhuna, our old rescue girl drinks a lot more, but her diet is mainly dry complete food, so it follows. Is fidget dehydrated at all (pinch skin test)? If not, I wouldn't worry too much if she's getting food with a lot of water content. If you're really worried she's not getting enough water just make up some of your own dog food using something tasty like liver, add to boiling water and let it simmer for about 15 mins making sure there's lots of watery gravy and serve it up as soon as its cooled.
Oh and another idea - cheaper version of the water fountain - does she like to drink from a watering can/hosepipe? Rosie follows me around the house when I'm watering plants, and is a great help (not!) when we're watering outside!
No.of Labs: 1
Lab Names: Marley (Coco Caramel Boy) DOB 11.04.07 Indi (Newf) DOB 28.6.07 Always remembering Charlie who died 12.06.07 run free my baby x
I am sorry, but you said your dog does not drink for days - at the risk of being unpopular and contrary to other advice, I would suggest you DO take your dog to the vets.
Missing a drink for a day or so is fine, but days on end is not, especially as you can see the dehydration in her.
The constant dehydration (from what you have said) *could* cause other problems in the future, and there has to be a reason why she will miss drinking for days.
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