Drinking Water

[Baby Dragon]

Is it normal for my dog to only want to drink his water at night?

He has water available throughout the day, but won't touch it, even after running around.

I feed him at night, and about 30mins after his dinner he goes and has a very big drink, and he will have another drink during the night, and then won't really be interested in his water until the next night. I thought that was a bit odd, but is it normal?

[lucknow]

It is normal for your dog to drink when he is thirsty. If he has the urge to drink and all else seems normal then I would wonder if he was drinking and I didn't know it, or if he was laying about and not actually needing to drink during the day. I would not worry about it.

If you are feeding dry food the need to drink is in the hours after dinner time I would imagine thirst is different when dogs are on a BARF diet?

[aranyoz]

Do you feed a dry style dog food as this definately make him drink nore water after his meal?

[chuckie500]

i have two dogs and they don't run around much but i am surprised with how little they drink. one definitely drinks more that the other. i think it is normal to drink during the day.

[petmezz]

if your conserned about how much water you dog is getting or isn't gettting you could try bated water. basicly keep a chicken frame after a rost or if you feed raw place aside some bones. boil the bones for 30 min strain the liquid into a bowl and toss the bones (never feed cooked bones) allow the broth to cool to room temp and then place desired amount into bowl. your dog will drink it up (hopfuly) and this will ade in his hydration. just something to try

[Tonymc]

Blossom,whereabouts is the water situated? Tony

[Baby Dragon]

Thanks for the replies, sorry for being so late to respond, I have been away.

I feed him a combination of raw and kibble, and the water is situated inside the house. He is indoors for most of the day, so not out in the heat very much

.

I guess I just thought being the size that he is, that he would drink more than he does. I estimate he drinks about 600ml - 800ml in 24 hours. I thought he should drink more than that, but I'm not sure? He only drinks at night after his dinner, and then around midnight, but never during the day. He is a Labrador size, so I was just wondering if that was normal.

Thanks for the idea about flavouring the water, I might try it if I need to get him to drink more.

How much do your dogs drink?

[Poodle wrangler]

I have no idea how much my dogs drink.

They like to drink from puddles when we go for a walk and the other day I caught the standard poodle drinking from the toilet despite fresh water both inside and outside .

If Blossom seems well, I wouldn't worry at all.

[lucknow]

I believe the average water requirements are 40-60mls/kg/day but this is obviously a generalisation dependant on many factors including activity, health status, type of food, etc. Your dog drinks when he feels thirsty and his needs appear constant. I would be more concerned if there were a noticeable increase rather than a dog that appears to drink a small amount. Maybe he's a water saver?

[westiemum]

Hi Blossom,

Yes I sometimes think my guys seem to drink very little - and have got a bit concerned during our record heat wave recently - so i started giving them bowls of water with a little stock in it - just enough to change the colour - and they wolfed it down - without concerns about adding too much extra salt to their diet. Set my mind at ease that they were well enough hydrated and gave them a 'treat' at the same time which they loved - particularly during really hot days.

A cheap and easy solution - hope it helps.

Cheers,

Westiemum

[OMD²]

Oscar always seems to drink water at night...

Or after a walk/run etc.

He's sick atm and I have to feed him chicken and rice, so I have been adding water to his meal and he doesn't even know