Drinking

[lescef]

I was just wondering - how much do your cockers drink? 
It is recommended that a 10kg dog should drink between 300 -500mls a day.
As I'm trying to help Maddie's anal gland problem,  I realised that she drinks nearly nothing in the winter, slightly more in hot weather. Bramble, on the other hand, drinks the recommend amount. They are raw fed so know there is alot of water in their food.  Maddie just doesn't seem interested in water but loves to finish the dregs of a cup of tea, so I've started giving her some very, very weak tea which she will drink. 

[Patp]

Jinley is raw fed and only occasionally drinks too. I wouldn't worry they drink when they are thirsty and not being Kibble fed won't need as much

[bizzylizzy]

I agree, Humphrey drinks very little, - but all  the info I read on raw feeding said that its normal. You could try mixing in vegetables or fruit with a higher water content I suppose, like cucumber or courgettes or apple maybe? Or perhaps low fat joghurt - that would provide a bit more liquid without making everything too soggy.

[Jaysmumagain]

I must admit Ollie has always been up and down, sometimes he seems not to touch his water other times it goes empty really quickly, my concern is always in hot weather, just when you want him to up his intake he doesn't.

I must admit to a little doctoring of drinks, very weak watery tea with a speck or two of sugar that of course originates from Mums cup and she has had a couple of sips of does the trick.  I think the problem though is getting Maddie too used to this and she will turn her nose up at water - plus too much milk is not good they say.

I think like others have said some dogs do drink less and like most things when we start to notice too often we think  something more.

[Mudmagnets]

All mine are fed wet food and none drink that much from their water bowl. They will maybe drink more in the summer when we are or have been out, but not excessively.

[MIN]

some days we do not even see Gemma go to the water bowl.  The Staffie prefers to drink from the outside water bowl.  (same water, different tap)

[elaine.e]

My two are raw fed and William drinks a lot less than Louis, always has done. A couple of years ago he had a UTI and I occasionally notice that his pee looks and smells a bit strong, but that may be at least partly due to him being one of those dogs that only has a pee when he needs to, unlike Louis who sprinkles every landmark outside!

As far as I know his kidneys and waterworks are functioning well. He had 2 lots of lump surgery in 2016 (nothing sinister thank goodness) and he had blood tests beforehand, including kidney function, that didn't show up anything unusual.

So I add a little bit of warm water to his breakfast. If his breakfast is Natural Instinct or Nature's Menu mince it looks a bit more like a soup , but he still enjoys it. I've no idea if it makes any real difference to his health, but he's 12 now so I tend to fret over him a bit.

So it might be worth trying that with Maddie?

[lescef]

Thank you for the replies.
I'm not unduly worried about her lack of drinking although she drank very little she was kibble fed as well. She does however, get sore skin around her bits which could be due to strong urine I suppose.
Maybe I'll limit the tea in case she gets too used to it!
She has cooked sweet potato with her Nutriment but I have also started to add a little water - and she doesn't seem to mind it becoming soup like!

[Patp]

You could always make a bone broth?  Cover chicken wings and narrow bones with water and some carrots in the slow cooker and when the Marrow has come out of the bones strain it and give it as a drink.  Good if off food or off colour.

[lescef]

You could always make a bone broth?  Cover chicken wings and narrow bones with water and some carrots in the slow cooker and when the Marrow has come out of the bones strain it and give it as a drink.  Good if off food or off colour.

Yes, I have thought of that too and freezing some in ice cube trays. That's the one they recommend to add to psyllium powder to for the glands? X

[Darwin]

Over the past year we've been worried about Darwin's water intake. He's had so much crate rest and hasn't been mobile. Our concern was if he's not drinking enough will it cause issues with his bowel movements. We've added water to kiddle.played bobbing for treats/gravy bones in his water etc. But are Vet has assured us his water intake isn't a issue, so it's now "you can lead a cocker to water but you can't make it drink"