# Dry kibble diet = Dog in constant state of dehydration?



## Sloth (Jul 29, 2008)

This is what someone told me when I was at PetSmart the other day. She seemed pretty knowledgeable about all things dog-related, but I had never heard this particular tidbit before. 

I bought some Organix canned food for Belly, but the PetSmart is a 2-hour drive, and there's no place around here that sells the Organix brand.

Every other brand I've looked at contains Carageenen and other questionable chemicals.

But, is the canned food really necessary? Anyone else hear of an all-kibble diet causing slight dehydration in dogs?


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## PatchworkRobot (Aug 24, 2010)

Many dogs live a long, healthy life on a good quality dry kibble and nothing more. I've heard that cats NEED moisture but I've never heard the same for dogs.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

If you are concerned that your dog isn't drinking enough water to go along with the dry food, you can always warm ~1/2 cup of water in the microwave and pour over a good quality kibble to make a "soup" (just enough to wet all the kibble, not like a bowl of water with food floating in it) or you can made some sodium-free chicken stock and add a little of that to his water bowl to encourage drinking.

I think most dogs will drink what water they need so long as they always have clean and fresh water available.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

There's probably some truth to it, although it's a problem which is MUCH more prevalent in cats because they originate from desert areas and in the wild would get all the moisture they need from their prey. The same isn't exactly true for dogs, but yes, canned food will pretty much eliminate the problem if it does exist. Just sort of imagine if you were to eat only dry cereal without milk. You'd obviously need to drink more water (and would probably feel more thirsty) than if your diet consisted of like soup or something. Whether or not a given dog will drink enough water on their own is hard to say.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Sassy didn't drink enough water and was slightly dehydrated most of the time. Not all dogs have good thirst drives, same as cats. When she was over 13 years old drinking was hard work and when she went to the water bowl it was agony listening to the slow slurps. Max seems to be a social drinker and drinks much less now that he is the only dog in the house! I add water to his bowl of raw stuff and he really enjoys that after he finishes dinner.

Just adding water to the meal works fine though, if kibble is only 10% water and fresh food is more like 60% water then just add the same weight of water as kibble and done. Adding the same volume measure would be a lot more water if you want to do that.

Here is a little calculator to check that your dog is in the ball park on water consumption.
http://www.mycockerspaniel.com/h2o.htm


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## Sloth (Jul 29, 2008)

Wow, Belly has to drink 210 mL of water every day. I just measured that out, that is a LOT of water...

Thanks for the responses!

I think I'm going to mix canned + kibble in the AM, then mix the kibble + water for her PM meal.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Sloth said:


> Wow, Belly has to drink 210 mL of water every day. I just measured that out, that is a LOT of water...


That's less than a cup. . .but I guess for a small dog, that is a lot! I'm used to my dogs, and I swear they drink a gallon a day each .

I was aware that cats need more moisture, but I didn't know that some dogs also don't drink enough. I must just have thirsty dogs.


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## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

Good info!  I have always used water on the dry kibble unless I am using it as a training treat. Good thing I do. Blu Boy is not a big fan of water.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

Ya know, I never worried about this. But after reading this thread I decided to try adding a little bit of warm water to Sydney's food and not only does she like it that way, she actually gobbles it up! The calculator showed she need 2 cups of water per day so I'm just adding 1 cup per meal (which makes it look like cereal in milk, lol) and she just loves it.

Unless I discover a reason why it's not a good idea to add that much I think that's what I'm going to do from now on.


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## TxRider (Apr 22, 2009)

kafkabeetle said:


> Ya know, I never worried about this. But after reading this thread I decided to try adding a little bit of warm water to Sydney's food and not only does she like it that way, she actually gobbles it up! The calculator showed she need 2 cups of water per day so I'm just adding 1 cup per meal (which makes it look like cereal in milk, lol) and she just loves it.
> 
> Unless I discover a reason why it's not a good idea to add that much I think that's what I'm going to do from now on.


Always worked with my dogs, I use hot water and stir it in good for a good gravy and they love it.. I don't buy canned food mainly because your buying so much water instead of actual food. I think they add as much water as they can get away with, higher water content=higher profit.

Here's a typical can of dog food, Blue Buffalo brand...

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein 10.0% min
Crude Fat 9.0% min
Crude Fiber 1.5% max
Moisture 78.0% max

78% moisture..  that's water in plain english..

Feeding Guidelines
Feed approximately 1 can for every 20 lbs. of body weight.

So for my dog Hope that would be 4 12.5 oz cans a day or 50 ounces.
$2.50 per can for a 12 can case, that's $10.00 per day for 78% water food.

Vs the same brand dry kibble...

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein 34.0% min
Crude Fat 15.0% min
Crude Fiber 6.5% max
Moisture 10.0% max
Calcium 1.3% min
Phosphorus 0.9% min
Omega 3 Fatty Acids* 0.3% min
Omega 6 Fatty Acids* 3.0% min

Recommended 3-1/2 cups for a dog the size of Hope.
Maybe $50 for a 30lb bag, $1.60 per lb and she doesn't eat anywhere near $10 a day which would be what 6 lbs a day of it?

I can add my own warm water to the food just fine, and have nice bowl of water next to her food bowl, and the bag of kibble will last at least three weeks for $50, instead of the $210 it would cost to feed her the canned food in the same three weeks.

So yeah, I bet they do want you to buy canned food, all they can talk you into carting out of the store. Probably have a higher markup on it too so the store and dog food maker make more profit.

I don't usually spend $300 a month to feed myself for crying out loud.. Why would I spend $300 a month for canned food when $250 of it would just be buying plain water in the can.. and I can add my own water to great quality kibble for maybe $75 a month.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Raw meat is 75% water. . .just sayin'. When you buy meat do you say "I'm not spending $4 a pound on water!"?


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

Willowy said:


> Raw meat is 75% water. . .just sayin'. When you buy meat do you say "I'm not spending $4 a pound on water!"?


Heheh the other thing that always gives me a chuckle is "real meat is the first ingredient!" for the same reason.


Anywho, this probably isn't a real problem for most pet dogs but there isn't any harm in adding water to their food if they'll eat it that way, so why not?


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## kathylcsw (Jul 4, 2011)

WalterHasManyDogs said:


> Yeah people really do get suckered by this. Orijen does this when they say "80/20", that company will do almost anything to sell food. When it was 70/30 there was actually more protein. Bad company.


Truthdog is back to insult and annoy! Good times, good times. Anyone want to start a pool on how long it takes him to get banned this time?


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## StellaLucyDesi (Jun 19, 2008)

Here is my experience concerning adding canned food or water: I had always fed canned food and dry food mixed with a little water, but I kept hearing about "everyone else" that just fed plain, dry kibble. I thought the canned food was an extra "pain" lol. My dogs would only eat it that way (go figure lol). Anyway, when Orijen first came out I tried it with my dogs. What do you know? They loved it dry! So....I fed just dry Orijen for about 3-4 months. Then all of a sudden, Lucy and Stella developed crystals and utis . I stopped feeding Orijen, BUT it really wasn't because of the food itself, even though this was a way higher protein than they had ever eaten. That was just coincidence, imo. I went back to other foods and started adding canned and water again. I haven't fed just dry since. Bottom line is, they didn't drink enough water imho. This coupled with just dry kibble contributed to their ailments. So, I will always add something to their food. I might even feed Orijen again (or Acana which I like, too) but right now they're eating Fromm grain frees and Fromm and NV canned food and doing fine.


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

Well if it was written in a blog, it must be true. :/


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

sassafras said:


> Well if it was written in a blog, it must be true. :/


A truely well-written blog, by the owner of too naughty Shibas, to boot!


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

And the blog even states that the problems they had were related to lack of proper hydration for the amount of protein in the food.

"...they became extremely *thirsty* on this food which is a sign of stress on the kidneys and liver, which I later learned was from the highly concentrated amounts of *dried protein* in the food." 

In other words, they weren't drinking enough water to process the protein like they should and it taxed their livers and kidneys. To me this indicates that adding water to the food would solve the problems, no? lol


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

WalterHasManyDogs said:


> No you are 100% wrong. A dog should not be put in a position to have to drink large quantities of water to metabolize food. This is a sure sign the dog is under stress.
> 
> Do you know what "cognitive dissonance" is? Well that is what is going on with Orijen.


What counts as a large quantity of water? Just more than a dog was drinking before? What if they weren't drinking enough before? Is increased intake still bad, or is it just a needed adjustment? 

Remember, raw meat has protein levels similar to Orijen, but dogs don't need more water when they eat it because there is a bunch of water already in the food. Same goes for canned food. If you're feeding a food which is pretty similar to canned in its protein content and meat/carb ratio but has all but 10% of the water wicked away, it stands to reason that they should drink more and that that increased intake is a good thing and that you might even want to supplement their diets with more by wetting their kibble. That doesn't make the kibble automatically bad. If all you're eating is beef jerky of course you have to drink more water than if you were eating fresh fruit. Doesn't make either food bad for a person to eat so long as they remember to drink some freaking water.


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## Miss Bugs (Jul 4, 2011)

I dont think dogs are in a constant state of dehydration eating dry as long as they drink more water to fill the need, however I do not beleive its healthy to feed straight dry, and my one dog that does not eat any raw due to her allergies gets half dry/half wet..so rather then 1 cup of dry food twice/day she gets 1/2 cup dry and 1/2 can wet twice a day.


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## TxRider (Apr 22, 2009)

Willowy said:


> Raw meat is 75% water. . .just sayin'. When you buy meat do you say "I'm not spending $4 a pound on water!"?


If the canned food was 100% meat that would make sense, but it isn't.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/Water_in_Meats/index.asp#a

WATER CONTENT OF MEAT AND POULTRY
Product Name Percentage Water
Raw Cooked
Chicken fryer, whole 66% 60%
White meat chicken, with skin 69% 61%
Dark meat chicken, with skin 66% 59%
Ground beef, 85% lean 64% 60%
Ground beef, 73% lean 56% 55%
Beef, eye of round 73% 65%
Beef, whole brisket 71% 56%

Some is even more as much chicken is injected with an additional 30% water, as well as much shrimp etc. And yes I do not buy meat that has been injected with water.

But I would rather not pay 10x the price to feed my dog by buying 75% water food. I pay my city much less for water that I can easily give my dog.


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