# Ideas on how to get my dog to drink water?



## silentxnight (Mar 23, 2009)

Hi, so i have a 6 week old pomchi and im having trouble getting him to drink water. Right now his diet consists of canned food and goat milk. Ive been trying to ween him off the goat milk because thats all he drinks, and the vet said to try to get him to drink more water. Unfortunately, whenever i try to give him some water, he never drinks any of it. I've tried mixing the water with the canned food, but he just ignores it altogether. Anyone have any ideas?


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## Trainer (Feb 18, 2009)

He may not need any water. Canned food is 70% to 80% water plus the goat mllk you are feeding is probably more than meeting his needs. I would stop the goat milk. If he doesn't drink any water for a few day or even a week, its no big deal.


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## silentxnight (Mar 23, 2009)

Trainer said:


> He may not need any water. Canned food is 70% to 80% water plus the goat mllk you are feeding is probably more than meeting his needs. I would stop the goat milk. If he doesn't drink any water for a few day or even a week, its no big deal.


i see..but the thing is, even before we switched to canned food, he would never drink any water. And yea, the main reason i want him to drink water is to get him off the goat milk. i know he isnt getting enough from just the canned food itself because when i give him goat milk, he loves it and keeps drinking till its gone.


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## Renoman (Mar 20, 2007)

Trainer said:


> He may not need any water. Canned food is 70% to 80% water plus the goat mllk you are feeding is probably more than meeting his needs. I would stop the goat milk. If he doesn't drink any water for a few day or even a week, its no big deal.



I wouldn't be comfortable with a puppy not drinking for a week. A 6 week old puppy can dehydrate very quickly. So not drinking any water for a few days or even a week can be dangerous. 

To the OP have you tried gradually diluting the goat milk with water until it's basically flavored water? The slow transition might make it easier on the puppy.


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## Trainer (Feb 18, 2009)

If the puppy was eating kibble you would be right. From what the OP said, he is on a 100% canned dog food diet which is 80% water. He would get more water from that diet than a normal kibble fed dog would if he drank a normal amount of water.

I like the idea of gradually diluting the goats mile with water until it's pure water.


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

The puppy is not drinking the goats milk until it is gone because he is thirsty. He is drinking it until it is gone because he LIKES it.

Try the diluting it or just stop offering it altogether so the only alternative is water. There is an issue sometimes with diluting milk.. the bacteria in the gut can get upset as you dilute milk when the dog is used to in undiluted. It has to do with curd formation in the stomach and other things.. but I would try just stopping the milk, leaving water out all the time and keeping an eye on the pup for dehydration.


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## silentxnight (Mar 23, 2009)

alright, i will have try both ways. What ive been noticing lately is that he gets the gurgles after he drinks his milk. Not really sure what that means if anything. Im going to try to dilute the milk with water first, and if that doesnt work, i will stop giving him milk entirely. Thanks for the replies everyone.


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## Renoman (Mar 20, 2007)

Just an afterthought but, there are things you could add to the water to make it more enticing such as a little sugar or flavored pedialyte. You don't need to add alot, just enough so there's a hint of flavor in the water. Once the puppy is drinking, you could gradually remove the flavoring from the water.


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

If you cannot watch all the time to see if the puppy is drinking water, measure the water out into his bowl and then put it back in whatever you measure it in to see how much is gone when you make your daily or twice daily water change.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

http://www.mycockerspaniel.com/h2o.htm
Here is a little tool to help calculate how much water your pup needs. I would try to get more water down as well.

My old dog who never drank enough water ever gets her home cooked food watered down into soup 3 times daily.Work on getting pup to drink from a bowl too but adding water to the food is an option.

I attempied to clicker train her to drink water and dropped her reward in the water to get her to drink. Fun game but she never got very far. Dehydrated lung floats nicely.


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## KBLover (Sep 9, 2008)

I don't think Wally gets anywhere NEAR 23 oz of water suggested by the formula...

He eats dry food too - so it's not like he's getting it from the food. 

I don't know if he's refusing because he seems he'll drink when he's thirsty.


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