how much water for my doggy a day?

longwalks1

Our 10 month old cavalier king charles spaniel !!!!! will drink down bowls full of water if left out for her, then go on to pee on the floor within minutes :mad: Its as if she cant hold it in, but doesnt know when to stop..... She's a tiny little thing still, been told wont grow much bigger she was the runt of the litter

How much roughly should she be drinking a day, without peeing on the floor? She's house trained and into a routine with her toilet trips outside, but if we leave water out she binge drinks more than mrsbrtishboy on a night out!

Any suggestions? She's such a cute little thing

Tropez

You should take the dog to the vets. Insatiable thirsts in dogs, even in hot weather, is not normal and could be a symptom of an underlying problem such as diabetes.

elliesmemory1

water should be avalaible at all times, if the dog is drinking excessively then you should really see your vet about tests. It may be that if you are taking the water away the dog is bingeing on it when it gets the chance. I would try leaving the water down all the time for a few days and see if it improves if not see the vet

Sagz_2

I agree with Tropez that a trip to the Vet is in order to check things out.

How much a dog should drink depends on what it's fed on, it's size and health... so I'm not sure there is a 'correct' amount.

viktory

Another vote for a visit to the vets here. My two have two bowls of water available to them, one in the garden and one in the kitchen. Even with some serious playing in and out of the garden, I only have to refill both two or three times in an entire day.

pulliptears

And another vote for the vets.

If you can keep a check of exactly how much she's drinking it will be very helpful to your vet. Also, if you can get a wee sample as well it will help. She could have something as simple as a water infection or as complex as diabetes, or, she could just be thirsty in the hot weather. Either way she does need looking at.

Its thought on average a healthy dog drinks about 1/2 to 1 ounce of water per pound of body weight per day.

lostinrates

Another vet vote.

Its worth all pet owners having a rough idea of what sort of quanity there pets drink a day. Harder when you have multiples, but you can still know how much the collective group drink on average. otherwise water should be avilable.

*Robin*

Another vote for taking her to the vet.

One of my four family dogs drinks about twice as much as the other three. We got her checked out (she was most indignant when we followed her round with a tray to get a sample!). The vet found nothing wrong with Meg, and concluded it was just that she has a much thicker coat than the others and was drinking more to cool down. We got a kid's paddling pool and covered it with a pond-liner, so now Meg can have a dip in warm weather which has helped reduce her water consumption.

But it sounds like your little girl is drinking way too much, so as others have said, it's worth checking whether there's an underlying health problem.

pulliptears

I've had to get no end of samples from one of my boys over the last few weeks. I recommend the chinese takeaway type cartons (rinsed well obviously, I can see a curious vet wondering why the dog is weeing soy sauce) and a medicine syringe to get the sample in a bottle.

renegade

When my old dog was drinking excessively I took him to the vet, after urine and other tests it turned out he had Chronic liver problems, he told me it would not live beyond a couple of months, this was in Feb 2010.
Today, he is still here, still drinking and eating like there is no tomorrow, suffering from Arthritis in his legs ( 13 yrs old) still loves his walks and plays with my 16 months old dog, in fact I think getting another dog has kept him going.

tankgirl1

The fluid rate a dog needs is roughly 50mls per kg, per 24hrs - this is the maintanence rate used for iv fluid therapy - obviously it will increase with excercise, hot weather etc, and if fed wet food they will get a fair bit of water from that, but its a good calculation to use as a benchmark.