# How Much Water?



## Amberbark (Oct 5, 2011)

Morning :wavey:,

Our Amber drinks A LOT of water. Someone told me that they should only drink their weight in ounces of water a day (i.e., 28 lbs.=28 oz). 

How much water does your puppy/dog drink and do you ration it? Thanks in advance.


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## bowdense (Feb 22, 2011)

I had always understood that I should give unlimited fresh water to my pups, too. However, when Remington was 13 weeks, he was diagnosed with Renal Medullary Washout. His urine looked like water. We had to (and still have to) limit his water intake. His kidneys are working fine now but he would drink way too much if we let him:no:.


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## Goldens R Great (Aug 19, 2010)

I was concerned Rindy was drinking too much water so the vet told me to let her drink as much as she wanted for 48 hours and to count how many cups she drank. I monitored her water intake this past weekend and she drank 13 cups of water each day. Rindy weighs 83 pounds. (She was diagnosed with hypothyroidism this summer and has lost 13 pounds since we started her on Soloxine and still needs to lose more.) I have also heard the 1 ounce per pound ratio so to me Rindy is drinking too much water, but my vet told me yesterday her water consumption was normal for her weight... 

I was rationing it a little because of daily puddles in the house, but now I'm back to letting her drink what she wants and taking her out more.

I'm going to continue to monitor her drinking in comparison to her weight and will revisit the issue if necessary.


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## MyAnniegirl (Aug 17, 2011)

We don't ration Annies water, and she tends to drink about 4 cups a day, and weighs 26.5 lbs. I have noticed that when she is in a growth spurt, her eating and drinking habits change.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

We never ration the dogs and cat's water (they all drink out of the same bowl). As long as they are drinking regularly (drinking when they wake up, when they come in after potty, after playing/training, after eating, after exercise, etc), I just see myself as the everlasting bowl refiller and take care of that.


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## aerolor (May 27, 2011)

I have never rationed water, never even removed it at night when puppies. As long as a dog is healthy I think they will drink as much or as little as they need. I just make sure the water bowl is kept filled with fresh water and is accessible 24 hours.


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## KaMu (May 17, 2010)

Hi! We don't ration water here either. Someone is always refilling their bowls. We have a large bowl upstairs and downstairs as well. When Roo was smaller I did pick up his water at about 7 pm, if I remembered. Not now at 5 months.... Granted they will need to pee more often.... but that's all a part of their house-training. They can drink when ever they want to


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Don't ration water unless your pup is diagnosed with a specific health condition that requires it. Excessive water drinking is a _symptom_ of some problems but almost never the cause.


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## Willow52 (Aug 14, 2009)

aerolor said:


> I have never rationed water, never even removed it at night when puppies. As long as a dog is healthy I think they will drink as much or as little as they need. I just make sure the water bowl is kept filled with fresh water and is accessible 24 hours.


Same here.


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

A normal dog should drink an one ounce per pound per day of water. Pathologic water consumption is 2 1/2 times that. I have been known to pick the water up on my puppies as sometimes they get the zoomies, tank up, zoom around some more, tank up and then urinate all over the place... and you can get the medullary wash out as Bowdense experienced. Sometimes if a dog is over supplemented with thyroid medication, they will drink excessively.


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

Actually I had a beagle who was a psychogenic water drinker... she did not have a governer on her water consumption. It is not always true that a dog will drink as much or as little as it needs.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Sally's Mom said:


> A normal dog should drink an one ounce per pound per day of water. Pathologic water consumption is 2 1/2 times that. I have been known to pick the water up on my puppies as sometimes they get the zoomies, tank up, zoom around some more, tank up and then urinate all over the place... and you can get the medullary wash out as Bowdense experienced. Sometimes if a dog is over supplemented with thyroid medication, they will drink excessively.


Good point. I realize that I do pick up water briefly once in a while, just to interrupt the dog when it seems like he's drinking excitedly. We have also had water drinking contests among the dogs for some reason, so we interrupt that too.


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## Amberbark (Oct 5, 2011)

Good advice, all. Sometimes I notice that Amber will drink, play, drink, play. I do interrupt this activity, since I think that she is just excited to drink out of the other dog's water bowls. Thank you very much for the information.


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## aerolor (May 27, 2011)

Sally's Mom said:


> Actually I had a beagle who was a psychogenic water drinker... she did not have a governer on her water consumption. It is not always true that a dog will drink as much or as little as it needs.


In my post I was referring to normal dogs/puppies. Psychogenic water drinking would not be considered a "normal" behaviour in a dog though would it? I think psychogenic conditions have something to do with the frontal lobes of the brain and are abnormal psychological conditions.


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