[mashlee08]

So I have moved with my dog, all is going well for her mostly. Except where she has developed this new issue where she won't drink enough water. She will wait till she absolutely dying of thirst, sit there panting and hot with a bowl right next to her. And then when I coax her into having a drink she will drink for like two minutes!! And I'm not exaggerating. We have moved her twice already from one place where the water is great to the other where it was chlorinated and she had no problems then and this water is better then the last water. I have 3 bowls in the house and a huge one outside that's plastic. She is scared of the metal bowls though so she will only drink from the plastic ones. She sits there licking her lips and gets a super dry mouth and it makes me crazy!! There is a water bowl right next to her!!! She will drink water out of my hands fine but I can't do that all the time. She is a little nuerotic(spelling) and I can live with that but this issue is starting to worry me. I have seen a vet this week, and nothing showed up in her routine bloods 6 months ago. So the vet and I are sure it's behavioural and not Physical health.

Any one have any suggestions pleeeeeease?!

 

[Crantastic]

Could you try putting a bit of (unsalted) chicken broth into the water? Maybe if it tastes really good, she'll get over this hangup about starting to drink. Just make sure there's no onion powder (or anything else harmful) in the broth.

 

[trainingjunkie]

Soak her kibble. That way she will get quite a bit of water when she eats.

 

[mashlee08]

I have tried the kibble soak :-( she is fussy and only eats kibble if it's mixed with raw. I used to have to soak it so it was easier on her tummy and it would sit there. I could do water broth mix and soak in that? And I will try the broth water too!

 

[georgiapeach]

Have you tried removing her collar? Potsie freaks out when his tags clink again the water bowl. Maddie doesn't drink enough either, so I put a little water in her raw food. Then she'll drink it while she's eating. Go figure.

 

[oldhounddog]

For now I would go back to plastic bowls and see if she eats and drinks normally. If yes , then try to figure out what is scaring her with the metal bowls. It could be some type of reflection of light or motion.

oldhounddog

 

[hanksimon]

Coming in outta left field...

1. Licking his lips could a calming signal that he is anxious.
2. He may have problems with the container... if it makes a difference dogs can see colors: Yellow and Blue; but red/green colorblindness

 

[kafkabeetle]

You could try soaking the food then microwaving it. When I feed my dog kibble she gets 1/3 cup food and 1/3 cup water. It really takes a weight off of my mind worrying about whether or not she's getting enough, because she's drinking half of what she needs right in front of me.

 

[mashlee08]

She only drinks out of the plastic or ceramic bowls anyhow so now the cat has a giant metal water bowl XD she is extremely anxious as well and I do know half the time she is doing it cos she is freaking out, the metal bowl scares the crap outta her it definitely is the reflection or something but she takes off whenever I get the metal bowl out for her now. And the other bowls are black. Her wee has started to stain the grass out our new house now too! I should have mentioned she has anxiety problems sorry :-S I am trying melatonin when it comes in the post otherwise I have a prescription for endep or clomicalm that I can go get her, which is last resort.
I put some broth in she started sniffing around the water like I know it's in here somewhere, and she took a couple licks.
She is on a tastier food now (TOTW) so she might be more willing to eat soaked food! I'll let everyone know how it goes.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

 

[CptJack]

It took Jack more than a week to voluntarily drink water after he came to us. Frustrating and a little scary. Remember that she's getting a lot of moisture from raw, and keep pointing her at her water. When she's less anxious, she'll drink better, I think.

 

[mashlee08]

It has been nearly two months and she still won't drink freely :-( I am pretty sure it will go away it's jut worrying at the moment. She has been through so much in the last two months so I just want her to be as happy as an anxious dog can be. It is a different country. Silly question but could the water taste different to her? Australias water system is pretty different to NZ I think. It's probably just a manifestation of her anxiety, albeit a worrying one.
Oh I mixed some water in with her raw and she isn't licking her lips tonight Yuss.

 

[Shell]

Will she drink bottled spring water? That could give you an idea if the problem is a difference in water taste. Does one location use fluoride in the tap water?

You can also boil the tap water, let it cool, pour it back and forth between two pitchers to aerate it and see what she thinks of that. Boiling it for 5 minutes will get rid of chlorine.

If you're on well water, the different minerals can change the taste a LOT. For example, in areas with limestone aquifers, the well water has a really distinctive smell/taste

Will she drink from a hose (moving water)? If yes, she might like the water bubblers that people use a lot for cats.

 

[xxxxdogdragoness]

Have you tried removing her collar? Potsie freaks out when his tags clink again the water bowl. Maddie doesn't drink enough either, so I put a little water in her raw food. Then she'll drink it while she's eating. Go figure.

Izze hated metal bowls for this exact reason her collar banged on one as a puppy & that was it for her as far as metal bowls lol.

 

[Amaryllis]

Kabota won't drink my tap water. He comes from Kentucky, and likely drank well water, whereas my water is city processed and heavily chlorinated. So I buy him bottled spring water. He also won't drink from a metal bowl or a dark bowl of any material, so I had to give him my white stoneware bowls. Oh, and the slightest bit of anything in the water, dust, his own fur, etc., and the water has to be changed, because he won't drink it.

Yes, my dog will only drink perfectly clean, filtered spring water from expensive bowls. This is the same animal that will eat any bit of trash he can fit in his mouth.

 

[spotted nikes]

Try putting the bowl on a raised surface. If the dog is getting arthritis, or injured her neck in some way, a raised bowl is more comfortable to drink out of.

 

[mashlee08]

I am gonna try bottle water with a ceramic bowl. My vet and I and fellow friends at my old clinic have ruled out everything else. She is perfectly healthy other then the fact se has anxiety issues. Using a syringe would be more traumatic then beneficial. And she is scared of the hose. She tries to lick it, then when water comes out she freaks, yep that's my dog lol.
So I think it's just down to funny tasting water and the bowls. Hmph... Have to go buy yet Another dog bowl hehe. Fingers crossed for this one! Thanks for your suggestions people!

 

[Hambonez]

what about a recirculating fountain? My dog isn't fussy, he'll drink out of anything, but his favorite is to slurp out of the cats' recirculating fountain!

 

[chubby]

Yeah some pets like the water to be flowing/moving especially cats. You can try those gentle fountains that recirculate water? Or, try a different water bowl height - and maybe try the silicone texture as it's softer than metal and plastic?

 

[Fade]

i suggest bottled water. maybe she smells something in the water she doesn't like? hard to say what goes through their heads but I would try bottled water.