# Something I Never Noticed



## tem_sat (Jun 20, 2010)

My doxie had a cyst removed on Wednesday and sent out for pathology. He normally gets PMR on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday and Acana + boneless on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. (Why...you may ask? Cuz I still have about 20lbs of it left and I already gave away 10lbs of Fromm...) Anyway, since his surgery on Wednesday, he has not had anything but PMR. He lives in a condo, so I take him out to pee (for lack of a better term) 4 times per day on his normal feeding schedule. Since I have been feeding him nothing but PMR, he seems to only need to go 2 or 3 times per day. He is drinking water normally. The only medication he is on is an antibiotic. I am betting that has something to do with the salt content in Acana. 

Interesting...

I am curious to know if any of you noticed a change in your dogs.


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## BrownieM (Aug 30, 2010)

Hmm...my dogs only go potty a few times a day too, but I'm not sure if it is any different than on kibble.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

well, my boy can produce pee on command, but he's just marking....he does the full monty only a few times a day now that he's on raw...and my girl pees less than she used to.....

i do watch their water intake because they don't drink as much, since their food has so much water content, but so does mine and i drink....in this case, what's good for the human is good for the dog LOL


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## SpooOwner (Oct 1, 2010)

Interesting. May be something for other people transitioning their dogs to keep an eye on.


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## BrownieM (Aug 30, 2010)

Speaking of which, I really don't want to hijack this thread, but I think this is related :smile:, I have noticed that Henry's pee is VERY concentrated. Like very, very dark. Is this okay or should I be somehow making him drink more water? Someone (with a kibble fed dog) pointed out how concentrated his pee was. I don't remember what it was like on kibble, but I do vaguely remember it always being concentrated.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

BrownieM said:


> Speaking of which, I really don't want to hijack this thread, but I think this is related :smile:, I have noticed that Henry's pee is VERY concentrated. Like very, very dark. Is this okay or should I be somehow making him drink more water? Someone (with a kibble fed dog) pointed out how concentrated his pee was. I don't remember what it was like on kibble, but I do vaguely remember it always being concentrated.


If you figure out how, I would love to know. Rebel's pee was always almost dark orange, and in my opinion he drinks almost nothing, but I have no clue how to force him to drink.

I actually haven't checked lately, i never thought the diet would make him less dehydrated but I'll check today, maybe it has.

He isn't peeing any less, though - it seems like the normal number of times per day.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

that is what got me to notice, brownie...that i needed to pay attention to their drinking....their pee wasn't quite as dark as what you're describing..but it was concentrated..

as an aside, what they eat can influence colour too...like dehydrated liver treats if you give them....there are other foods but i can't think of them now...

this is where your nose comes into play.....pee has a certain odour too....if your dog's pee has an odour that is sour or foul smelling, then it's usually time to get a sample to your vet.

however, just like asparagus can make human pee stink something awful....food can also affect the smell...

what i do is when i feed the dogs i add water to their bowls...let the food sit ( like a drumstick) for a few minutes...and then they usually drink the water...and then i know they are drinking at least two meals a day...

i also make chicken or beef broth.....and add that to their food...they lap that up like crazy...and it takes such little time..no seasonings....not much time...i usually use a piece of chicken or a beef rib or pork rib....just enough to flavour...i make enough for a week or so.....


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## malluver1005 (Nov 15, 2009)

xellil said:


> but I have no clue how to force him to drink.


Will he drink if you put the bowl up to his face? Or use a 60cc syringe.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

umm well you can coerce them into drinking more... we got one of these on sale the other day, GF has always wanted one for the pup, he's already drinking nearly twice as much as he was. 
Drinkwell platinum.









We didn't believe it would work, but now he's peeing about 8-10 times a day :suspicious:
before it was usually 2-5.

As far as water intake from arcana to raw i would say there is a definable difference in what they will take it in, the raw meat holds a lot of water. for instance when we switched from kibble to raw he drank 1/2 the amount.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I know when my dogs ate kibble my house was a "floating barge" the dogs drank so much water and half of it came out of their mouth as they left the bowl. Once they started raw their water intake was cut in half as raw has so much water itself. My boy dog Leo though still will pee as much (I don't know how he does it) so he can go pee on top of all the girl pee spots after they pee. Lol


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

whiteleo said:


> I know when my dogs ate kibble my house was a "floating barge" the dogs drank so much water and half of it came out of their mouth as they left the bowl. Once they started raw their water intake was cut in half as raw has so much water itself. My boy dog Leo though still will pee as much (I don't know how he does it) so he can go pee on top of all the girl pee spots after they pee. Lol


he's a boy. LOL


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

malluver1005 said:


> Will he drink if you put the bowl up to his face? Or use a 60cc syringe.


Haven't tried the syringe but maybe i should - he won't drink if i put a bowl to his face if we are outside, like at the dog park or a rest stop when we are travelling, but he normally will if I hold a bowl for him while he is inside the car.

Our dog park doesn't have a water faucet, so I haul water up there for everyone else's dogs to drink because neither one of mine do.

I may try the sryinge, though, i never thought of that. i just assumed if he needed water, he would drink it.


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## G_slave01 (Dec 24, 2010)

xellil said:


> If you figure out how, I would love to know. Rebel's pee was always almost dark orange, and in my opinion he drinks almost nothing, but I have no clue how to force him to drink.


i save the thawed out meat juice and if i don't think she is drinking enough i will add it to some water. although not the whole bowl (oops couldn't leave the house for a couple of hours after that one time). this was suggested in someone's previous post & really does the trick here. added bonus - she thinks she's is getting some real super treat.


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

xellil said:


> Haven't tried the syringe but maybe i should - he won't drink if i put a bowl to his face if we are outside, like at the dog park or a rest stop when we are travelling, but he normally will if I hold a bowl for him while he is inside the car.
> 
> Our dog park doesn't have a water faucet, so I haul water up there for everyone else's dogs to drink because neither one of mine do.
> 
> I may try the sryinge, though, i never thought of that. i just assumed if he needed water, he would drink it.


We had this same problem with Tobi with water, what kind of Bowl are you using? He WILL NOT drink out of a stainless steel bowl, we bought a new dog bowl for like 99c at petsmart and he drinks out of it now anywhere.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Tobi said:


> We had this same problem with Tobi with water, what kind of Bowl are you using? He WILL NOT drink out of a stainless steel bowl, we bought a new dog bowl for like 99c at petsmart and he drinks out of it now anywhere.


Hmmm. Maybe i will get something like you bought - his bowl isn't stainless - his normal water bowl is you know, that ceramic stuff. But maybe it is the bowl he doesn't like, and not the water.

I never really thought of the tools, i just thought he didn't drink enough becasue that's the way he is. guess I need to try something else, and see. I like the idea of putting water in with the chicken, too, or putting meat juice in the water.


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## eternalstudent (Jul 22, 2010)

With a healthy animal they will always drink when they need to, or want to.

Dark pee on its own is generally nothing to worry about. It just shows that the body is holding on to the water. If it turns frothy or pink or has crystals then worry.

When a dog eats dry food, they will need water, by drinking water they will have a tendency to over hydrate, as the water goes though the digestive system faster (think what fills you up for longer, a stew or biscuits and water. I have looked into it a lot for humans for dieting purposes :-( ).

On PMR 70 % ish of what they eat is water, this is metered out to them over the course of the digestion of the food day so normally they won't gulp as much water. My pup only drinks water in the evening generally nothing else during the day. 

Personally I think it is a really good thing 

Obviously if you have a puppers that is prone to kidney or urinary stones then you need to try to get them to consume more water, but otherwise sit back and enjoy


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

yes, I never really worried about it until I got a foster dog about the same size and that dog drank probably half a gallon more water a day than my dog. he was constantly at the water bowl.

And his pee was alot lighter. So it's been bugging me that maybe there's something not right with the way my dog drinks.


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

Tobi said:


> We had this same problem with Tobi with water, what kind of Bowl are you using? He WILL NOT drink out of a stainless steel bowl, we bought a new dog bowl for like 99c at petsmart and he drinks out of it now anywhere.


My boys are really picky about what bowls they will drink out of also. They will NOT drink out of the big bowl once Chelsy has stuck her face in there and messed it up. I have to wash out the bowl and fill it with clean water and then they both go to town on it. I know she has bad teeth and breath but do they really have to insult her that way !! They also don't like plastic bowls, only stainless steel. And none of them will drink out of the short, flat stainless bowl on the ground, only the big stainless bowl in the raised tray. 

These are the same dogs that will drink water outside that has been standing in a wheelbarrow full of pollen and twigs for 2 weeks!!


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## Montana (Apr 10, 2011)

I've noticed more concentrated pee as well. I chalk it up to the raw feeding, cause as already mentioned, most of what they're eating in raw is water! Their bodies absorb it along with the nutrition, rather than slurping up too much because kibble is so lacking in moisture, which will in turn result in peeing more often, and more pee!

Montana used to take a long drink after eating kibble, and multiple times throughout the day, but since being on raw, water from the bowl intake has been cut down to over 3/4 of what she used to drink. Now she only drinks after a long hike or walk, or likes to show off when I get home from work in the wee hours of the morning by drinking water, looking at me, more drinking, ect. She's a little strange.

Extreme excessive drinking and peeing should be tested through, if your dog is on kibble or raw. It could be the result of a bladder infection (which is what I had to currently deal with in our newly adopted SPCA kitty - try getting a urine sample from a cat!), or something more concerning.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

i think water is the elixir of life....cleans out the inside of the body like a shower...

and i think no matter if a dog is on pmr or kibble, water is good. water is great.

in this, humans and dogs share a common bond....i believe.

which is why i put water in their food bowls and let the food sit for a minute or two and i make broth for them as a treat....

it's not like i'm forcing gallons of water down them, but a little extra is a good thing, i believe....same with humans...i don't know who came up with that 64 oz a day crap....but sipping water throughout the day is a good thing for us...for our kidneys and other organs...and skin and i believe the same principle applies to dogs....


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

Our dogs drink & pee considerably less on raw than they did on kibble. I always keep a water bowl outside for when we're outside playing in the yard or whatever and one bowl in the basement. I don't worry at all about them getting enough to drink...they always drink plenty when we're outside playing and I might hear them go downstairs to get a drink a couple times a day. But on kibble, with just 2 dogs they'd empty a water bowl 2-3 times a day.


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