**How much water should my dog drink per day?

Admin Posts : 154 Join date : 2014-06-28

How much water your dog needs each day depends on several factors, including her size, diet, age, activity level, and the time of year. As a general rule, healthy dogs need from ½ to 1 ounce of water per pound of body weight each day.

To determine if your dog may be dehydrated or needs more water, lift some skin at the back of his neck and release it. If your dog is well hydrated, the skin will snap right back into place. Another test is to check your dog’s gums. Moist, slick gums indicate a good level of hydration; dry or sticky gums mean your pet’s body needs more water.

If your dog isn’t getting enough water each day, there are ways to encourage him to drink more, and most importantly, his diet needs to be high in moisture content.

If your dog tends to over-drink, which is a much less common problem, it’s important to supervise all her activities around water to insure she doesn’t develop water intoxication.

My dogs have unlimited access to water all day, since I am generally home (retired now). I only feed once a day, in the morning, so much of their drinking is done earlier in the day.

My dogs drink out of the plastic one-gallon ice cream buckets, and the primary one is in the bathroom since that is centrally located. There is also one in the kitchen, but if any bitches come in season, that is where they "live" for a few weeks. so the other dogs do not have access to that water at that time.

I do have one weird male dog who makes it a habit to always follow me into the bathroom, and he always gets a drink of water then. I haven't a clue what he does when I am not home. Rolling Eyes

» ** How much water should my dog drink?