[SOLVED ] Q. My puppy drinks a lot of water is that normal?

Experienced and professional animal trainer provide their insights in answering this question :

A. Some dogs will drink more than others. If it is normal for your puppy and it has always done this then it’s not a problem, if it is a change in behavior and there are no other reason why such as weather or change in diet then you may want to mention it when you next see your vet. Feeding a dry diet is good but can make them drink more, but this isn’t a problem.

How to Identify Common Pet Problems ?

Our sources include academic articles, blog posts, and personal essays from experienced pet care professionals :

Symptoms of over-hydration (water intoxication) include staggering/loss of coordination, lethargy, nausea, bloating, vomiting, dilated pupils, glazed eyes, light gum color, and excessive salivation. In severe cases, there can also be difficulty breathing, collapse, loss of consciousness, seizures, coma, and death.

Just like humans, some dogs naturally do this while others over-drink or under-drink. Drinking too much water can lead to toxicity and electrolyte imbalances; drinking too little water can lead to dehydration, organ failure, and even death. Find out whether your dog is drinking enough water.

Older puppies that have already been weaned generally need between one half ounce and one ounce of water per pound of body weight per day. For example, if your pup weighs 20 pounds, he`ll need somewhere between 10 and 20 ounces of water each day. On especially active days, he may need even more water.

While it may be hard to believe, drinking too much water can be fatal to your dog. Ingesting too much water while playing in a pool or lawn sprinkler or retrieving toys from a river causes electrolyte levels to drop (hypoatremia) which thins blood plasma and leads to swelling of the brain and other internal organs.

The amount of water a puppy should drink per day is dependent on their size. The general rule is that dogs drink 20 to 40 ml of water per pound of body weight per day. This comes out to about 1 to 5 cups of water for a 20-pound dog.

The best thing to do if you suspect your dog drank too much water is to head to the vet as quickly as possible.

Increased activity—Exercise causes water loss, leading to thirst. The more a dog drinks, the more they may urinate. Heat—Dogs will drink more when the weather is warmer, sometimes leading to increased urination. Age—Puppies and senior dogs will often urinate more frequently or larger amounts.

For a very young and small breed of puppy, it wouldn`t be out of the ordinary to see them pee after 10-minutes, depending on their activity and how much water they`ve consumed. This becomes even more true when your puppy is peeing every 30-minutes, which can be well within the norm for young puppies.

Puppies are still growing, so they eat and drink a lot. Plus, your puppy`s probably constantly running around and playing, and all the exercise can make him thirsty.

Your dog might be drinking lots of water because they`re hot and thirsty, because they find it fun, because they have a health condition, or alternatively just because we all need to drink a certain amount of water to survive!

No Food or Water Before Bed

If they go to sleep on a full stomach and bladder, it won`t be long before they`re whining to go out. Don`t feed your puppy in the three hours before bedtime, and do your best to withhold water for the last hour or so. This should elongate the time he sleeps through the night.

Unless your puppy is unwell or suffering from a medical condition, you should avoid leaving water out for them at night.

Reasons for dogs to start urinating more frequently include urinary tract infections, diabetes, kidney or liver disease, or incontinence. It would be best to have your dog seen by a veterinarian as soon as possible, and they may want to run some lab work to see what is going on.

Every woman goes on her own schedule, but generally, peeing 6-8 times in 24 hours is considered normal for someone who is healthy, and isn`t pregnant. If you`re going more often than that, you may be experiencing frequent urination. Frequent urination can happen on its own and isn`t always a sign of a health problem.

Most veterinarians, dog trainers, and behaviorists agree that puppies need to go out “very soon” once they eat a meal or drink water. Generally speaking, the recommended time frame varies from 5 to 15 minutes but sometimes trends upwards to 30 plus minutes.

The AKC suggests that puppies can wait for the same number of hours as their age in months up to about 9 months of age. This means that a 1-month-old puppy will need to pee every hour, while a 5-month-old puppy will need to relieve himself every 5 hours.

Depending on their age, most puppies poop between four and five times per day, typically shortly after eating. There is a significant difference in bowel movements between dog breeds, and their bowel habits will change as your dog ages.

Take your puppy outside frequently—at least every two hours—and immediately after they wake up, during and after playing, and after eating or drinking. Pick a bathroom spot outside, and always take your puppy (on a leash) to that spot.

Your veterinarian can do simple tests to check for diabetes, including testing for excessive glucose (sugar) in the blood and urine. Blood tests can also show other indications of diabetes, such as high liver enzymes and electrolyte imbalances.

Puppies are typically more susceptible to dehydration as they have a lower body mass than adult dogs, meaning they can lose water much faster. Keeping your dog hydrated is vital to their health and happiness. It is especially important to keep your dog hydrated during the warmer months.

A Visit to Your Veterinarian

Your veterinarian will first test your dog for the presence of glucose and ketones in the urine. If indicated, the next step is to measure your dog`s blood glucose concentration. The diagnosis only becomes definite when glucose is found both in the urine and at a high level in the blood.

The early signs of diabetes in dogs include:

Frequent urination (polyuria) Drinking more water than usual. Excessive appetite (polyphagia) Sudden unexplained weight loss.

Relevant Questions and Answers :

the most relevant questions and answers related to your specific issue

Q. My dog drinks a lot of water, should I worry?

ANSWER : A. Firstly, you should quantify if your dog is actually drinking an excessive amount of water. In a 24 hour period, a dog should drink about 1 fluid ounce (or 30mL) per pound of body weight. Therefore, the recommended amount of water intake (in fluid ounces) equals your dog’s weight (in pounds). For example, if your dog weighs 8 pounds, he/she should drink about a cup of water in a 1 hour period. This will be slightly increased if your dog gets a lot of physical activity or lives outdoors.

You can measure your dog’s water intake the following way: in the morning, measure a specific amount, a little bit more than you think he/she will drink. 24 hours later, measure the remaining amount. If the amount of water your dog drank is significantly greater than it should be, then you should take your dog to a veterinarian.

Causes for mildly increased water consumption include: food changes, increased ambient and body temperature, increased activity, urinary tract infection, and general illness.

Common causes for greatly increased water consumption include: diabetes, urinary tract infection, kidney disease, steroid use, and other systemic diseases. With large increases in water consumption, you will also usually see increased urination. Please take note of urinary patterns to discuss with your vet. Greatly increased drinking and urination is ALWAYS a reason to see a vet.

Read Full Q/A … : Why is my dog drinking more water than usual?

Q. How do I get my dog to stop chewing on things? I kennel her when I leave for a few hours, but I can’t go to the mailbox without her eating something.

ANSWER : A. If she’s young, then this is just normal puppy behavior. Don’t worry about it. The thing about puppies is, they explore using their mouths. If your puppy grabs a coat hanger, or a slipper, you should roll up a newspaper, and smack yourself on the head with it for leaving those things out.. your puppy is going to explore things, that’s normal! It is 100% up to YOU to keep those things away from your puppy when your puppy is unsupervised… even for just a moment.

Remember to never scold your puppy for grabbing these things. They are just curious little cuties, and they don’t chew things up to bother us.. Dogs do not have intentional thought, so they aren’t ever doing anything ON PURPOSE to us.. The most important thing you can do when your puppy is chewing something you don’t want her to be chewing is TRADE her the inappropriate item with a toy of hers, so she understands “no honey, that isn’t what puppies chew on… THIS is what puppies chew on!” and then begin playing with her using her toy to show her that TOYS ARE FUN.. Way more fun than a boring ol’ coat hanger.

Another helpful thing you can do is have two bags of toys. In each bag is many different kinds of toys. Lots of chew toys, lots of soft squeaky toys, lots of rope-type toys, a bunch of balls.. All kinds of things! For one week you have bag#1’s toys out for your puppy to play with.. At the end of the one week, you collect those toys, and you bring out bag#2! The toys will be more interesting/feel like new to your puppy, which will in-turn, make her chew less inappropriate things. Her toys are too fun to care about that dumb Wii-mote that you left laying around.

Hope this helps!

Read Full Q/A … : Stop Dog Chewing – Put A Stop To Your Dog's Or Puppy's …

Q. My puppy is urinating a lot. And the lady I gave one of the puppies to said she thinks her puppy has diabetes could my puppy have it to

ANSWER : A. It is not likely that either one of these puppies has diabetes. It is very uncommon for a puppy that young to have diabetes. If your puppy is straining to urinate or is urinating very small amounts frequently and cannot seem to wait for very long between urination, he may have a urinary tract infection. It is quite possible that your puppy is completely normal. I would suggest an exam with your veterinarian and discuss the behavior with them. They may suggest a urinalysis. Your puppy should be going to the vet at 3 week intervals for vaccinations at this age, so you can discuss it when he has his next set of vaccines. The other person with the other puppy should also be taking hers to a vet for proper immunizations and she should also discuss her concerns with her vet.

Read Full Q/A … : When my dog goes pee it is dark and thick. – Questions …

Q. My puppy drinks a lot of water is that normal?

ANSWER : A. Some dogs will drink more than others. If it is normal for your puppy and it has always done this then it’s not a problem, if it is a change in behavior and there are no other reason why such as weather or change in diet then you may want to mention it when you next see your vet. Feeding a dry diet is good but can make them drink more, but this isn’t a problem.

Read Full Q/A … : Excessive Drinking in Puppies

Q. My 13 week old Yorkie mix seems to drink non stop. He will get up drink some, go pee, then drink some more. Is it normal for a puppy to drink so much?

ANSWER : A. No ,excessive drinking is not normal. You should take him to your vet, ideally take a fresh urine sample with you for analysis. There is a number of diseases which start with excessive thirst which should be ruled out in your puppy.

Read Full Q/A … : Yorkshire Terrier FAQs – need more information about …

Q. What solid food should I start 4 week old Pit Bull puppies on?

ANSWER : A. A puppy food designed for large breed puppies can help with rapidly growing bones and joints and can be given in a wet form easily to puppies learning to eat solids. You can also provide a dry kibble for them to try and should moisten it with water or some formula to make it easier for the puppies to eat and digest. As the puppies grow and their teeth come in, they will begin to eat and explore more of the solid food on their own.

Mom should also be on a Puppy formula while nursing her puppies as it will provide extra nutrients to both her and babies while they are in a very rapid stage of growth!

Read Full Q/A … : When to Start Feeding Puppies Solid Food? – Pets

Q. What about water? Isn’t that important too?

ANSWER : A. Water is an important part of a puppy’s diet, but it should not be made available at all times of the day. Having water available all the time will encourage the puppy to drink more than it needs, making house-training more of a challenge. Give the puppy water at scheduled times throughout the day, with outings soon after for the puppy to relieve him or herself.

Read Full Q/A … : Q & A: What is deionized water?

Q. My dog just puked on the tile and layer around. He then proceeded to get up and drink 4 bowls of water. Why did he drink so much water?

ANSWER : A. He was feeling thirsty because he has lost lots of fluids with the vomit and his body was telling him to increase the water intake. It’s normally a good idea to start offering small amounts of water little and often, otherways if the stomach is still upset, too much water can cause the vomiting to occurr again.

Read Full Q/A … : Vetinfo