So how much should us dogs and cats actually drink per day?
Dogs: How much water to drink? (Dogster)
Dogblog
Cats: How much water to drink? (Catster)
Some key points from the above three sites:
''Are your dogs/cats drinking enough water everyday? Do you know a dog is made up of approximately 70 percent water? This careful balance is maintained by the regular consumption and loss of water through urination, respiration, and evaporation.''
''Size: On the average, a healthy dog drinks about 1/2 to 1 ounce of water per pound of body weight per day.'' (1 ounce = 29.57ml, 1 pound = 453g)
''Normally, a cat will require 2-4 ounces of fresh water in addition to its food.''
This means that a 5kg (11 lbs) dog (like me) should get about 162ml to 325ml of water per day. Or for a 22kg (50 lbs) dog about 700ml to 1500ml per day.
Cotton and me are about the same weight at 4.8kg to 5kg. So that means we should be getting about 162ml to 325ml of water a day each. We get a fixed 250ml of water each per day added into our foods since there's already quite abit of moisture in our raw meats, veg and fruits, and water that we drink on our own from our fountain.
Lauryn is 2.2kg (5lbs) and her recommended intake is 73.9ml to 147ml per day. She gets a fixed 100ml added into her food everyday.
Chewy is 3.2kg (7lbs) and her recommended intake is 59ml to 118ml per day. She gets a fixed 100ml added into her food too. It's best for cats to drink more water because cats are not natural drinkers like us dogs and tend to suffer from kidney issues.
A clear indication of whether your animals are getting enough water would the the color and stench of their pee - Dark yellow, light yellow, clear, very smelly or ok. Pee color that is as clear as water itself is the best. In humans, the color of our pee indicates how hydrated we are - the yellower, the more dehydrated. Likewise for dogs. Most times, we don't drink enough water simply because we're not thirsty. But the fact remains that we NEED to drink because whether you're dog or human, our bodies are mostly made up of water.
Mom believes that water helps in detoxing us and prevents/reduces skin problems seen in most dogs ie rashes, dandruff etc. Water is cleansing and helps remove everyday toxins accumulated in us through simple things like the (polluted) air we breath, weird stuff we gobble down, toxins in our foods (especially factory-farmed meats or non-organic veg) etc.
We get Diamond water which is mild alkaline water. so if you can, feed your animals filtered/alkaline water rather than tap. If you don't have either of those, then at least boil the tap water.
This is how Mom adds water into our organic raw foods: (updated: pls click here for our updated feeding videos/pictures)
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| get all the stuff in first |
This is what we puppies get first (except Chewy) everyday. All plant-based (except for the eggshell powder in the healthy powder mix). Shan't name the ingredients inside because it is simply wayyyy too much.
Next, Mommy will add 125ml of water into the bowl:
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| filled up with 125ml of water |
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| lauryn's portion is about 50ml here. remaining 50ml will be in her meat meal later |
After our greens, we'll get our meats and bones. That would be about an hour later or you can drag it out for a few hours later too. Try not to feed them at fixed timings everyday because once their system adapts to receiving food at a certain fixed time and should you be held-up by events and miss that time-slot, that would activate their brain to release the digestive juices and if there's no food present in their system, there comes the vomiting of bile.
Anyways, so here's our organic raw meats and the remainder 125ml of water added into it. So that makes it a fixed 250ml of water per day for me.
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| my goodies... before they're cut up |
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| and the final step: fill it up with 125ml of water |
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| from Top clockwise: Lauryn's, Chewy's, Velvet's, Cotton's |
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| Chewy shares a bowl with Lauryn. used a different bowl just for picture's sake |
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| Chewy's bowl (once a day meal) with her supplements/superfoods |
So that's how us puppies get our daily fix of water parade with our organic raw foods. People with cats will know that cats aren't drinkers and most have a hard time trying to get them to drink water. It's even more important for those cats on kibbles to drink and WAY MORE than us raw-fed cats because of the nature of their extremely dry, toxic and processed food. So try to get your cats to love drinking water.
This is how Chewy eats:
So remember to get your daily fix of water to cleanse your body! How to measure the amount of water? Very simple, get a measuring bottle/cup like this!
One last thing, remember to NOT let your dogs run, play or roll around too much after a heavy meal with the amount of water (like in the above pictures) because that might cause twisting of the stomach especially for bigger breeds. Always let them have a good rest after meals and no vigorous activities right before or after meals. This goes for any meals in fact... kibbles, home-cooked-food (HCF) or raw.