[GSDMammy]

Hello everyone,
Hoping someone has some advice here,as I am quite worried.

I feed my one year old Gsd boy on Eden dry food. I originally tried him on a raw diet for several months as a young pup,as my other dog thrives on it, but he just had constant diarrohea so I reluctantly decided to switch to a high quality dry food, and Eden seemed one of the best.

But he is constantly at his water bowl, just can't seem to drink enough! My dog on raw hardly needs to drink anything, even in hot weather.
This just seems so unnatural, just can't be right for a dog to be so constantly thirsty.
But is this the normal way of things when feeding a dry diet?
I tried adding warm water to the kibble but it doesn't seem to make much difference. It's very concentrated stuff - it doesn't swell up at all when soaked
Should I switch to a wet canned food - how would that affect his dental health?

I so wish he could have adapted to a raw diet , but it just wasn't working.
Could there be something else going on here or is this excessive water intake normal on a dry diet?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you
Alison

 

[JackandMattie]

Wet food and dental health... You already know that's a no brainer failure.

Have you been to the vet?


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[NancyJ]

I soak my kibble but it absorbs the moisture and pretty much dissolves. My dog fed this way hardly drinks water.

Any kibble fed dog has needed considerably more water than a raw fed dog because meat has a lot of water content!

Don't have anymore teeth issues than when I fed dry kibble.

 

[GSDMammy]

Thanks for your replies folks,

He is due for his one year vaccination booster in a couple of weeks (aah, another big dilemma re vaccinations!) was going to discuss it with the vet then.

I just wondered it it was maybe normal for a dry fed dog to be this thirsty.

I agree about dental health and wet food - really not at all keen, even with dry kibble , but if he is unable to digest raw food, I am not sure what the best option is.

Alison

 

[Mary Beth]

I understand your concern and that is good he has his check-up coming so you can discuss this with your vet. I would measure the water and keep track so your vet will know exactly how much he is drinking and also if you notice more frequent urination. I have always feed a high quality dry kibble and my dogs were not always at the water bowl. I would check on the dog food package for the sodium content and compare that to some other brands. Also any treats you are giving. A good way to compare is to go to the online dog food sites like chewy.com as you can see the package label. If it isn't the food, I would suspect diabetes.

 

[Shade]

I started soaking Delgado's kibble as a means to slow down his eating the kibble, it worked wonders. My picky eater Jazzy also now likes the kibble soaked

I have noticed that neither are at the water bowl as much now, before I was filling it usually once a day, now it's barely finished halfway by the end of the day.