How much water should the average dog drink?

Kind of curious as to how much water the average dog should be drinking? It seems as though my dog drinks constantly. She is always lapping up water and it just seems like it's too much. She has an extra large water dish and I probably fill it about 5 times a day. There are even times where I don't fill up her bowl, just because I don't want her to have to go to the bathroom so much, and she is looking for water throughout the day. Do you think this is a problem? I feel the average dog should probably have between 2-3 large bowls of water a day. She is this way whether we have gone on a long walk, or were at the dog park, or just relaxed and had a lazy day. I just do not understand.

 

On the average, a healthy dog drinks about 1/2 to 1 ounce of water per pound of body weight per day.If you really think she's drinking too much, then I'd recommend taking her to a vet. It might be a medical problem that is causing her to feel dehydrated even when she's not.

 

Thanks for the stats Jessi.
A symptom of diabetes is drinking large amounts of water. A previous dog of mine started doing this before I knew of her illness. If your dog is a few years old and a bit overweight, it may have it. As Jessi suggests, if you are unsure, take your dog to the vet.

 

That's an interesting observation. Trixie seems to drink around 10-15 ounces per day and she's about 9 pounds. She's an older dog as well.

 

If she's drinking THAT much, I'd have her checked just to be sure. It could just be that she loves a drink, I had a dog that guzzled down water, but he was perfectly fine. We had him checked, and the vet said that some dogs are like people in the sense that they need lots of water. I drink lots of the stuff, always have.

 

Thanks, Jessi, this means that my Homer drinks as much as he should. He drinks more when he has very fresh water, right from the tap. He is a little bit picky when it comes to water. In the evening, he won't drink from a bowl that I filled in the morning.

 

This is interesting information to know. I am aware that my dogs seem to drink more in the summer and extreme temperatures then other times of year. I guess that's stands to reason because like humans dogs need to stay hydrated in the heat. However, I wasn't aware that dogs could get diabetes, I guess I never gave it much thought. But now that I think about it, dogs can get other types of diseases such as Cancer, so why not diabetes. Thank you making me aware of this fact.

 

It could very well be that Trixie is just really thirsty. I think we're going to check her out at the vet just to be sure.

 

Just another question, how long is it after she's consumed the water that she has to go to pee? I don't ever withhold water from my dogs, ever. If they want the water, I give it to them.

 

I've read that you should let them pee after about 15 minutes of drinking water. At least for the Shih Tzu. I'm not sure about bigger dogs, but the rule might apply there too.

 

I was just thinking about making sure that my two dogs get enough water everyday. They are ok right now so I can breathe a sigh of relief. Anyone know of a way to get dogs to drink more water?

 

Chicken broth!

Dogs almost always take care of that themselves and will drink plenty without you paying attention. If for some reason they aren't, though, then add a little bit of chicken broth to their water and they'll want even more of it.

 

dashboard, does it seem like there is any behavior associated with the excess water drinking? Is your dog on any medication that might make it drink more water? I ask these questions because there might be factors that aren't obvious.

Misha was an obsessive water drinker when she was a pup. If the water bowl was full, she would devour it. After a very bad day where she consumed too much water, got bloated and miserable for about 4-6 hours, I learned not to fill it to the top. I would refill it only at certain times of the day. Eventually, she learned that the water wasn't going away and she stopped being fixated on it. Now I can fill it normally, but it was a battle for awhile there. Being such a small dog, her bladder is only so big.

I have learned that she drinks water when she is excited. If someone comes over to visit, she gets so hyped up. She will hit the water bowl multiple times while they visit. Then, I have a dog who goes outside 5 times in an hour. If I am aware that people are visiting, I only fill the bowl part way to avoid this problem.