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Bailey's Hardly Drinking


Guest dray1965

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Guest dray1965

Hi, I wrote in last week about Bailey's diarrhea. He's gone through Flagyl and de-wormer. Is starting to be formed now (which is good). I have noticed the last couple of days he's not drinking much water. Consequently, he doesn't hardly poop now - he did go last night around 10pm, but hasn't gone since. He is still on Chicken and rice, is his lack of drinking water related to being on Chicken and rice for two weeks? How do I get him to drink more water? I definitely don't want him to dehydrate.

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Chicken and rice has more water in it than kibble :) so he might not need to drink a lot. To encourage him, you can offer him a small bowl (say, a cup) of water with a tablespoon of honey in it, or half water and half apple juice. The easiest way to judge dehydration is to stick your finger in his mouth and feel his gums -- nice and slippery, not dehydrated; kinda tacky, might be a little dehydrated.

 

How is his weight looking? You'd have to feed 2-3 times the volume of chicken and rice to equal the calories in kibble (if you fed 3-4 cups kibble per day, you'd have to feed at least 6-8 cups cooked chicken and rice to equal the number of calories). Plus the chicken/rice are much lower in residue. So could be he just doesn't need to poop as much right now.

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I was just over on a diabetic dog board recommended on here and there was a very similar question in regard to lack of drinking (but not poop). The answers there seemed to say that if you are feeding home cooked with rice it contains a lot of water so drinking may be minimal... :dunno

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Guest Samantha

I found that with Maddison, we struggled for 8 weeks to get her to eat kibble, so when I was home cooking everything she did drink a lot less and pooping less. I used to offer half water and half apple juice in small amounts.

 

Good luck x

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Guest Stripeyfan

Kelly has been on chicken and rice permanently since March because his IBD meant he couldn't tolerate ANY dog food, and we couldn't take the heartache of experimenting with different foods just for him to get sick again. Before he started prednisone, which makes him drink a lot more, even now, he didn't drink at-all - we were beginning to think he'd forgotten what his water bowl was for! Our vet told us this was due to the water content in the chicken and rice, so as long as his gums are wet and his urine a normal colour, I wouldn't worry. You could always add a little bit of warm water to the food if you're really concerned but we found when we did this with Kelly (because like you with Bailey, we thought he was going to dehydrate) he had accidents, so was obviously getting too much.

 

Re amounts - we split Kelly's meals into 4 per day to make it easier for his system to cope and because he has to have meds/supplements at various points throughout the day, which go down better with food! Currently, he gets 2 mugs of rice and 1 mug of chicken for breakfast, a 'snack' of 1/2 mug rice and 1/4 mug chicken mid-morning, 1 mug rice and 1/2 mug chicken for lunch, and for dinner, the same as breakfast. It's a bit of a faff :lol BUT he lost 20 pounds when he was really sick back in March, which we've now got back on him. He was on more food when he needed to gain, but we've been able to reduce it now he only needs to maintain his weight. If Bailey's going to be on the chicken and rice for a while you might consider a vitamin and mineral supplement. Kelly has a powdered one, and also gets probiotics and slippery elm.

 

As for the pooping - sometimes Kelly will go 3 times a day, sometimes just once (he hasn't been today yet). But as long as what's coming out looks ok - firm, no mucus - and he seems ok, again, we don't worry. Like Batmom says, I think it's the chx/rice diet.

 

Sending lots of good thoughts, and hope Bailey continues to improve.

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Guest dray1965

After talking to the vet yesterday, they recommended Pepcid for his upset tummy (although he did vomit up a plastic face from one of my LOTR action figures this morning - that he apparently swallowed Friday night - I found the figure, saw it was chewed up, but didn't realize it didn't have its face! Anyway, he may not need Pepcid so much now. Anyway, vet also wants Bailey on Flagyl for a week and to stay on the chicken and rice for another week as well. Today I was so happy, he finally took a serious drink of water. He is still acting normal, playful and has a good appetite, so I guess I can't get too worried. His poop is still quite soft, I'm really beginning to wonder if it will ever go back to normal. I'll keep everyone posted on his progress, we'll see how this week goes.

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Guest ChasesMum

the little turkey! I would imagine that was a major cause for upset tummy!

 

which LOTR figure was it? I imagine Frodo would taste better than an orc. :lol

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Guest dray1965

the little turkey! I would imagine that was a major cause for upset tummy!

 

which LOTR figure was it? I imagine Frodo would taste better than an orc. :lol

 

He ate Gollum's face! A friend of mine that is a major LOTR fan said that means he's one of the good guys! His tummy's been upset at least since this whole issue started with him. Sunday was the only time he's vomited (Gollum just didn't agree with him). He is a turkey!

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My grey doesn't seem to drink as much as the rest,,, I add water to all food, even home cooked, kibble, and raw

 

Yep. My boy is not a big drinker, so he always gets water in his food, even (and especially) when he's on bland for tummy trouble.


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