Almost
every enzyme action and chemical interaction in your pets' body is
dependent upon water. Animals' brains are so sensitive to water loss
that they can begin showing signs of malfunction with as little as 1% to
10% loss of body water. It's essential that our dogs and cats water
source and quality is as good as it can possibly be.
1. Where do you find the best quality water? It's very important to prevent your dog from drinking contaminated water. All water that is unfiltered/untreated can have contaminants in it such as parasites, bacteria, and even viruses. Often these contaminants can have more of an effect on your dogs or cats stomach and system than on your own. So it's suggested that you use caution with any body of water, whether from an outside source of indoors (e.g. tap water). Note how the above states that clean water doesn't necessarily mean water from a tap. Tap water can be some of the most toxic water available to your dog.
Research has shown that tap water contains chlorine, often fluoride, and toxic substance that overtime, can have very evil effects on yours and your dogs' body. And don't just assume that by switching to bottled water you've solved the problem of quality, some bottled water is no better than tap water. In Phillip Days' article "Water Under The Bridge - The Damning Case Against Fluoridation." he presents some scary findings that all of us should be aware of.
2. What are the dangers of Fluoride and other toxins in tap water? It's well known that Government agencies and certain health professionals have pushed the importance of Fluoride for humans before. Its main purpose was to prevent tooth decay. But this waste product had been shown to CAUSE tooth decay and mottling (I myself have suffered such, according to the dentists I have seen) and it can be quite harmful to dogs.
The same type of research has been performed on dogs, with the same results, Fluoride in the water supply of dogs caused mottling of the tooth enamel, amongst a host of other problems as far reaching as cancer. It's also well known that, much like Lead, Fluoride accumulates in the body. As a result, damage is caused over long periods of time.
3. Have you found out that Fluoride is more toxic than lead? And only very slightly less poisonous than arsenic!! Under the USA's ratings for toxicity, Fluoride is higher than Lead, Environmental Protection Agency, will allow lead in drinking water to be 0.015mg/litre, as opposed to Fluoride being allowed to be 4.0mg/litre. For those of you who aren't mathematicians, that's over three hundred and fifty TIMES more than the acceptable level of lead. Knowing this,
I would be surprised if you didn't a) go and buy yourself a good water filter today, and b) start quenching everyone's thirst in the household with good clean water from it, including you dogs! Household tap water can also be very high in nitrates, iron, or magnesium, which can pose long term health risks for people and their pets. So, now you have clean good quality drinking water for your dog.
4. How do you keep clean water clean? Most natural water sources that provide the best quality drinking water are bodies of water that move. Moving water is more often than not, much fresher than still water. Through movement it's constantly being aerated by the surface breaking and bringing fresh oxygen into the water. You can keep your dogs water fresh like this by trying one of two things.
You can either go all out, and purchase a pet water fountain (these usually have built in filters, and the fountain continually recycles and cleans the water, keeping it as clean as possible) or, you can be more traditional and fill your dogs stainless steel water bowls regularly. Notice I said "bowls". You really do need multiple sources of fresh drinking water around. It's too easy for pets to forget about drinking if it's not in their face.
However, beautiful clean water will not help if it is placed in a dirty bowl. Like any container with organic material in it, a water bowl will collect and harbour bacteria. Your dogs' bowls need to be washed often, preferably daily and should be a stainless steel bowl as they are the easiest to keep clean. Buy a good quality bowl and after it starts to look worn and scratched, replace it. One other consideration in quality is temperature of the water.
Much like us, your dog will prefer water that fits the seasons. If it's hot, make sure the water is cooler. If it is winter, room temperature would be received better. So we have superior, clean, quality, filtered water.
5. How much water Should we be providing? I'm not going to go into to this too much as it would seem that just common sense would get you through. It goes with out saying that water should be available to your dog at all times. (Handy Tip: When toilet training dogs (LINK!), just make sure that after a big drink you take your pooch outside to go to the toilet).
As a general rule though, the most common average seems to be around 80ml per kilogram of body weight per day. Lifting the skin on an animal's back and watching how quickly it snaps back is a rough indicator of dehydration.
If your dog is hydrated, its skin will return quickly to its normal state, as opposed to a dehydrated dog whose skin would creep back over a few seconds. If your pet is prone to dehydration, or you have a particularly active or old dog, (LINK!) it may be worth while having some pet electrolytes handy to aid in quick replacement of fluids and minerals.
We do however, need to be aware of excessive consumption (Polydipsia), which can signal of developing Diabetes Mellitus. We also need to be aware of consumption that is too low. This is mainly a concern for those who feed dry food to their pets as it dehydrates them, unless appropriate moisture is added.
Conclusion:
6. How do you get the best quality water for your dog or cat? Water is the most important nutrient for a healthy life. You can provide your dog with the best quality drinking water it seems, if you serve filtered water, at an appropriate temperature for the time of year, and in clean ceramic or stainless steel bowls. And, remember, much like us, animals can forget to drink, out of sight out of mind. Make sure you give them the choice to drink when they want by providing multiple sources and locations where clean, good water can be found. Happy hydrating!
1. Where do you find the best quality water? It's very important to prevent your dog from drinking contaminated water. All water that is unfiltered/untreated can have contaminants in it such as parasites, bacteria, and even viruses. Often these contaminants can have more of an effect on your dogs or cats stomach and system than on your own. So it's suggested that you use caution with any body of water, whether from an outside source of indoors (e.g. tap water). Note how the above states that clean water doesn't necessarily mean water from a tap. Tap water can be some of the most toxic water available to your dog.
Research has shown that tap water contains chlorine, often fluoride, and toxic substance that overtime, can have very evil effects on yours and your dogs' body. And don't just assume that by switching to bottled water you've solved the problem of quality, some bottled water is no better than tap water. In Phillip Days' article "Water Under The Bridge - The Damning Case Against Fluoridation." he presents some scary findings that all of us should be aware of.
2. What are the dangers of Fluoride and other toxins in tap water? It's well known that Government agencies and certain health professionals have pushed the importance of Fluoride for humans before. Its main purpose was to prevent tooth decay. But this waste product had been shown to CAUSE tooth decay and mottling (I myself have suffered such, according to the dentists I have seen) and it can be quite harmful to dogs.
The same type of research has been performed on dogs, with the same results, Fluoride in the water supply of dogs caused mottling of the tooth enamel, amongst a host of other problems as far reaching as cancer. It's also well known that, much like Lead, Fluoride accumulates in the body. As a result, damage is caused over long periods of time.
3. Have you found out that Fluoride is more toxic than lead? And only very slightly less poisonous than arsenic!! Under the USA's ratings for toxicity, Fluoride is higher than Lead, Environmental Protection Agency, will allow lead in drinking water to be 0.015mg/litre, as opposed to Fluoride being allowed to be 4.0mg/litre. For those of you who aren't mathematicians, that's over three hundred and fifty TIMES more than the acceptable level of lead. Knowing this,
I would be surprised if you didn't a) go and buy yourself a good water filter today, and b) start quenching everyone's thirst in the household with good clean water from it, including you dogs! Household tap water can also be very high in nitrates, iron, or magnesium, which can pose long term health risks for people and their pets. So, now you have clean good quality drinking water for your dog.
4. How do you keep clean water clean? Most natural water sources that provide the best quality drinking water are bodies of water that move. Moving water is more often than not, much fresher than still water. Through movement it's constantly being aerated by the surface breaking and bringing fresh oxygen into the water. You can keep your dogs water fresh like this by trying one of two things.
You can either go all out, and purchase a pet water fountain (these usually have built in filters, and the fountain continually recycles and cleans the water, keeping it as clean as possible) or, you can be more traditional and fill your dogs stainless steel water bowls regularly. Notice I said "bowls". You really do need multiple sources of fresh drinking water around. It's too easy for pets to forget about drinking if it's not in their face.
However, beautiful clean water will not help if it is placed in a dirty bowl. Like any container with organic material in it, a water bowl will collect and harbour bacteria. Your dogs' bowls need to be washed often, preferably daily and should be a stainless steel bowl as they are the easiest to keep clean. Buy a good quality bowl and after it starts to look worn and scratched, replace it. One other consideration in quality is temperature of the water.
Much like us, your dog will prefer water that fits the seasons. If it's hot, make sure the water is cooler. If it is winter, room temperature would be received better. So we have superior, clean, quality, filtered water.
5. How much water Should we be providing? I'm not going to go into to this too much as it would seem that just common sense would get you through. It goes with out saying that water should be available to your dog at all times. (Handy Tip: When toilet training dogs (LINK!), just make sure that after a big drink you take your pooch outside to go to the toilet).
As a general rule though, the most common average seems to be around 80ml per kilogram of body weight per day. Lifting the skin on an animal's back and watching how quickly it snaps back is a rough indicator of dehydration.
If your dog is hydrated, its skin will return quickly to its normal state, as opposed to a dehydrated dog whose skin would creep back over a few seconds. If your pet is prone to dehydration, or you have a particularly active or old dog, (LINK!) it may be worth while having some pet electrolytes handy to aid in quick replacement of fluids and minerals.
We do however, need to be aware of excessive consumption (Polydipsia), which can signal of developing Diabetes Mellitus. We also need to be aware of consumption that is too low. This is mainly a concern for those who feed dry food to their pets as it dehydrates them, unless appropriate moisture is added.
Conclusion:
6. How do you get the best quality water for your dog or cat? Water is the most important nutrient for a healthy life. You can provide your dog with the best quality drinking water it seems, if you serve filtered water, at an appropriate temperature for the time of year, and in clean ceramic or stainless steel bowls. And, remember, much like us, animals can forget to drink, out of sight out of mind. Make sure you give them the choice to drink when they want by providing multiple sources and locations where clean, good water can be found. Happy hydrating!
The team at Your Pet Essentials run an online business whose
mission is to provide holistic, quality information and products for
cats and dogs. For more information and articles, see
[http://www.yourpetessentials.com]
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http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Murray_Ballenden
With this post, I can now get my pet the best pet water fountain. I will also share this to all my friends who have pets. Thanks for sharing!
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