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Comment by Vicky Hay on May 13, 2014 at 7:19pm

O My Goodness OMG OMG! Cassie and I just climbed atop the bed with pup in hand, in our first effort to train the Short Stuff not to fling herself off the side of the ridiculous stratospheric mattress/box springs that were in style when i bought this bed (Cassie says,"Is there something about 'futon' that you humans are unable to understand"?). To keep ourselves entertained, we checked in here and found all these excellent comments!

More to come (when we're sure Pup will not try to launch herself into orbit off the side of the Stratospheric Bed). But offhand:

The Paleolithic deer (elk, moose, mammoth) liver was not swimming in antibiotics, pesticides, herbicides, and plastic by-products. We who are humans must consider what we really are feeding our fellow creatures. And...well, ourselves.

Pet fountain. Ah. Do I sense a moment of Inspiration????  When, as a much more energetic and younger human, I built a sweet fountain in the front patio with a great bowl and an aquarium pump, the Greyhound and the Gershep could not restrain themselves from drinking out of it. I resisted, because of course they were not the only creatures that visited it: a large number of unhousebroken birds did, too.WHAT IF such a fountain existed indoors? Ah. This could be genius More to come.

Yes. Treat in water: interesting idea.

Added about 1/3 to 1/2 cup water to pup's food ration. She apparently didn't recognize this as a trick and ingested it all. Ditto, Jane! More to come.

Chicken broth: All broth casa nostra is low-sodium, because it's a by-product of simmering chicken, beef, or pork in water until gently cooked through. Will work harder at presenting this to pup by way of hydration. You can't even imagine how parched it is here at this time of year: see the post scheduled to go live at Funny at 6 a.m. Mountain Standard Time, 5/14/2014: http://funny-about-money.com/

I sincerely hope the Clavamox will help. Dr. Bracken feared it would upset Pup's stomach...but so far, so good.

Comment by Jennifer Markley on May 13, 2014 at 6:19pm

I too was hesitant to put Seanna and now Macy on the Royal Canin S/O food....but they are so much healthier than they were on the Wellness as far as Urinary Health go.  I figured I had to compromise somewhere...and after all- in the wild dogs eat byproduct crap all the time.  Here on the farm they aren't happy unless they're running off chomping on something that's been decaying in the hot sun for weeks at a time with me chasing after them trying to get it from them unsuccessfully.   Their guts can handle stuff like that.

Comment by Yuki & Ellie on May 13, 2014 at 10:05am

For what it's worth, my cat has a great deal of urinary tract issues.  He was diagnosed with feline lower urinary tract disease last year and one of the many problems he has, the veterinarian informed me, is that he doesn't drink enough water. 

What does this have to do with dogs?  Well, she recommended I buy a pet fountain.  The sound of running water can often encourage a pet to drink more often, supposedly.  The particular fountain that I ended up purchasing doesn't actually make any sound, unfortunately, but I've noticed that both the cat and the dogs drink more when they hear the slight hum of the motor running (meaning I've plugged it back in after the cat's latest attempt to disassemble it...)  They like the bubbling water at the top of the fountain and happily drink from there.

So I guess my point is that it may (or may not) be worth it to invest in a little fountain at some point if other attempts at getting her to drink more end up failing.

Comment by susan on May 13, 2014 at 9:49am

Besides adding water to her meals, I sometimes drop a treat or two in Jeli's water bowl.  She'll drink some until she gets to the treat. 

Comment by Stolimom on May 13, 2014 at 9:01am

Add some low sodium chicken broth to her water bowl. This works for us.

Comment by Jane Christensen on May 12, 2014 at 11:48pm

I have 3 dogs that won't drink enough water...so what I do is add about 1/3-1/2 cup warm water to their food...works great for us:)

Comment by Linda on May 12, 2014 at 11:05pm

My vet has given my guys Clavamox and it has worked well.  And yes, it may take more than one course of an antibiotic if the infection is really entrenched and this appears to be.  See if she likes watermelon...anything to get extra fluid in her.  Hopefully she will now be on the road to recovery but it looks like you will have to be creative in getting more fluids into her to keep it from happening again.  Glad to hear that all else is on target and good with her tho.