The question “Can adding water to dry dog food cause diarrhea?” The straight answer is no. Adding water to dry dog food has many benefits. If you add water to your dry dog food it will be more beneficial for your dog’s digestion. If you are eating your dog unclean water then it could be the reason for having diarrhea to your dogs.
Unclean water contains some harmful bacteria which usually attract diarrhea hence making your dog weak and finally sick. Additionally, if you drink too much water and let your food settle for too long, it may also lead to a source of bacteria and hence invite diarrhea to your dog too. Therefore, if not keen enough,you can agree with me that adding water to dry dog food may lead to diarrhea.
What Causes Diarrhea In Dogs?
Diarrhea in dogs may be as a result of eating spoiled food or garbage especially when your food stays for a long time without being consumed by your dog. Additionally, some parasites such as hookworms, coccidia, whipworms,roundworms or giardia may cause diarrhea since they may come from one dog to another.
Besides the above causes, some foods such as garlic, onions, eggs or even milk may also lead to diarrhea. Therefore, you need to be careful on what your dog eats or drinks in order to avoid them from being attacked with diarrhea.
Why We Use Water In Dry Dog Food?
Honestly water is not used in the manufacturing process of dry dog food.
The addition of water in dry dog food is crucial especially when your dog has issues with digestion, therefore water softens the food and makes it easier for your dog to digest. Furthermore, if your dog has a loss of appetite which may result from any illness, adding water to dry dog food makes it more appetizing for it to enjoy eating.
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Is adding water to dry dog food a good idea?
It is perfectly fine to add water to dry dog food and more beneficial health-wise for a number of reasons. To begin with, adding water to dry dog food helps in enhancing digestion processes. However, as you do this, ensure to keep in mind that adding too much water may also tamper with your dog’s health hence not a good practice.
Secondly, for urinary and hydration health purposes, the splashes of water helps in keeping the health of your dog well thus minimizing the risks of kidney failure and preventing risks of UTIs. The extra water also is important since it ensures that the level of hydration in the dog is maintained which is a good idea for the safety of your dogs. Therefore, whenever the question “Can adding water to dry dog food cause diarrhea?”should not trouble you anymore.
Pros of adding water in dry dog food
Adding water to dry dog food is more useful in the following ways;
i. Ease digestion
The fundamental reason for adding water to dry dog food is to make digestion easier. Both young and elderly dogs require moistened kibble more so weaning puppies. Those dogs with sensitive stomachs may digest wet food easily, therefore, additional water facilitates intestinal motility.
ii. Helps dogs with oral health complications
Oral health problems are a serious issue which may make chewing of dry food hard. As a result, adding water makes it less painful and easier for consumption.
iii. Helps in weight loss
If you want your dog to lose weight quickly, especially when it’s overweight, consider adding water to its dry food every time. The addition of water raises the volume of food thus enabling your dog to feel more comfortable without any additional calories.
iv. Enhances hydration and urinary health process
Hydration is the addition of water into the body. When you add water to dry dog food, it helps to prevent chronic dehydration thus benefiting the dogs that are prone to any urinary infections, kidney failure, blockages by flushing the urinary system hence making it safe.
Cons of adding water to dry dog food
If you own a dog,it is good to understand that despite the above mentioned advantages,there are also a number of drawbacks as mentioned below when adding water to dry dog food.
i. Difficult in approximating the required proportion
It is true that obtaining the right quantity and proportion when adding water to dry dog food is hectic. The process takes mere approximation which may result in errors in determining the right proportions.
ii. Some dogs may reject the food
Most of the dogs are selective on the type of food that they eat. Therefore, if you realize that your dog does not eat the food, try to reduce the amount of water when adding water to dry dog food and serve it immediately. Serving them immediately creates the ground for perfect breeding thus preventing any sort of bacteria especially if left for a long time.
iii. Leads to inconvenient
Those of us who usually own dogs understand that whatever is good for them also is good for dogs. Therefore, if you find it good adding water to dry dog food is inconvenient, do not do it regularly so as to obtain more benefits. From the expertees view, such inconveniences are actually nominal however not for everybodies perspectives.
How to add water to dry dog food
Below is the step by step guide on how you can accurately add water to dry dog food.
i. First, slowly by slowly add the kibble to the food bowl of your dog to enable quick and easier approximation of the right proportion
ii. Start pouring water on the upper part of the kibble until you are able to see the level of the water. Remember to stop quickly before it covers the kibble.
iii. Put the food by soaking for about five minutes and then start stirring. In case you realize that some kibbles are wet, you can again add some little water to it.
iv. Quickly serve the food within the first fifteen minutes. Serving within 15 minutes helps to prevent over soaking.
Tips for adding water to dry dog food
Having been equipped with the knowledge on the best way of adding water to dry dog food, we can now have a quick check on the tips that will help you to accurately add water to your dry dog food in order to comprehend the topic of whether adding water to dry dog food can cause diarrhea.
i. Make use of filtered water
If you want your dog to benefit out of the food, ensure that you add quality water that is well filtered. If well and appropriately filtered, no need of necessarily using bottled water.
ii. Usage of warm water
In case you want the food to soften faster, then employ usage of warm water. However, make sure that the boiled water is cooled down to a safe temperature.
iii. Increase the content of water gradually
A situation where you notice that your dog doesn’t drink water in the course of the day, then you can try to increase the content of the water in the dog’s food bowl. However, you should consider switching to wet food if your dog requires more water.
iv. Add kibble in order to wet the dog’s food
Try to fix the dog’s canned food with a kibble to enable perfect finishing when switching onto the wet dog food. Therefore, if you consider kibble more important, then this last tip is very crucial that you should not avoid.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it okay to soak dry dog food in water?
Yes it is absolutely okay especially if you are feeding dry foods such as baked or kibble. Usually, kibble contains about 10% water while meat contains 75-95% water. Therefore, mammals get hydrated by eating moist food in order to make their digestion easier.
How can I make my dry dog food more tasty?
You can make the dog’s dry food more tasty by simply adding low sodium chicken broth on the top of the dog’s food. The extra flavour turns and changes the taste of the dog’s aroma.thus making it appealing and attractive for consumption.
Should I add anything to my dogs dry food?
If you want to improve the health of your dog’s food,then consider adding fresh food toppers onto their food. Fresh toppers are essential especially to the dogs that feed a processed diet such as kibbles.
Can too much water cause loose stool in dogs?
Definitely yes, excessive consumption of water leads to diarrhea. Usually, some dogs that consume lots of water suffer from several diseases that are more intense than diarrhea. Therefore, it is good to be cautious especially when it determines the amount of water that your dog consumes.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, you can agree with me that adding water to dry dog food is necessary for the reasons mentioned in the article. However,if you realize that the dog’s food is harmful and results in diarrhea, then you better find different food. In case of regular and frequent diarrhea, then consider finding different diseases that might be causing the problem.
Therefore, I urge you to re-read my article “Can adding water to dry dog food cause diarrhea” once more for you to understand better on the best way and approach you can use when adding water to the dog’s food.
