Biotic's Gain

As a rough guide, a healthy dog drinks somewhere around 50ml of water per kilogram of body weight a day, so a 20kg spaniel might get through roughly a litre. Treat that as a guide rather than a target. A dog fed wet food takes most of its water in the food itself and may barely touch the bowl, while a dog on dry kibble drinks far more to make up the same total. Heat, a long walk, a salty treat and nursing puppies all push intake up. What matters more than the number is the pattern: a dog that suddenly drinks a great deal more, or noticeably less, than its own normal is worth a vet appointment rather than a wait and see.

Where the rough figure comes from

The 50ml per kilogram figure is an average drawn from a wide range. Healthy dogs sit anywhere between roughly 20ml and 70ml per kilogram depending on diet, activity, weather and the individual animal. A 10kg terrier on wet food might drink 150ml from the bowl and be perfectly well hydrated; a 30kg labrador on kibble in July might get through two litres.

Because the range is so wide, the useful number is not the textbook one but your own dog’s. Fill the bowl with a measured jug for three ordinary days, note what goes back out, and you have a baseline that means something. Multi-dog households will need to separate bowls for a few days to get it, which is a nuisance but the only way to know who is drinking what.

Wet food, dry food and the water you cannot see

Tinned and pouched food is roughly 70 to 80 per cent moisture. Dry kibble is usually around 8 to 10 per cent. That difference is large enough to transform what the water bowl looks like at the end of the day, and it is the single most common reason an owner thinks their dog has stopped drinking.

Switch a dog from wet to dry and bowl intake should climb noticeably within a day or two. If it does not, that is worth watching. The reverse is just as true: move to wet food and the bowl may sit almost untouched while total intake has not changed at all. Our piece on what makes a dog choose wet or dry food goes further into the differences.

Exercise, heat and panting

Dogs barely sweat. They shed heat mainly by panting, which means evaporating water off the tongue, mouth and airways, so a hot or hard-working dog loses fluid through its breathing rather than its skin. A long summer walk can easily double what a dog drinks that day, and a thick-coated or flat-faced dog will be working harder at it than a lean short-coated one.

Carry water on anything longer than a short walk and offer it at intervals rather than waiting for the end. Small, frequent drinks suit a dog better than one enormous gulp after hard exercise, particularly in deep-chested breeds where owners are often advised to let things settle either side of a big meal. Allowing fifteen minutes of calm before food goes down after a run is sensible practice. How much work a dog is doing in the first place is covered in how much exercise a dog actually needs.

Encouraging a dog who ignores the bowl

Some dogs are simply fussy about water, and a few small changes deal with most of it. Keep more than one bowl, in different rooms, and refill them properly each day rather than topping them up. Wide, shallow, stable bowls in ceramic or stainless steel suit most dogs better than a narrow plastic one, which can hold a smell and can knock against a collar tag.

Position matters more than people expect: a bowl next to a noisy appliance, in a thoroughfare, or beside another dog’s bed tends to get used less. Adding a splash of warm water to kibble raises total intake and makes the food smell stronger, which is useful for an older dog with a dulled appetite. Some dogs will take an ice cube as a game, and a few prefer running water, which is where a pet fountain earns its money.

When a change in drinking is worth an appointment

This is the part that matters. A clear, sustained increase in thirst, especially alongside more or larger puddles indoors or a dog asking to go out at night, is one of the most useful early signals an owner can bring to a vet. The same goes for a dog who stops drinking, or who drinks but seems unwell with it.

Book an appointment rather than guessing if you see a noticeable, lasting change in how much your dog drinks or urinates, drinking paired with weight loss, vomiting or diarrhoea, lethargy, a very dry or tacky mouth, loss of appetite for more than a day, or a bitch who is nursing or recently in season and drinking heavily. Bring your measured figures with you; a number is far more use to a vet than “a lot more than usual”. Changes in toileting are worth noting too, and what your dog’s poo tells you covers the other half of that picture. Older dogs in particular change their habits gradually, which is why our older dogs guide suggests keeping an eye on intake as part of the routine.

The pinch-the-skin and check-the-gums tests you will find online are crude at best and easily misread, especially in a thin or elderly dog. They are not a substitute for an examination, and a dog you are worried enough about to test is a dog to ring the surgery about.

Where the 25-in-1 Multivitamin chews sit

Biotic’s Gain 25-in-1 Multivitamin Soft Chews are a complementary feed, which means they are fed alongside a complete, balanced diet rather than in place of one. There are 120 soft chews in a pack, roughly four months’ worth depending on the size of the dog, and they are fed to the guide on the pack by weight. Being a soft chew, they are taken as a treat and do not need to be hidden in food or washed down with water, which is the practical difference from a tablet.

A complementary feed cannot claim to treat, prevent or cure anything, and nothing in a tub changes how much a dog needs to drink. Fresh water, available all day, is the thing that does that job, and no supplement replaces it.

Speak to your vet

Thirst is one of the few things a dog will tell you about clearly, so it is worth paying attention to. If anything about your dog’s drinking has changed and stayed changed, or you are unsure whether what you are seeing is normal for them, your vet is the person to ask before you change their food or add anything to their routine.

Biotic’s Gain dog supplements are complementary feeds, not complete foods, and are fed alongside a balanced diet. They are not medicines and cannot treat, prevent or cure any condition. If you have any concerns about your dog’s health, speak to your vet.