How much does a dog drink per lap?

Factual Questions
1

Hi all - This may seem like a ludicrous question, but to me it’s a matter of -literally- life and death.

My black lab Tara has been diagnosed with cancer. My regular vet has given up, and I am now trying a holistic approach. The remedies seem to work, but the main concern is that Tara doesn’t eat or drink enough. I’m trying to measure the amount that she actually drinks, but it is hard to gauge by the water level in her bowl, and measuring out the water doesn’t work well either because she will only drink from the same bowl.

I have resorted to counting the times she laps up water - as in “64 laps this morning” and “80 laps at night”.

This measure is useless unless I can determine how much water she picks up with each lap of her tongue.

Any insight or suggestions?

Thanks,

Oliver

2

Put a known amount of water (V[sub]i[/sub]) into the empty bowl. Count the number of laps (L). Measure the remaining water (V[sub]f[/sub]). Amount per lap is:
(V[sub]i[/sub] - V[sub]f[/sub])/L

But it seems if what you really want to know is the amount of water she drinks just take V[sub]i[/sub] - V[sub]f[/sub] and forget about trying to count laps.

3

Thanks, Doc - while that’s the obvious method, which is, alas, impractical in this instance for the following reasons:

  • It is unpredictable when she will drink, and she definitely won’t drink on command.
  • Two other dogs drink from the same bowl
  • We can’t change the bowl setup (separate bowl for other dogs, etc) as that throws her out of her routine and might lead her to not drink at all.

So I’m still looking for the lab lap constant :frowning:

O.

4

two ideas

  1. can the other dogs be removed from the area for some time? if so, do the measuring and counting before and after.
  2. keep a good watch on tara, measuring frequently in hopes that she will soon drink, and then measure again when she’s done, before the other dogs arrive.
5

You know, I thought taht was just way too easy.

I think you have to go with Keeve’s suggestions.

6

The amount a dog drinks per lap is dependent on how large the track is and how many times the dog stops to drink :stuck_out_tongue:

I’m sorry that your dog is sick but it’s 3:17 am and I am in a scartastic mode

7

If you hadn’t have said it, I was gonna!