[Elizabeth P]

I always moisten my dogs’ dry kibble with water. Not to be anthropomorphic, but I wouldn’t eat dry cereal without milk. And I know that dry food doesn’t scrub teeth clean. Is there a benefit or risk to moistening dry food?

[Lynn J]

I always add hot water and let it sit a moment. I think as long your dog eats the food in a reasonable amount of time there is no problem. If it sits out all day then I would either pick it up or not add water. One of the complaints people have about kibble is that it is dehydrating, so I think adding water is a good thing to do.

[theBCnut]

If you are counting on the probiotics or enzymes in the food being of benefit to your dog then you should only add water that is warm, not hot, and add it immediately before feeding. If you are adding extra probiotics or digestive enzymes then wait to add them until after the food has started to cool, and feed immediately after.

I always add 1/2 cup ofwater and 1/2 tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar per cup of food.

[USA]

Hi Ladies,

Please don’t add hot or warm water from a tap or faucet to your dog’s food. Water from the hot side of a faucet has gone through a water heater which is full of slime and sediment. That is not something I want in my dog’s food!

[InkedMarie]

USA Dog Treats: no offense but if my tap water is good enough for me to drink, it’s good enough for my dogs.

[USA]

Hi InkedMarie

The truth is that the water that comes from the HOT side of your tap is NOT good enough for either you or your dogs to drink. But don’t take my word for it.

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/tips/water.htm
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2010/05/03/why-you-shouldnt-use-hot-tap-water-for-drinking-or-cooking/
http://www.akwater.com/operations_faq.shtml#babyformula
http://fcwa.org/faqs/index.htm#Billing
http://health.howstuffworks.com/food-nutrition/get-the-lead-out-dont-drink-cook-with-hot-water.htm
http://water.epa.gov/drink/info/lead/
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/158461/0042948.pdf

You Shouldn’t Drink Hot Water From Your Tap

Cool it down! Why NOT to use hot tap water for cooking or drinking

http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/Publications/drinkwater.pdf
http://www.fitsugar.com/Why-You-Shouldnt-Use-Hot-Tap-Water-When-Cooking-4193089
http://www.lead.org.au/lanv8n1/l8v1-11.html

[InkedMarie]

I thought you meant tap water in general, not just hot.

[USA]

Hi InkedMarie

Your response is highly unlikely, but I would like to thank you for your comment. I knew nothing about the additional dangers of lead poisoning that come with drinking or cooking with hot water from the <b>hot side</b> of the faucet. I only knew about the sludge and sediment dangers!

“Hi Ladies,
Please don’t add hot or warm water from a tap or faucet to your dog’s food. Water from the hot side of a faucet has gone through a water heater which is full of slime and sediment. That is not something I want in my dog’s food!”

“InkedMarie
USA Dog Treats: no offense but if my tap water is good enough for me to drink, it’s good enough for my dogs.”

[Lynn J]

That’s very interesting about hot water from the hot water heater. When my parents had a “water conditioner”, I believe it was hooked up to the hot water heater and we didn’t drink it because it had a higher sodium content from the water conditioner. But our house has an “instant hot” water under the kitchen sink that avoids the hot water heater and is made for hot water for tea, hot chocolate, instant oatmeal type of stuff – human consumption. Anyway, I do let it cool down before the dogs before the dogs eat.

[lynne s]

I’m now curious if the water from the HOT side of a water cooler that has spring water is OK,especially if it cools some?

[USA]

Hi Lynn J and lynne s

The danger of lead could still be there.The EPA said:

“even newer plumbing advertised as “lead-free” can still contain as much as 8 percent lead.”

I don’t know if this applies to water coolers and instant hot units. They both use copper pipe that runs through a heating coil similar to a radiator in a car. The water runs through the copper pipe and that is where the lead could get into the water.

The insta hot and the water cooler both use a holding tank (albeit small) to hold the heated water. This is where any minerals, metals or other impurities would build up and be re-absorbed back into the heated water.

So anytime you have a holding tank that is where impurities will build up. I would read up on how to clean and flush these tanks to remove any residue. Citric acid and vinegar are often used in coffee makers and water distillers to remove buildup.

It aint easy trying to do the best for our pups, but it sure is worth it!!!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by USA.

[Sheila R]

So – adding water from the cold side of your faucet is – well, cool? Lol

[USA]

Nicely put Sheila R

[Dyann R]

According to research done by Dr. Larry Glickman at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine, and published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, moistening dry dog food contributes to the risk of Gastric Dilatation Volvulus, GDV, commonly known as bloat, which is the second leading cause of death in large and giant breed dogs.

[Elizabeth P]

His research showed that moistening dry foods that contained CITRIC ACID increased the risk of GDV.

[Dyann R]

Dr. Glickman’s research first showed that moistening ANY dry dog foods prior to feeding increased the risk of GDV. Later, when he researched food factors affecting GDV, the research showed that citric acid in a food increased the risk of GDV, and when food with citric acid was moistened that risk was substantially increased.

[Elizabeth P]

Please post how to access the research paper. All I am finding are summaries by folks I don’t know.

[Mary M]

I found a link to the study: http://juliet84.free.fr/Articles/bibliographie/SDTE/javma.2000.217.pdf

This is an old study, 2000. 14 years old. That’s the first problem.
The second problem with this study is that it enrolled 1,637 dogs, (all large or giant breed) and only 98 of them developed gastric-dilatation volvulus (GDV) or bloat…and out of those, only 29 died. That’s a very small percentage number from which to make ANY major conclusions.

As related to “moistening dog food” the authors even state in their discussion about it and some other factors they mention: “most likely, however, many of these factors were sig-
nificant only because of confounding.”
If you want the definition of confounding in statistics read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confounding

It’s really important when discussing research to not just throw quotes or information around, but to look at the article critically, and evaluate it on the merits of the study. The researchers did not “control” for any of these factors, they simply sent out questionnaires to owners and then “associated” certain factors with the dogs who developed bloat.

The authors have a “discussion” section, but not a “conclusions” section, meaning they really couldn’t come up with any hard conclusions. It’s an interesting study, but it’s not very well designed.

I moisten my dog’s kibble with a tablespoon of warm water (filtered water, warmed in the microwave), and she does just fine. 😉

• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by Mary M.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 4 months ago by Mary M.

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