[Cyndi]

Ok, so, I have a bit of a strange question, well, atleast it’s strange to me. Since I’ve started Bailey on raw, she isn’t drinking nearly as much water, obviously. She does drink and it’s not like she drank ALOT of water before, but it is noticeably less now. Anyways, there are so many dead patches in my grass from where she pees now, so I’m thinking it’s probably because she’s not drinking as much water, even though she’s getting more moisture content from her food. Has anyone else noticed this with their dogs that are on raw and/or is there anything I can do to prevent it? Or, maybe it’s a vitamin deficiency that I’m not aware of…..?

[pugmomsandy]

Mine use to do that when we first added raw to the diet, but not anymore. Can you catch some and test it’s pH?

[theBCnut]

Supposedly it has to do with the pH of the urine, some people say too acid, some say too alkaline. I don’t know, mine always pee in the exact same 2 square foot patch, all three of them, and I don’t have that problem. You could try sprinkling some baking soda in one spot and spray vinegar in another after she pees to see if either helps.

[Cyndi]

I take it they make “test kits” or something to check the ph of urine? I guess I could try to “catch” some and test it. Patty, she pees in a different spot every time she goes pretty much, & it’s killing the grass just with one urination. So I guess it’s got too much something. I’ll try both of your suggestions and see if that helps, but I hope it’s nothing majorly wrong. We’re going to the vet on Friday, to have her ear looked at because it’s still kind of bothering her, wondering if maybe I should mention it to the vet. I know I’ll get an earful already because of the way I feed her now.

Thanks for your help and suggestions! 🙂

[pugmomsandy]

You can buy urine pH strips at the pharmacy I’m told. I bought mine online of course! And then try to catch a first morning urine. A soup ladel is useful.

[Cyndi]

Thanks Sandy. I’ll pick some of those up sometime soon. I’ m hoping there’s nothing really wrong with her & it’s just that she needs to drink more water.

[pugmomsandy]

My dog’s urine pH’s range from 6.5 to 8 and no burning grass. I was a little shocked at the 8’s but no UTI’s or symptoms.

[Gemma60537]

Here’s an interesting blog that talks about the nitrogen in the urine rather than the PH.
http://blog.weecleaner.com/index.php/2012/09/why-dog-urine-kills-grass/

Now, I’m neither a chemist or a lawn expert but it is interesting nonetheless.

[pugmomsandy]

Interesting article. So I wonder if the addition of probiotics and digestive enzymes resulting in better digestion resulted in non-killing urine? Where’s Shawna? She knows nitrogen trapping. Wonder if it works the same for urine nitrogen?

[Cyndi]

Very interesting article. Thanks Gemma60537! Not sure how I’d go about getting her to drink more water though. Another good suggestion Sandy. I don’t think Shawna posts in the forum section, but I’ll try to catch her in the review section today and explain what’s going on and see if she could offer any suggestions. Thanks guys!

[theBCnut]

That article makes it sound like digestive enzymes should help, since more digestible food is supposed to help.

Cyndi, do you feed any grinds? The reason I’m asking is because adding more water to grinds is a very easy way to increase water comsumption.

[Cyndi]

Hey Patty, Yes I do feed grinds, in the morning. I was thinking about adding some water to her breakfast this morning, but got distracted at 5am when she was outside barking at the biggest raccoon I’ve ever seen, lol! Doesn’t take much to throw me off a train of thought. So, how much water do you think I should add, without making soup? I give her 1/2lb in the am.

[theBCnut]

That would throw me off too. I make my dogs eat soup. I add 1 cup of water to each of mine, but mine also get some kibble and that absorbs some of the water, and it’s more like a pound of food. My dogs lap up extra water then eat most of the food then lap up some more and clean their bowls. I would try about 1/4 cup of water and se how she likes it. If she is fine with it , I might try for more or leave it as is. My BCs usually drink readily, so they aren’t a problem getting water into, but my JRT doesn’t drink enough so getting enough water in her food has probably saved her from having some issues.

[Cyndi]

Ok thanks! I was thinking the same thing, starting off with a 1/4 cup. I’m sure she’ll drink it all. Thanks for the advice! I’ll start that tomorrow morning. I just wrote it on a sticky note and stuck it to the cupboard so it reminds me, lol! Hopefully that helps! Thanks Patty! 🙂

[SusanandEcho]

I recently started using Dog Rocks. Not something I would normally buy, but I work in a pet store and had heard a lot of positive feedback. They are literally rocks that you put in their water dish.
This spring the area of lawn she (my dog, Echo) was going on was pretty much dead. I started with raking off the dead grass and planting new, and not allowing her to go there while it was growing. I’ve been using the dog rocks for about three weeks now. She has gone on the new lawn just a few times, but so far so good. Here is their website http://dogrocks.org/. They do say that a raw diet or diet high in protein will hinder the productivity of the dog rocks, so it may not work for you. I feed Echo Orijen Senior with a little Primal Freeze Dried mixed in, so she is on a higher protein diet (compared to most kibble). Hope this helps.

[Cyndi]

Hmmmm, thanks Susan. Sounds interesting. Keep me posted on how this works. I’ve been adding extra water to Bailey’s breakfast so we’ll see if this does anything. I’ll read up on those rocks and see. I’ve never heard of such a thing…

[DogFoodie]

I bought some dog rocks also; got them at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dog-Rocks-Prevent-Grass-Supply/dp/B000NE2UH4/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1372436745&sr=1-1&keywords=dog+rocks.

I haven’t used them yet. I think I’m hesitating since Sam and Bella drink from the same water dish and Sam makes a huge mess out of the water bowl so I’m constantly rinsing and refilling. It’s recommended that you put the rocks in their bowl and top off every evening and rinse the bowl every few days. I think my frequent rinsing and refilling might decrease the effectiveness. Plus, the manufacturer of the rocks recommends feeding a “premium dry dog food and keep the red meat to a minimum.”

[theBCnut]

When I had GSDs I used to use a bucket in the shower to water them because they were so messy, of course I didn’t have any short legged dogs back then, so that wouldn’t help you. But it does sound like the rocks need to be in the water for ten hours to work. If you only changed the water before bed then they could soak over night.

I found their website to be a contradiction. They say the rocks work by filter out metals such as tin that are in the water, but if water isn’t going through the rocks, they aren’t filtering anything. The website he linked to about why spots occur didn’t say anything about metals at all, it said nitrogen was the cause. I would want to know what the rocks are actually adding to the water before I tried it on my dogs, but they very carefully didn’t tell you that. I wouldn’t try them without knowing more, JMO.

[DogFoodie]

Thanks for your opinion, Patty! I’m not sure they’re going to work for us anyway since I just put them in their water not more than three minutes ago and Sam has already run off with one twice. : )
It would never work for us to have water in the dish for 10 hours ~ Sam drinks constantly and anything that’s in his mouth (dirt, grass, slobber, etc.) ends up in the dish ~ I rinse and refill the dish as soon as I see it.

The worst part of this thread is that I suspect the grass burns are from Bella, my Cavalier, and therefore, I’ve been worrying that her urine is too acidic ~ but, now I read burns are actually caused by urine than is more alkaline. So far beyond the cosmetic issue , is it an indication that there could potentially be health issues down the road?

[DogFoodie]

Or there’s this… Sam will not drink the water with the rocks in his bowl. Oh well…

[theBCnut]

One of their suggestions for your situation was to put the rocks in a jug of water and refill the bowl from the jug.

[DogFoodie]

Ah ha, Patty! That is a great idea, it didn’t even occur to me to do that. Doh! I’m sure I can scare up an empty jug around here that I can get the rocks into ~ they’re too big to put through the mouth of a jug the size of a milk jug. Thanks! I might actually get to see if they work now! You, ah hem, rock, Patty!

[Cyndi]

Betsy, I just wanted to thank you for making me laugh. I’ve had an absolutely horrible day and reading through the last few comments of yours, with your dog running off with the rock and then you saying “You, ah hem, rock, Patty!”, really made me laugh. Thanks for that!

Let me know if the rocks work.

[DogFoodie]

Shoot, wanted to do a quick edit of the above post, but was too late. I found the perfect container in my basement! One of those crocks that you put lemonade in for a large group at a picnic. It has a big wide mouth with a lid that sits on top and a spigot at the bottom. It can sit right on the kitchen counter and it looks nice. Plus, the crock keeps the water cooler than room temperature. Thanks again, Patty!

[theBCnut]

That’s great, Betsy!! When I read your above post, I was going to suggest that you could cut a hole in the milk jug up high, but your solution is much better.

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