My dogs are drinking water from the pool

[stuckpipe]

My dogs are drinking water from the pool which is saltwater. There is a bowl of freshwater near by but still they lap up water from the pool. Is this something I should worry about? Will doing this casue any long term health issue for them?

[CarlD]

When it comes to stuff like that, dogs and cats are idiots. I've seen mine bypass fresh, cool water for stale, gross rainwater that's been sitting for several days.
Without knowing all the levels in your pool it's hard to know, but it is best to keep them away from it. Of course, this may sound cold, but if they are older dogs, nearing the end of their span, you may want to just let them enjoy themselves.

Just remember: Dogs and cats are permanent residents. They live their entire lives out with us. Children are long term guests. They move out and on...hopefully! :)

(as the father of 2 boys, and servant of 2 dogs and a cat who thinks he's a dog)

Carl

[kelemvor]

My tap water comes with 3ppm chlorine from the city so the chlorine is probably fine (my city thinks so anyway). 3000ppm salt is probably not the end of the world either, I bet their dog food has more sodium than that by a mile.

[stuckpipe]

Thanks for the advise. Salt in their foods is probably higher and they are long term residents...

[PBLsQuad450]

We had an outdoor cat live to 16 who drank from our pool all summer long. I'm not saying it's fine, but everything seems to drink from my pool. Raccoons are the worst, they wash their muddy paws first. We had Muskrats move in once. They seemed fine, nothing we did convinced them to leave until our cat (the one mentioned above) got one. He was a great cat, not a nice cat, actually kind of dangerous, but he single handedly kept things in balance. In the warmer months he would eat 10-12 critters a day. Frogs were his very favorite thing. And how many cats can kill a Muskrat? Sorry to ramble, I miss the crazy ultra-violent guy to this day.

[CarlD]

As long as he was smart enough to stay away from the raccoons. They look cute but can kill a dog (and I don't mean a purse puppy!)

Carl

[PBLsQuad450]

Hi Carl, believe it or not, he routinely attacked Raccoons. He would engage them in the driveway when he heard one of our cars coming. When the headlights hit the Raccoons they would turn to run and give him their back. He took it. He would tear into them for a second and run. He attacked everything. Dogs, a plumber (who screamed devil cat all the way down the driveway) our housepainter (even after being warned that this was not a pet). He attacked invading Toms without puffing up. Weird, it freaked them out completely. He wouldn't posture at all, just go right up and get busy. Now the property is all happy valley, Robins and bunnies and rainbows.

[CarlD]

Yeah, I had a little tortie who was terror on mice, chipmunks and squirrels, but she wouldn't take on a raccoon. Our Belgian Terv would...I so her go down a chuck hole after a ground hog. I heard a scream and her nose came out bloody--but it wasn't her screaming. He just got her fire going and she was just getting warmed up...had to drag her out of there. Only two things in the world scared her: Thunder and German Shepherds. Not Akitas, or Dobermans or even Irish Wolfhounds, just German Shepherds (A big male nearly killed her once for no good reason, a 150lb monster. It's very rare for male dogs to attack females).

The tortie and the Terv ended up best friends, sleeping together, going on walks together.

Carl

[madwil]

my dog drinks ocean water! salt won't hurt them, especially not the level in a SWCG pool. mine will sometimes get the runs after an ocean swim- and then we make sure she has plenty fresh water afterward to prevent dehydration/heat exhaustion (happened last year, if it happens again I think I'll use the gun on my wife and get the dog fixed! lol)

[Manslick]

16 years of pool drinking dogs here.

Only lost one - he slipped into the cover water one December. :(

[AnnaK]

How awful that must have been for all of you.

[CarlD]

Especially the dog.

Carl

[madwil]

the dog took it fairly well- didn't like them drawing blood, but there were concerns of kidney damage...
wife was hysterical- she didn't even want the dog, now she can't stand to think about losing her!

[Steve V]

Our pit drinks when we are in it playing. We have an AG pool so no access unless we are on deck with here. We just lost another dog to a copperhead memorial weekend,she was a small Jack Russel and the wife was hysterical. Terrible situation.

The pit has to pee alot after pool time,usually in the middle of the night.

[Watermom]

So sorry about your dog. It's funny, just this evening we were talking about dogs and snakebites. I have a 7 year old golden retriever and two 7 week old golden retriever puppies, all three female. Although WV has plenty of snakes, only two are poisonous -- copperhead and rattlesnake -- fortunately, we rarely see any around here.

[jstkiddn]

Ooooo! I'm new here and clueless, but here is a question to which I can actually make a contribution.

We've had a saltwater pool for the past 6-ish years. We have a mini schnauzer, that like your dog, prefers to drink from the pool. In the summer, he jumps down onto the first step and drinks away. During the winter, he runs out onto the cover and his body weight is usually enough to make some water flush up on top of the cover.

I specifically asked our vet if it him drinking the salty, chlorinated water was a problem. He said no problem at all. :D Which is good to know, because i'm pretty sure it would be IMPOSSIBLE to make him stop!