Thursday, March 11, 2010

How to waste your money buying dog electrolytes

May 14, 2007 by Daniel Beatty, DVM · 4 Comments 

If you are buying dog electrolytes you are wasting your money!

I had this discussion with my trainer today and being a knowledgable person herself she agrees that electrolytes are a waste of money. Here’s why…

Dogs do not sweat like you and I or horses. They pant to cools themselves off.

When we sweat our body releases moisture through the skin to evaporate and cool us off. In the meantime we also lose the salt or electrolytes through our skin. It is part of the process to get the water through the surface of the skin..it needs electrolytes to perform this function. So the electrolytes stay on the outside of our body with no way of getting back in, so we have to replenish those with some form of electrolyte substance, usually in the food we eat or in some cases some type of electrolyte drink, i.e. Gatorade or Powerade.

Dogs pant – their mechanism is to evaporate water through breathing and their mouth. When the electrolytes are passed in saliva and the water evaporates from their tongue and mucosal surfaces of their mouth the electrolytes stay on their surface just like our skin when we sweat; however it is still in their body. All they have to do is drink water to replace everything. So those drinks that have electrolytes in them for dogs are a complete waste of your money. Dogs do not lose electrolytes during a hot day or performing an athletic event. They do however lose a lot of water and that needs to be replenished.

So do not buy electrolyte drinks for your dog, just some cool fresh water will do. You want to waste money buy them some nice bottled water that someone makes out of their basement tap! LOL

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Comments

4 Responses to “How to waste your money buying dog electrolytes”
  1. Robert says:

    I had never even heard of people giving their dogs electrolytes. It seems like hyped up marketing to me. I haven’t given my dog any and she’s perfectly healthy anyway.

  2. Ellen Weaver says:

    I run a beagle in agility, and she always seemed to lack stamina, so I started giving her dog electrolytes and it really improved her performance and stamina.

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  1. [...] You Don’t Need Don’t waste valuable space in your kit by carrying an electrolyte drink for your dog unless your vet specifically recommends that you do so.  Dogs don’t sweat to [...]

  2. [...] Thanks for that. I wonder should i bother with the solution at all and just give plain water to replenish his system. I dont stress my dogs during a keep. I use long distance walking. Check this opinion out on electrolytes E-Vet Clinic – Dog Health Care – Straight Talkin Information about the Health of your Dog ? How to w… [...]



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