Over the last year I’ve put some thought along with a fair amount of internet research and conversations with my vet in to the “gatorade” for dogs, or simply electrolyte supplements. Being an avid hunter with a couple GSP’s, dehydration has always been a concern. I’ve never had a problem with my dogs getting dehydrated, but one never knows. I’ve always kept them watered, they’ve been good to go.
In my “electrolyte” conversation with my vet he brought some things to light. Dogs don’t sweat besides from the very small glands in the pad of the foot, the sweat lose through these glands is almost nonexistent. Panting is a dogs method of cooling down, there is minimal electrolyte lose through either the pad or panting. Why are so many supplementing their dogs water with electrolytes? My vet spoke of a case where he saw 2 sick dogs in the last year, both hunting breeds, both guide dogs from a game farm, both had elevated electrolyte levels. Came to find out, both dogs got supplements daily and had been getting them for months, as did the rest of the regular hunters. The owner stopped the supplements, the dogs levels were back in order and hunting shape soon after, although he, (vet) did warn of the possibility of premature renal failure due to the elevated levels of different electrolytes.
Humans, athletes especially need to replace electrolytes, we sweat, sometimes profusely. Dogs do not sweat or lose enough electrolytes to warrant supplementing them, unless your dog is noticeably dehydrated, diarrhea, vomiting, etc, then electrolytes can and will help replace what’s lost, but more often than not it’s a underlying problem causing the dehydration. Very rarely are our well cared for hunting buddies in need of supplement, as long as we’re watering as we should and they’re on a good diet.
I’ve done some reading up on sled dogs which are about the hardest working dogs on the planet. To sum it…The mushers of some of the most prestigious races in the world will not use electrolyte supplements… straight, clean water. Of the studies I read up on, some of the dogs that were supplemented had elevated electrolyte counts which are not good, where the dogs running straight water were in the normal range. A similar study was also done on “flyball” dogs, the results were similiar.
Supplements can cause more problems than they’re preventing. In a normal, healthy dog, vigorous exercise and hunting will not reduce the electrolyte level to a point that straight water won’t replenish it. In some cases, supplementing a dogs electrolytes, adding to an already normal level can cause problems. Renal failure is one of the possible outcomes, adding to an already normal level can damage the kidneys.
We as humans must have our electrolytes replenished often, after all, we sweat, it makes perfect sense for us. Our dogs do not. Lots of water and a good diet will keep our companions in good working condition. I personally won’t give a supplement for no reason that can cause problems…with that said, I do carry a box of electrolyte supplement in my dog box for emergencies. If my dogs get to the point of noticeable dehydration, for whatever reason, I’ll use it. Until then, water’s all they need.
I know a lot of guys jumped on this trend, as a pet owner I urge all to research the positive and negative effects of supplementing, there are some very good reads out there by some of the worlds top vets. In my case, I feel the neg’s far outweigh the pos.
Keep the dogs in hunt shape, good diet and water them often and they should be good to go, we may want to leave the supplements for emergencies.
I thought this was a interesting topic that we all should know about if considering supplements, like I was. This is mearly one mans opinion, research it and draw your own conclusions, it turned out to be much more interesting than I thought it would be.
Good luck
BIRDDOG
