Tap Water For Dogs

[st11x]

G'day,

Should you avoid giving tap water to your pets in Thailand? We do that (in Chiang Mai), and we (humans) drink the tap water sometimes.

Thanks

Matt

[KhunOr]

Not sure if your question is a wind up Matt, but I guess I've taken the bait anyway...

I breed dogs (North Thai Bull Terrier Kennel). We give only bottled water to puppies and there are always several bowls full of freshly poured bottled water for the adults to drink. They love it...but that doesn't stop them also drinking from the fish pond and - ahem - the toilet from time to time! Hasn't bothered them.

A dog's system can withstand much more than a human's, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't care about their health and water is the staple of all life.

Have you done an analysis of your tap water? I wouldn't risk drinking it in Chiang Mai personally.

G'day,

Should you avoid giving tap water to your pets in Thailand? We do that (in Chiang Mai), and we (humans) drink the tap water sometimes.

Thanks

Matt

[st11x]

Thanks for your thoughts.

Not sure if your question is a wind up Matt, but I guess I've taken the bait anyway...

No it wasn't a wind up, I am really interested to know what others are doing. My wife used to live in Bangkok and they do drink water (boiled) from the tap. So when we got here, she just continued that.

A dog's system can withstand much more than a human's, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't care about their health and water is the staple of all life.

Yes that is what I thought too. They can be fed a raw diet, so I thought they must be able to take the tap water. On 2nd thoughts, maybe not because there are chemicals in the tap water unlike raw meats.

Better to stay on the safe side then.

thanks

Matt

[BigSnake]

I think no a problem on the tap water, I dog drinking from fish pond in the yard, the dirty old canal that run thur the Village with little or no problems that I have seen, they are still running, barking and crapping all over the soi,

[Pdaz]

A dog's system can withstand much more than a human's,

You're not kidding... On the farm where I used to work as teenager I would often watch the farmers dogs eating warm sh!t as it fell from the horses rear ends... And as if that in itself wasn't funny enough a few minutes later I'd watch the farmers wife cuddling the same dogs and laughing as they licked her face and mouth...

Believe me the horse p00p was one of the nicer things I saw the dogs eat in my time there... So to answer the original question I don't think giving your pooch tap water will harm it at all.. Dog's have survived for centuries drinking out of muddy pools, streams and stangnant puddles their system is perfectly capable of handling it..

[Tywais]

Chiang Mai is a large place so it will depend on the area and what processing is done with the water. I live several kilometers outside and the moo bahn water is from its own central well. We have a pedigree Golden and give him tap water for the last 6 years. We also use tap water for coffee, tea but bottled water for general consumption. I would be more concerned with the city water and how much chlorine was used then any contamination.

[geriatrickid]

Considering that my dogs have feasted on the garbage a few times (a joy to clean up when it gets processed by the k9 system) and romped in dirty lakes with no problems I think the dogs can handle tap water pretty well here, except during drought season or after a heavy rain when the contaminants spike in the tap water system.

On the farm where I used to work as teenager I would often watch the farmers dogs eating warm sh!t as it fell from the horses rear ends... And as if that in itself wasn't funny enough a few minutes later I'd watch the farmers wife cuddling the same dogs and laughing as they licked her face and mouth... .

Not to make people retch but if you think about it, what's so bad about their poop? They're eating grasses, chow and oats and maybe some fruit. Strictly vegetarian fare. Not like a dog that basically eats dead flesh and of course whatever dirty kleenexes it finds on the soi. My friend once asked me how I managed to kiss a horse on the lips and not get irked (worms aside) and I said that at least there wasn't anything foul that passed those lips and she didn't lick her bits like a dog or a cat.

[Old Man River]

Considering that my dogs have feasted on the garbage a few times (a joy to clean up when it gets processed by the k9 system) and romped in dirty lakes with no problems I think the dogs can handle tap water pretty well here, except during drought season or after a heavy rain when the contaminants spike in the tap water system.

It is an interesting point on contaminants in the tap water system, but isn't the dry season and the rainy season pretty much all the seasons we have in Thailand?