Hi,

Bear with me while I include background.....

Beau was collected from a rescue centre on Saturday and we were told to feed chicken and rice as the pups had had upset tummys. On Sunday his toilet was like water and I noticed I could see his ribs and on Monday he was really lethargic and skinny and not at all puppy-like while still runny. We went to the vets where they said he had an infection and was dehydrated, so he had fluids put into him, antibiotics and some electrolyte packet things to mix with his water.
We are to continue with the chicken and rice, as well as a pro-biotic paste to put in his mouth 3 times a day to remedy the diarrhea.

Now though, he won't drink plain water! Yesterday morning went by without a drink, so I made up the electrolyte solution and he literally stuck his head in the jug as I poured it into his bowl! He drank that really really well. (Then peed EVERYWHERE).
Today is going in the same direction. He goes to the water, sniffs it and walks off! He is no longer dehydrated, so doesn't need the electrolytes, they were just given as a precaution, but he won't drink otherwise!!

Anyone heard of this before or have any idea of what I can do to tempt him?

You really need to speak to your vet again! Any puppy soon becomes dehydrated with lack of water, fluid intake is vital!
Call your vet!
All the best - and keep us informed!

He seems to have got a taste for the lectade by the sounds of it. Which Im assuming thats what the re-hydration fluid was or a similar one. I think its basically a mix of sugars and salts mostly.

I would normally suggest that you make a very weak dilution of Goats milk and water to see if that will get him to drink. (Not cows milk as a lot of dogs are intolerent to lactose in cows milk) however as he has a gippy tum, I dont know if that would be wise. You could ring the vet and ask, as he is not drinking could you give him some very diluted goats milk and water?

The only other thing I can think of that may tempt him, as he is on chicken and rice anyway, is to liquidise some chicken (If you have a liquidiser) and make a very thin soup of water and some liquidised chicken in it. Just enough to flavour it and smell of something. That wouldnt do any harm. If he is still loose and going more often then he should still, he will be losing fluids, so he does need to drink.

Im assuming you have Pro texin prokolin? that and chicken/fish and rice boiled or grilled no skin, usually sorts them out.

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Just waiting for a call back from the vet, so will see what they say and ask about the milk. As the sachet stuff has to be mixed with warm water, I just put some cooled, boiled water down and he had a little bit of it. I did wonder if maybe I could add a bit of the water that I boiled his chicken in?

He is well hydrated at the moment, not going to the loo as often, but when he does it is still runny, so obviously I'm watching him like a hawk to ensure he stays hydrated.

Rather than introduce different things and risk upsetting his tum again I would be inclined to use another sachet of Lectade. Mix it up at normal strength but v gradually dilute it more until he is drinking just water. May be a long drawn out proceedure but I shouldnt think it would hurt if he had some more

If its any consolation, my 2 year old picked up a nasty bug earlier this year and she loved the lectade too. Drank far more of that than she does water. I've even tried her on bottled water lol

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"Life is mostly froth and bubble, Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another’s trouble, Courage in your own”

Hes on chicken anyway, so I would think some of the water the chicken was boiled in mixed with fresh water would be fine.

If the vet does say water with goats milk in it is ok, just make it as diluted with water as you can possibly get away with, and as mentioned I deffinately wouldnt risk cows milk. If it is the Prokolin paste he is having it does work pretty slowly and gently. You should see a gradual improvement, rather than it suddenly and completely stopping.

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Well the vet said to try a small amount of the water that the chicken was cooked in, but not too much as we want him to drink plain water, (didn't work) or put some in our hands, add some to his food or syringe it into his mouth!

He is peeing and his hydration is fine at the moment. The rice is boiled twice and the chicken is boiled, so I guess there is a fair bit of water in that, so I will keep up my vigilance!

Sled Dog, it is the pro-kolin and I think it is starting to work now.

I think that I will make up another lectade sachet and just keep diluting it. I think it's that he drank that SO well, that in comparison it's like he isn't really drinking water at all!

I wouldnt worry too much as long as you pinch her skin and it goes back quickly - she is fine. As you say, there will be plenty of water in her food.

My little one is dreadful for drinking and worries me. She is fed all wet food and my vet said not to worry too much because of the water content in it.
Even so, I still flop a bit of water with it occasionally.

If you feed kibble, then that's a different thing altogether because they need to drink lots. One of the reasons I converted to wet was because mine didnt drink enough on kibble.

Good luck with the lectade. I reckon it will be a long proceedure - if she susses it's weaker she will dig her heels in and wait for the good stuff to come back lol

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"Life is mostly froth and bubble, Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another’s trouble, Courage in your own”

Yes I agree this is the route I would take until you know for sure how to tackle this problem at least the pup will be taking in fluids.

Hope everything goes well.