Soft water - safe for pets?

Question
QUESTION: Hi, My 14 month old neutered male standard poodle has been leaking urine when he sleeps - and having accidents during the day. Specific gravity is off but there are no indications in urine testing for blood, sugar, anything. Blood tests reveal nothing either. We were thinking maybe Addisons but it seems that it isn't that either as cortisol (I think) injection had no reaction.

Vet thinks it is likely something with his kidneys. We are on well water, we've been giving him water from tap and based on what we just looked into in the basement, the water IS Softened. The vet said pets, indoor plants and people should not drink well water and that this might be the cause of his problems. He's been on this water only since December.

Is it true about softened water and pets? my research online has not shown this conclusively.

Any help is appreciated.

Desperately yours.
Christine

ANSWER: Softened water is not good for anyone. It is full of sodium which causes water retention and can cause swelling. For years the jury was out about water softeners and humans until they saw a definite correlation between an increased rate of heart attacks and sodium. I think they even did a study on water softeners and heart attacks. All I know is that is was recommended to stop using them for drinking etc.

Some neutered dogs have hormone issues just like older women. It's a bladder tone thing, not a kidney issue. Sometimes just using phenylpropanolamine helps.



He is awful young for Addison's. You say that he has been on the water since Dec. so when did he start leaking?

Well water is perfectly fine for everyone. As long as the water is safe to drink straight from the well and not through the softeners. The whole county here drinks well water. The dogs we see with this kind of incontinence is usually brought on by a lack of tone from a lack of hormones, so that is why I suggest that you discuss hormone therapy or the phenylpropanolamine with your vet.





---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your reply.

I also posted the question to the 'water softener expert' on this site, and he said that the sodium in the water is a myth, so you can see where I don't know where to turn. My vet (and yourself) say one thing, the water experts say another. you can see my confusion.

He's been on the softened water since early Dec, but only started leaking in the last month. I thought he was licking himself all the time (he had been neutered the month previous and seemed very interested in that area since then) but he would wake up damp nearly every day but he was getting more and more wet(he would shake and spray me) and then he started getting really smelly, so one morning, I wiped him down and the 'wetness' was yellow and I realized it was urine (that was a week ago). and the rest of the story you know.

the Vet is confounded as am I.

I thank you for your help and advice.

Christine

Answer
Christine,
I appreciate you letting me know about the water softener but the hormone imbalance/bladder tone issue that causes incontinence shouldn't be a mystery to your vet.

Has he been xrayed for bladder stones? We have seen them in dogs as young as 16 weeks old so that is a possibility also. Also he might want to do a catherization of his urethra and see if there is some scarring or a problem in there that makes it hard for him to hold his urine at the neck of the bladder. He could do a contrast dye xray.

You might want to re-post this to a vet in here. Sorry that I couldn't be of more help. I do hope you can resolve this issue and please let me know what you find out.