Doggy-Style Science: Assumptions Wagging the Masters When It Comes to Water, Dog, and Chemical Exposure
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 06.10.08
If you're a new dog owner, your veterinarian will likely tell you to give your dog plenty of fresh water. If you have a big dog - not a lap dog, but a big one bred to hunt 'em up - you know what I'm talking about when I give this example of where that notion likely comes from.
Dump out the leftover warm water in his bowl and fill it up from the tap, and he's going drink up a quart, on the spot. What we don't know is whether he does that because it tastes better, all nice and cool and chlorinated, or whether he's going to do it to reward you for paying attention to him. He's training his master, so to speak.
Take that big dog out for a walk in the country and he's likely as not to lap from the first brown and bubbly puddle he comes across. And the next one as well, as if he is sampling the fare. We don't know if it's the excitement or just what is going on in that little dog brain, but it's obviously not that the water is "nice and fresh and cool and my master gave it to me."
Now that dog-to-water motivations are completely clear, check out this bit of scientific cat-chasing, as reported by WaterSecretsBlog.
"According to a new study reported in the June 1, 2008, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, there is absolutely no reason to give your dog anything but water from your tap.
"The study, led by Dr. Lorraine Backer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that dogs are not susceptible to the chemicals, such as chlorine, used to disinfect municipal water. Dogs don't gulp down a big glass of water like people often do [right]; and their water usually sits in a bowl for hours, which allows the chemical concentrations to decrease over time [sure it does]. Also, dogs do not take long shower or baths, as reported by the American Veterinary Medical Association [so there's no chlorine exposure unless its' a Labrador Retriever that practically lives in the backyard swimming pool]."
Here from the abstract of the published research paper is a statement of "Conclusions and Clinical Relevance":
—Although humans and their dogs live in the same household, the activity patterns of dogs may lead to lower exposures to household tap water. Thus, although exposure to disinfection by-products in tap water may be a risk factor for human bladder cancer, this may not be true for canine bladder cancer at the concentrations at which dogs are exposed.The press release upon which the WaterSecretsBlog posting seems to be based is here, on the AVMA website.
The full citation of the described study is Evaluation of associations between lifetime exposure to drinking water disinfection by-products and bladder cancer in dogs, Lorraine C. Backer, Angela M. Coss, Amy F. Wolkin, W. Dana Flanders, John S. Reif, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association Jun 2008, Vol. 232, No. 11: 1663-1668. Access to the full paper is by subscription.
Just to be clear: giving one's dog bottled water as a regular matter is ridiculous for reasons unrelated to the risk of doggy bladder cancer. If that worries you, get a filter.
Via::WaterSecretsBlog, Tap Water is Fine for Your Dog
Now that the dogs are safe...
What about us? Chlorine was one thing, but it is an unstable molecule that volatizes quickly and dissappears (poof..like magic! But one issue at a time...). But now we have chloramine, haloacetic acids, bromates and trihalomethanes to contend with (notice they are getting harder to prnounce; never a good sign...). No amount of aeration or degassing will get rid of these. If I am trying to grow plants organically there is still enough sterilant there to damage my soil biology let alone my body! Guarantee these are all in "allowable' levels, but there is little testing to determine long term effects of low level exposure to any of this stuff...
Now add in thingslike 2,4,D, styrenes tand benzenes and the like from industrial and waste sources, arsenic and lead from road run-off, lead and copper from the plumbing and we have a nice stew of chemicals that is laughably labeled as drinking water...SO...
Ge thr Brita, or the Pur or better yet a whole house canister system, because if you actually get a water test (write your water company; they will send you the latest version and remember, this is the stuff they are actually willing to tell you about), it will scare the pants off of you. Did me...
And regarding filtering - have you ever bothered to read the documentation? Those filters make no claim regarding the removal of chlorine. They specifically say they remove things that give a chlorine-like taste, but that they cannot remove chlorine - unless perhaps you have something a lot more expensive than the filters most people use, such as a reverse osmosis whole-house filter.
=== author's response follows ===
The hazard is from organo-halides, not from elemental chlorine. Organo-halides do filter well with activated carbon, Additionally, as one commenter points out, it is increasingly common now for water distributors to add chloramine (another organic compound) to the water as an enhanced means of sterilizing toward point of consumption. This too is well filtered by charcoal.
Organo-halides have lower volatility than elemental chlorine.
However, you seem to have missed my point that dogs often do not 'let their water sit'
FYI I have a degree in environmental science and many years of experience in water resources management. And I have owned many dogs.
I have a Berkey Water filter that I use to filter my water of all the nasties (including fluoride) and the dog gets water from the Berkey instead of the tap.
I won't give the dog something to drink if I don't feel that it is good enough for me to drink
I had heard that chloramine was not filtered by most conventional filters. There was just a discussion related to this on one of my green business discussion groups.
the gist of it, (not to be confused with the Grist of it) was that the conventional shower filters, used to protect from the greatest exposure of your day- the morning shower, do not remove chloramine. True? They also seem to think that most whole house filters do not work on chloramine.
I would love to know more!
=== author's response follows ====
Lets assume that whatever filter is in use is based primarily on activated carbon. And let's qualify that with the understanding that carbon does not kill pathogenic organisms but does "remove" organic chemicals and certain heavy metals.
Each vendor of activated carbon product has a specification which identifies effectiveness of the carbon at set temperature, pressure, and pH, to capture and contain certain materials. Effectiveness is per thickness of carbon, and the metrics include "break through" time for certain materials (the time after which most of the active sites in the carbon are saturated, and after which material begins to permeate significantly.
Some materials will permeate rather quickly and others will keep sorbing to activated carbon sites long after the more "labile" solutes have "broken through" to the faucet side of things.
Manufacturers choose a carbon thickness and carbon type that will capture the most common materials of concern while keeping the cost and size down. They will recommend replacement times based on tests against the "breakthrough" estimates. Each brand is different in this regard.
Chlorine is reacted on some carbon filters to form HCL and thus does not permeate as has been argued in theses comments. For a very complete, succinct technical explanation of these issues I suggest reading this link: http://waternet.com/article.asp?IndexID=6634370
Some dogs actually drink bottled water? What's wrong with people? Haven't they noticed that dogs lick their own asses, rub their noses on the sidewalk and eat spoiled nasty stuff they dig out of the trash? And what the heck do you think dog food is made of? (Hint: unless you buy the really good stuff, it's nasty over-medicated animal carcasses that didn't make the cut for humans.) I don't think clean tap water is doing them much damage.
==== author's response follows ===
A.V, you are my kind of guy. Yes people do feed their dogs bottled water even at home. THe pet food store has it in stock!
"Take that big dog out for a walk in the country and he's likely as not to lap from the first brown and bubbly puddle he comes across. And the next one as well, as if he is sampling the fare."
u dont know MY dog.
"Take that big dog out for a walk in the country and he's likely as not to lap from the first brown and bubbly puddle he comes across. And the next one as well, as if he is sampling the fare."
you dont know MY dog.