Opinions on this?

http://www.examiner.com/article/ice-cubes-harmful-for-your-dog

Thoughts? Had it happen?

I've read it before, the letter, and it didn't worry me.

The dog was hot and had just been shown, apparently drank a whole bowl full of water, then ate a bowl of ice, then ate a normal meal of food. It's hard for me to single out the ice to blame.

It also doesn't make a lot of sense to me that ice -> muscle spasms -> bloat.

I've never had it happen, but I don't give my dogs ice water either. If I need to cool them down I usually dunk them or hose them off. If Mira gets hot, she'll lay on her back so I can hose her stomach, which she loves.

Also, I've never personally had a dog bloat, but all the dogs I have seen with bloat haven't had anything out of the ordinary occur in their day/routine before bloating except one that was boarding at the time.

This.

There are so many things that could have caused bloat in this case:

Stress from show
Stress from being in the traveling kennel (they didn't say if the dog was used to that or not)
Breed predisposition
Hereditary?
Heat
Drinking a lot of water/eating a full meal
Ice

So um, ya.

I've heard you shouldn't give a dog ice water, but not because of bloat... I relate it more to when I'm overheated or dehydrated, guzzling cold water is likely to make me throw up or at the very least give me stomach cramps. I figure it's probably the same for a dog. Chug a bunch of cold water when you're super hot and the stomach isn't going to like it very much. Whenever I fill up water bowls inside I go for a medium temp water. Of course filling up bowls outside with the hose often results in fairly cold water but I've never noticed anything adverse from it.

I've given Auggie ice cubes and he enjoys them, but I don't imagine they're still very ice cold by the time he's done chomping and slobbering all over them. =P Yesterday while playing with Payton, every time I gave him a treat I thought how HOT his tongue was - an ice cube wouldn't survive the toasty environment of his mouth for very long. I quit giving Auggie ice cubes but it's actually because I think the biggest risk is broken teeth and he's an oldie now, so I'd rather preserve his teeth as much as possible.

I have frozen flavored water in small containers ( 1 cup sized) for trials, then put it into their water bucket with water. The dogs tend to lick it and they don't melt too fast because of their size. And for my guys, they don't take them out and chew on them.

I don't know why someone would have to give anything other than plain old water

I'm kind of on the same page as this.

I carry bottled water with me for the dogs, but they don't get ice mostly because it's a pain to transport and keep cool with my limited space.

They get an ice cube here or there because they like to chew on them, but it's never a means to cool them down.

In the summer I put a handful of ice cubes in the outside water dish from time to time if we're out for a while. On a hot day in the sun the water can warm up and it's faster & easier than refilling the bowl. Although it pretty much melts right away, I guess.

For me I do give them plain old water, but I do make the flavoured chunks of ice to cool the water down and keep it fresh. For the flavour, it is just a couple of drops of the juice from when I rinse the home baked liver. I do that on very hot days to ensure that they do drink. As long as it isn't to excess

I also don't use it for cooling them down, that is done by dunking them in water or hosing them down etc.

I give Elsie ice water when she's hot all the time at home; she asks for it.

The stomach cramping thing sounds like an urban legend to me.

I agree with Sass. Roman doesn't like ice cubes but he does prefer cold water. In the winter after exercise sometimes he will break the ice on a bucket to drink from. I never thought anything of it.

I freeze water bottles sometimes. I also gave Summer some crushed ice on Saturday while waiting for her runs. She loves crushed ice. Paps aren't very likely to bloat either. So not worried at all.

I don't give ice cubes as a treat because I've heard of broken teeth, but never heard of this.

I have seen this letter before and came to the conclusion that it was more then the ice that led to the bloat, like the others said.

I give room temp water as well, always, because if I give Gage cold water on hot days he will throw it up, and if he drinks a bunch of any water after eating he will throw it all up so I do what I can to limit his water intake. Gage loves chewing ice, he gets a few cubes here and there, if he hears ice rattling in a glass he comes running!

I rarely give my dogs ice, mainly because I rarely have ice lol. But I don't see any problem with some ice here and there. I probably wouldn't give my dog a whole bowl of ice, but I never worry about bloat when I give a few ice cubes.


Anyway, I hate The Examiner. Their writers aren't professional, and every story is all blown out of proportion. I wrote for the Examiner for a little while, but I wasn't sensationalist enough. I practiced actual journalism, not OMG!!! YOUR KILLING YOU'RE DOGGIEEEEE!!!1!1!1!!!

I stopped putting ice in the water bowl when Hudson decided the appropriate response was to take each ice cub out and crunch on it in the kitchen. Then, when that floor was a puddle, he took them onto the rug.

I've read the article (or similar articles) and think that there isn't much proof in them.

I'm not a dog (I think!) but in my line of work, we tell everyone to never drink ice water on a hot, active day. I've seen hundreds of times while working on the roofs in the summer, people vomiting, nauseous, getting stomach cramps and the like from drinking ice cold water.

I couldn't tell ya if dogs get the same issue.