My dog won't drink after dental surgery. Is soaked kibble enough?

Question

My pekingese had dental surgery yesterday to have 12 teeth pulled. The vet said only soft food for 7-10 days. I've been soaking her kibble in warm water until it's soft and I've been feeding her by hand. She hasn't shown any interest in drinking water yet. She IS eating the soaked kibble. She was on IV fluids during her surgery so a check-in call from the vet said that might explain the lack of interest? Will the soaked kibble have enough moisture in it to prevent her from getting dehydrated? Pet's info: Dog | Pekingese | Female | spayed | 13 years and 4 months old | 15 lbs

Daniel Fonza, DVM · Accepted Answer

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. If the dental surgery was yesterday I would give it some more time for the interest in water to come back. I've seen this commonly post operatively where the patient does not want to eat or drink for 1-3 days after the procedure and is then fine after. If she is not taking in any water at all, you can syringe feed her some water throughout the day to ensure she is taking in enough water. Adding moisture to the kibble will give her water but likely not enough if you are only adding a small amount. I would add in 1/2-1 cup of water to the kibble and see how she does with this. If the decreased thirst continues beyond 2-3 days, I would call your veterinarian again and discuss this with him / her over the phone about what they would like you to do next. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please take the time to mark this question as helpful or not as it helps us to improve on the quality of our answers to other pet owners. Thank you kindly!

My dog won't drink after dental surgery. Is soaked kibble enough?

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