Pool Water is it ok ?? - Page 1

Hi!! all  My dog love to swim in my pool and love to wet  his front paws in the first step of the pool i guesse to cool down .i start to see him drinking the water from the pool alot more and i'm worrie about this . My pool a salt water pool . does any one know anything that i should be considered about ?

Provide him with a bowl of fresh, cool water. When he drinks from the pool say, NO, and show him his bowl of fresh water. Say good boy, when he does.

assuming your pool is chlorinated, I would limit the time he spends in the water.
It can dry out his skin and cause itching and bald spots.

A friend of mine went through this the summer of 2010.  Her dog swam with the kids everyday and developed the symptoms mentioned above.
She took the dog to the vet who put her on a special diet, gave her steroids and sold my friend expensive shampoos and rinses.  They were sure it was an allergy or worse and the vet bill was around $500 when it was all said and done. 
I tried to tell her it was too much time soaking in the pool water.........But apparently, since I have not been to vet school......yes I'm a little bitter.
After the pool was closed up for the season, the dog's skin issue cleared up.  imagine that.
sigh.......................

He has a saline pool, but no matter. All dogs should be rinsed off, daily, if allowed to swim in salt or chlorine treated water. Just like their people do, for the same reasons.

Thanks beetree, I missed that in his post.....eyes weren't fully open yet!
I didn't know if salt water had to be chlorinated also.....we've had only fresh water here.
salt is a chloride compound but not up on my chemistry enough to know if it is as harsh as the pool chlorine.....I would think not.

A pool with a salt system uses the salt as a disinfecting and oxidizing agent in a similar manner to adding chlorine.  It is a form of chlorine just like chlorine tablets only automatically added.  I would limit drinking pool water as Chlorine has been shown to cause cancer in people.  Most municipal water systems have chlorine added and it can be hazardous to people as the high Nitrate levels are in our water. 

Jim

 

oh. thanks for the info......our pool had an earth filter and we added chlorine tabs to the  basket.  didn't know about salt being automatically added....cool!

anyway agree with beetree's advice.....fresh water for drinking and rinse the dog after swimming.  Try to limit pool time.  We had a dog who loved swimming and we had to lock him in the basement if we wanted some serious swim time.  He would come in and try to "rescue" us.  Funny but annoying if you weren't in the mood.
He never seemed to develop the skin issues mentioned previously.

Drinking salt water can cause dehydration and diarrhea... be careful!