My 2 year old male Cairn Terrier's urine is dark and ...

Does he eat canned or dry food?

He eats royal canine and blue dry foods, occaisonally a dog bone treat or table scrap, our other cairn terrier eats and drinks from the same and has clear urine. We took him to the vet and the test results only showed possibly dehydration. He has full access to water. Is there something we can add to make it more inviting? Lemon?

My first suggestion would be to get him started on some canned food as it has more moisture which will make his urine less concentrated. You can also add water to the canned food. You can try to boil some skinless/boneless chicken and see if he is willing to drink that "broth" once it has cooled. I don't think that lemon will do the trick, plus it is very acidic. If your vet says it is ok, then you can give it a try. If his urine is too acidic, he could develop a type of crystals. I would have his urine checked first to see what the PH is. If your vet thinks he can have lemon in his water daily, and he likes it, by all means, go ahead. Is there anything else I can help you with?

CAN I ADD WATER TO HIS DRY FOOD TOO? WET FOOD IS MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE. MAYBE A LITTLE WET FOOD AND ADD WATER TO HIS DRY FOOD? I WILL TRY THE CHICKEN BROTH TOO.

Yes you can add water to the dry food. You may have to wait until the food 'puffs' up from soaking up the water for him to want to eat it. He may not want to eat kibble floating in water:)

If he is willing to eat kibble floating in water, once he has lapped up the water, add more to the kibble. He may tire of this, but it is worth a shot. It worked for my dog for a short period of time, but then she started to eat around the water.(pretty amazing, almost like bobbing for apples)
Also, make sure to rinse the chicken well before boiling as most chicken is packaged with some salt.
I would suggest a urine sample whether or not you want to use the lemon just to make sure all is ok.

Edited by zenequin on May 17 2006 at 2:19am