Why I Don’t Recommend Alkaline Water for Dogs and Cats

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• Water is essential for life, but many people don’t realize just how many impurities and contaminants are in the tap water they give their pets to drink
• Some of the contaminants in the public water supply include pharmaceuticals, pesticides, metals, chlorine, fluoride, chromium-6 and glyphosate
• Carbon water filters (e.g., Brita filters) improve the taste of the water, but don’t remove lots of impurities; reverse osmosis produces clean water, but wastes 50% to 75% of the water put into the system
• Long-term use of distilled water can leach important minerals from a pet’s body; alkaline water is a bad idea for most dogs and cats, whose urine pH should be slightly acidic
• A good alternative is to put hydrogen in your pet’s purified water