[malluver1005]

info to read online on bottled water vs. tap water for your dog. And it's getting me thinking again. I used to give Aspen bottled water but then I switched him to tap. After everything I've read, it's making me want to switch to bottled water again. The metals ingested when drinking from tap are really worrying me...

Should I stick with tap or switch to bottled??

 

[DaneMama]

Bottled water is wasteful, unless you get refillable containers and get them filled at a spring or something. I honestly don't know that much about bottled vs. tap water. For what I do know, bottled water seems like a rip off to me

I'm always open to learning more though :wink:

 

[merlin371]

Have a look at this.

Drinkwell Pet Fountain–Veterinary Ventures Inc.

also if you filter the tap water trough brita or something, it might make it less harmfull

 

[RachelsaurusRexU]

I bought a five stage tap filter for like $40. I use it for our and the animals' drinking water and washing our produce, cooking, etc. You can also buy the big reverse osmosis filters for a couple hundred. I hear some of them are a little tough on the electric bill, though.

Most bottled water is just filtered tap water, anyway!

 

[CorgiPaws]

My grandfather was in the "water" business for 50 years before handing the company off to my uncle.....

I personally don't drink hard water. Period. I can't even stand showering in it, and that's my biggest complaint with apartment living, actually. haha. I don't do bottled water, but I am a big fan of my reverse osmosis tap. The ones that you can get at home depot and the like for around $300 are kind of a rip off. They are tough on the electric bill, and not really made to last, and require regular maintenance. Same can be said for the water softeners you can get at places like that. Entire waste of money. My RO system was pricey, but I feel that it will pay off in the long run. We no longer have to buy bottled water, it requires very little cheap maintenance, and I noticed ZERO difference on my bills. If you have a GOOD water softener (not a big box home improvement store one) then your tap water should be absolutely fine for dogs and humans alike.

My dogs drink RO, but I don't worry about them drinking tap water at daycare or anything. They're dogs. They can eat rotting carcasses off the side of the road. *shrug* Just not something I worry about.

 

[chowder]

I think it depends on your 'city water' and what they add. We are on a little community well, and we've tested our water straight from the tap since we have goldfish. We have zero chlorine, zero flouride, pretty much zero everything added. It just comes from the ground and is stored in a tank. It's pretty hard and full of minerals though.

But, when we were in San Diego visiting my parents, they had one of those Brita things on their faucet because they said their city water was so bad that no one drank it. We let Rocky drink from a pan that we filled with a hose and he had horrible diarrhea for a week. Once we cleared him up and gave him the Brita water, he was fine. The lady at the doggie boutique store there told us she was sure it was the water that made Rocky sick because no one drinks the water there.

So, maybe it depends where you live. We had a real deep well in Vermont and I could drink that water all day long!!

 

[RachelsaurusRexU]

CorgiPaws, where would one look for a good RO system like yours?

 

[CorgiPaws]

CorgiPaws, where would one look for a good RO system like yours?

Whoops, sorry I took a while to respond, been a bit busy lately.

I don't know any names of good businesses in your part of the country, but you want to look for a water softening company specifically, rather than going and purchasing a system from a big box place. Any softening business will carry RO systems. A system like mine is $500-$700 but WELL worth it in my opinion.

I guess when you're in my family, and your grandpa is "the water guy" I can be a bit of a water brat. lol.