Is Nitrate in Drinking Water a Problem?
Most people use home tap water to water their lawn. This is the same water that is used to fill the dog’s water dish.
Why is it that when you water your lawn with this water you get no grass burn, but when a dog pees on the lawn after drinking the same water, you get a burn? Clearly, the nitrates in drinking water are not burning the lawn!
It is quite obvious to me, that the high levels of urea are not from the drinking water, but from the rest of the dogs diet, and the report by McGill confirms this. A high meat diet contains a lot of protein, which contains high levels of nitrogen. This results in higher urea levels in the urine.
Nitrogen levels in drinking water are not the problem. So even if the Dog Rocks did as claimed, they would not reduce damage to the lawn.
This is where “Dog Rocks” come in. When placed in the pet’s drinking water, they supposedly reduce the problem of yellow grass by removing nitrates. These rocks are said to be special, permeated with pores that trap nitrates. But the promoters of this product offer no evidence for their claims. There are no studies that show that nitrates in drinking water make a significant contribution to the nitrogen compounds in urine, or that these rocks can actually remove nitrates from water.
Even if the rocks removed nitrates, for which there is no evidence, the change in the nitrate concentration in the urine would be insignificant. Basically, there is no theoretical reason to think that Dog Rocks should work and there is no practical evidence that they do. Dog Rocks don’t rock.
“Dog Rocks” are supposed to solve the problem of grass dying from dog pee. Urine contains a variety of nitrogen compounds, mostly metabolites of protein in food. These are effective fertilizers, but in the case of urine, they supply too much nitrogen relative to other nutrients and grass suffers the consequences. Drinking water also contains naturally occurring nitrates that can eventually show up in the urine.
Will dogs go potty on pea gravel?
Pea gravel The most popular material for dog potty areas is, without a doubt, pea gravel. This finely ground gravel essentially acts as kitty litter for your dog — it drains well and doesn’t wash or blow away in the rain and wind.
