: Can I give my dog an ice cube from time to time? I see a lot of conflicting advice online. I have a 2-year-old, 66 lb. boxer-ridgeback (probably, we're not sure), that, at some point was given an ice cube and loved it. Whenever

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In winter or spring (and in some places, all year), there is very little difference between the temperature of an ice cube and the temperature of water flowing in a stream or river or standing in a puddle, both of which water sources dogs and people presumably evolved to use. Humans and dogs generate a lot of heat internally that soon melts the ice and warms the resulting water to the animal's body temperature. Dogs have very sensitive mouths, perhaps the dog likes the feel of the ice in its mouth. It may be crunching the ice it enjoys; I had a dog that loved to crunch up plastic bottles - it did not eat them, it just loved the sounds and the feel in its mouth.
In short, I cannot say 100% that eating the ice causes no harm, but for the reasons I state, I think it is safe.

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I have never heard this before and can't find any reliable information to back it up, nor does it make any sense.

I could find no vet on record as saying that it could cause a problem. Multiple sites dedicated to investigating such kinds of claims found it to also be false (notably Snopes and Hoax Slayer.) There is simply no verifiable or reliable evidence that ice water causes bloat.

Bloat is a real condition and drinking too fast is a possible cause, so the closest it could come would be if your dog drank faster because the water was colder, it could potentially be problematic, but not directly due to being ice water or ice cubes.