Induced Drinking in Dogs

Abstract

Summary

Osmotically equivalent hypertonic solutions of sodium chloride and sorbitol were injected hourly into the jugular veins of adult dogs; the drinking responses to each solution were compared for volume and latency. It is shown that over a period of hours an individual's volume intake produced by injection of a given volume of hypertonic solution tends to be constant while there is great variation in response to successive hourly stimuli. Individuals have characteristic latencies, though with a large range of variation at low stimulus strength. The alcohol can be as effective a stimulus as the salt, but it appears to be gradually inactivated, becoming proportionally less effective upon longer latency animals. While latency does not vary with magnitude of response, neither between a given dog's responses nor between individual averages, other tests made following recovery from nembutal produced increased drinking responses with shorter latencies.