water

how much water should a cat drink? My cats eat an entirely dry diet and I'm worried since that usually means they will not get all the needed water. So I was wondering how much water they actually need each day.

Not sure how much. But my cats always drank water. I feed both dry and canned. Sometimes I'll add extra hot water to the canned (if I forget to get it out of the fridge for 1/2 hr), so I know they are getting enough.

They need around 1oz of water per pound of body weight per day.

If your cat is soley eating dry food, they should be making up the difference in moisture by drinking double the amount of water. That is tough to measure, obviously....but general observation should tell you roughly if your cat is compensating. Each cat is going to be different but one eating dry only should be drinking double the amount in water. Check with your vet.

Wet foods already contain a high percentage of water, some nearly 80%, I believe. I don't care for an exclusively wet/exclusively dry diet;I like both to maximize nutritional value (hydration, which affects many other conditions such as constipation, kidneys, crystals/utis, hairballs, etc....dental care, which can also lead to other health issues, etc, etc...)

But many factors can contribute to how much water or how little water a cat is drinking at any given time. It's good to know what is 'typical' for your cat so you could tell your vet and to watch for changes.

I encourage water drinking by having a few different water 'stations', always fresh, and toss a few ice cubes in here and there. One water station is actually a pet water fountain, on the countertop (safe from kids and playing into a cat's preference for vertical space). Keep the bowls clean and fresh.

I have a couple cats who insist on a trickle of tap water a couple times a day as well. I tend to indulge them

Thanks that helps a lot! I do plan to add wet food to their diets later but my parents are old fashioned thinkers (wet food rots teeth) so it came as a surprise that I wanted to get it. Plus we just switched dry foods so I want to go easy on the kitties tummies and not change too much at once. Plus I'm confusing my dad by making him go get these foods at new places (he always could get our old food at the grocery store), so once my dad adjusts I'll have him start picking up a can or two when he goes to the pet store for other stuff. I actually have a syringe without the needle and I had to use that to give medicine to Willie, so to get him used to it I filled it with water first and gave it to him, I tried it on Neko too. Neko actually enjoyed drinking the water from it so now after every meal I get three syringe fulls into Neko after breakfast and dinner. Willie won't stand for it though. I really worry about liver failure and crystals so that is why I am concerned about water. Hopefully we will start wet food within the next few months.

In the warmer months I add ice cubes to the cats' water bowl; they like to bash the cubes around.