Water Consumption

Today as I was refilling the water bowl that I put upstairs and the ones down stairs, I realized that the ones downstairs are not going down. So they are all drinking from the one upstairs. So in relation to that, and the fact that the bowl the water is in only holds 1.75 cups of water. I'm thinking that smokie not drinking too much. Because I refilled the bowl twice each day, but I refill it after it's half empty with fresh water. So if I look at it that way. 6 Cats and they've all been drinking from it today, and they went through 1.75 total cups for 6 cats so far today..that maybe they are not drinking enough.

Though I've decided that twice a month I am going to each put them in a room for 24 hours to monitor exactly how much each is drinking/eating/peeing/pooping. This way if one of them suddenly starts drinking more than normal or bathroom habits change, I can nip it in the bud early. Does anyone else do this with their cats? Also, I'm thinking for Christmas of getting a water fountain for them. For those that have them, how long do they usually last and have they had success with cats liking to drink out of them?

Also speaking of water. I live in the country and have well water. We have to have the water softened with water softener (salt). Should I be concerned about the added salt in the water? There is one faucet that isn't softened and that's the kitchen faucet which I have switched to filling their water bowl with.

Attitude and Nuts took to their fountain but they were also kittens, but Maude who was around 10 took to it right away as well.

I use bottled water for mine, I don't trust the well water here. I only use the well water when I boil water for pasta and stuff, and obviously bathing. We also back up right onto a farmer's corn or soybean(depending on year, he rotates them) field and lord only knows how much leeches into the wells here, not to mention when b*tch lived here she burned all sorts of things(mattresses, etc) and who knows what she did that might have got into the wells. Mitzi is the same way, she uses all bottled for her and her dogs.

They are replacing a water line for the air force base, the line runs right across the street from us, and we are stuck on wells like it would take that much to hook us up to the city water supply.

Taryn

Well when we bought this house in 08 we had the water tested before they set us up with a water softener. And the guy said that we actually have very good well water. We are about a mile or so away from the lake here. I was amazed because we have a farmers field right in back of the house and I know they use some god awful fertilizer. On hot days I swear you almost want to die from the smell. It smells like something is rotting. EWWW. But the water test showed that we actually have really good water. I have had water straight from the tap and it actually tastes better than the water we had from the city before we moved into the country.

What I might do is use filtered water. We have a pur filtered water jug in the refrigerator. I notice that when I pour that water into a water bowl they seem to drink from it more. I did that last night.

But my main concern was the salt that we add to the water if that could hurt them in anyway.

I would never be able to go without a water fountain now and all of my cats love it! We used to have a CatIt fountain and it was great, but it got broken at a party we had once. We then bought a FreshFlow, and although it is alright, we much prefered the CatIt.

I don't know whether softened water is a problem for them. I wouldn't think there's enough salt in it to be a concern, though. Is that the water you drink? If it isn't noticeably salty-tasting (I assume it isn't) it's probably fine for them too.
I personally use filtered water for everyone, human, feline and canine. It tastes better and is healthier, IMO.

No it's not salty at all. I have been putting filtered water in their bowl upstairs and I have seen them all drinking more of it. So they must like the filtered stuff. That and it's cold from the fridge. I feel better knowing that it's filtered too. I'll look into the water fountains. I'm sure a few of them would drink from it. Not sure about one of the cats though He's scared of everything, even his own shadow lol. You could look at him funny and he runs. Such a sweetie though.