Can't Get New Kitty to Drink Water

tumbleweed01 · Aug 13, 2012

I have an 8 month old kitty which I got about 2 months ago. She eats Fancy Feast Classic wet cat food and the only water she appears to be getting is from that food. I have a water dish out for her plus a cat water bubbler and a small fountain as well, so that makes several water sources available to her. In the 2 months I have had her, I have NEVER seen her drink from any of them however.

She approaches the bubbler and the fountain out of curiosity sometimes but as soon as she comes in contact with the water, she jumps back, appears startled and runs away from it. Also, she never even approaches her water dish at all. She is urinating in her litter box so she is obviously getting water somewhere. Our vet said that her canned food is 75% water so that seems to be where she is getting what water she takes in.

I am not comfortable thinking that the canned food is the only water she is getting. Over the long haul, I doubt if that is going to be enough to keep her kidneys and other organs healthy. I am stumped about what else to try however in order to get her to drink. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

(She's Clementine, the little striped cat in the image below. I'm still working on getting my photos organized)!

Clem_1.jpg

tumbleweed01
Aug 13, 2012

kittymeowmeow7 · Aug 13, 2012

It's wonderful to read stories from people who truly love their kittys. The first thing you should do, is get rid of your 'water bubbler' as soon as possible. She now associates that device in negative terms. Keeping it is actually counter productive. You were wise to at least try it, but not all kittys will become comfortable with it, much less drink out of it. There are plenty of things you can do to remedy this. Go to the webpage below. Read all of the first two pages. They will have a grey background. When your done, scroll down and read the two pages that follow the title, 'Tricks used to increase water consumption.' One of these should definately help. Remember the most important part of what you first read that had a grey background.

http://catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth

'Cats on canned food have been shown to consume at least double the amount of water (from food and water bowl) when compared to a dry food-fed cat. This results in approximately double the amount of urine flowing through the bladder.'

Your baby doesn't get to decide how much water she gets. That's your job. You make the rules. She is already way ahead of other cats purely based on the fact that she is getting wet food only. You can add a little water to each meal. She won't know the difference. I want to preface my next few statements. It wasn't long ago that I was feeding my cat the same type of canned food as you are. Having said that, let me say this. Water is the most important thing period. It really is. However, a proper balanced diet canned food cannot be found in any Walmart. Fancy Feast, and all the other 'brand' names, are better than the 'best' dry food on the market, but they are not adequate. I'd recommend you read the entire website that I'm leaving for you below. Her advice saved my cats life. I wasn't aware on how a few changes in what I was feeding my cat, made all the difference in how healthy they are each day, and how many years I would have them with me. Quality canned catfood CAN be had for an extremely good price, once you know which one to buy and where. Pet supermarkets get a bad name. People see $1.50 a can food and say, 'To heck with that.' You can find some of the best food available, for nearly the same price as 9 lives and all the others. I'd be happy to recommend a few if you'd like. Just update this post, and I'll send you my email. I have no associations with my recommendations by the way. This would only be advice from one cat lover to another.

Willowy · Aug 13, 2012

Um, the catinfo site actually recommends 9 Lives and Friskies, she even wonders if they might be better than the "higher quality" foods. But if you know of any that are cheaper, let us know!

As I understand it (calculating a cat's water needs and how much is in canned food, if I calculated right), a cat who eats nothing but wet food doesn't need to drink water. Especially since, at her age, she's probably eating around 3 cans of FF a day (right?). That's about 7 ounces of water, really more than enough. You can add more water if it makes you feel better but I don't think it's necessary. As her nutrition needs decrease, she may start drinking water since she'll be getting less from the food.

kittylover23 · Aug 14, 2012

Yep, Willowy is right. A cat who eats canned food normally doesn't need to drink water. Cats have a low thirst drive, meaning they get most of the moisture their body needs from the food that they eat. In fact, kitties only go over to their water bowl (if on a canned only diet) after a really hard playtime or when they are dehydrated. Now I am not an expert in any means, but have observed this from my kitties many times. If your kitty is not dehydrated (to check perform a skin elasticity test) than there is really no need for water if she is eating canned food.

tumbleweed01 · Aug 15, 2012

Willowy said:
Especially since, at her age, she's probably eating around 3 cans of FF a day (right?).

tumbleweed01 · Aug 15, 2012

>>Just update this post, and I'll send you my email. I have no associations with my recommendations by the way. This would only be advice from one cat lover to another.<<

I would appreciate that info very much. I never went into FF thinking that would be a permanent diet for her and am very much open to other brands/types of canned food. Also, another problem I have with this is the fact that sometimes I have to leave her alone for long periods of times, say from very early morning to very late at night (and possibly even a full day or so). That would mean that she could have to go for a much longer period of time with just canned food than might be good for her.

My last cat, who just passed away at age 16 had been on a diet of feline/ID canned food along with Science Diet dry food. This diet was at my vet's recommendation. The advantage to it was that kitty always had some dry food available if I were away for a long time and she couldn't get her canned food.

I frankly don't know how to solve this problem with my new cat with a diet of only canned food.

Willowy · Aug 15, 2012

Yeah, those bitty cans can really add up! In general, the larger the can, the less it costs per ounce. So if you can find something that comes in 13-ounce cans, that would be the most cost-effective (if she'll eat leftovers). EVO, California Natural, Wellness (I think that's actually a 12-ounce can), even Friskies paté would be OK.

One way to provide fresh canned food in the middle of the day is to freeze a serving, then put it out when you leave. It should thaw right in time for the next meal

.

bryanv21 · Aug 16, 2012

Willowy said:
Yeah, those bitty cans can really add up! In general, the larger the can, the less it costs per ounce. So if you can find something that comes in 13-ounce cans, that would be the most cost-effective (if she'll eat leftovers). EVO, California Natural, Wellness (I think that's actually a 12-ounce can), even Friskies paté would be OK.
One way to provide fresh canned food in the middle of the day is to freeze a serving, then put it out when you leave. It should thaw right in time for the next meal

.

That's an interesting idea.

First of all, so you can freeze a can of frozen food, without it exploding? I'd think the water in the can would expand and bust the can.

Secondly, even if the "exploding" thing is a non-issue, there's no problem leaving thawing wet food out all day?

There may be times I can't get home at night, so this idea would really help me out. I just want to make sure it's totally okay.

txcatmom · Aug 16, 2012

My canned food eating cats rarely visit the water bowl, but I don't worry since I've read that our house cats descended from desert animals. They are built to get their moisture from their food. I did make 2 little changes that caused them to visit the water bowl some....

1) Started offering filtered water. The tap water here tastes bad and I guess they noticed that too.

2) Moved the water bowls away from the food bowls. I read somewhere that they like a separation. Sure enough, I saw them visit the water bowl a little more after that.

ldg · Aug 16, 2012

BryanV21 said:
Willowy said:

Yeah, those bitty cans can really add up! In general, the larger the can, the less it costs per ounce. So if you can find something that comes in 13-ounce cans, that would be the most cost-effective (if she'll eat leftovers). EVO, California Natural, Wellness (I think that's actually a 12-ounce can), even Friskies paté would be OK.

One way to provide fresh canned food in the middle of the day is to freeze a serving, then put it out when you leave. It should thaw right in time for the next meal .

Click to expand...

That's an interesting idea.

First of all, so you can freeze a can of frozen food, without it exploding? I'd think the water in the can would expand and bust the can.

Secondly, even if the "exploding" thing is a non-issue, there's no problem leaving thawing wet food out all day?

There may be times I can't get home at night, so this idea would really help me out. I just want to make sure it's totally okay.

You don't put the can in the freezer. Many use ice cube trays, or small tupperware containers. You open the can, portion the food, and put THAT in the freezer. :nod:

And the cat will most likely eat it when it thaws. But it can be left out for a couple of hours fresh. I think I've seen up to two?

ldg · Aug 16, 2012

txcatmom said:
My canned food eating cats rarely visit the water bowl, but I don't worry since I've read that our house cats descended from desert animals. They are built to get their moisture from their food. I did make 2 little changes that caused them to visit the water bowl some....

1) Started offering filtered water. The tap water here tastes bad and I guess they noticed that too.

2) Moved the water bowls away from the food bowls. I read somewhere that they like a separation. Sure enough, I saw them visit the water bowl a little more after that.

My cats drank when they ate dry food. They pretty much stopped drinking water when we switched to an all canned diet, but the volume of pee still went up quite a bit.

What worked for me was using a lot of small bowls of water everywhere. If they didn't have to "seek it out," they drank more.

redvelvetone · Aug 16, 2012

yeah my cat does not drink any water and he's on an all wet diet (with some raw). Occasionally I see him dip his tongue in the water dish once and then move away.

When it's been extra hot here I've added a little bit of warm water into his wet to make sure he was hydrated enough.

Also he *loves* the water that comes out of canned chicken or tuna. I don't give him that that often but I do sometimes as a treat, and particularly on the very hot days.

That's his favorite thing in the world I think.

I'll have to try the water dishes in different places trick. I hadn't tried that yet .

just mike · Aug 16, 2012

Cats are geared to get most of their moisture from their food. They aren't like dogs that go to the water bowl. Continue with the wet diet for sure. Maybe take away the fountain but I would still leave fresh water out for her at all times. As long as she is not on a kibble diet your ADORABLE child should do well. I love reading posts like this

rosiemac · Aug 17, 2012

In the summer especially, l always put ice cubes in their water because that seems to encourage them

otto · Aug 17, 2012

My cats are canned fed and none of them drink water, ever. The water bowl is freshened twice a day, but they never use it.

Tumbleweed01 said:
Yes, she eats 3 cans of FF a day and I think she would eat much more if I would let her, perhaps 4-5 cans a day. She always seems hungry but even at 3 cans per day at $.55 - $.60 per can, the monthly food bill for her is not great for my budget. 4-5 cans per day would be even worse, close to $75 - $100.00 per month.

If she is hungry, she needs to be fed more. Remember kittens are growing every day, that is why they need so much more food than adult cats, in addition to being so active.

Is she skinny? Another reason a cat may act hungry is because of parasites. Has she been dewormed?

You can rotate the fancy feast with something like friskies, they are about the same in nutrition/quality. that will help stretch your budget.

purritocat · Aug 17, 2012

I suggest that you add 1/2 (food) can of water to the juices of her wet food.

I have done this when feeding feral cats and they lap it up.

jakey · Aug 25, 2012

Your kitten is adorable and looks perfectly healthy! Over 30 years of having cats and feeding almost only wet food, mine almost all barely drink water. Still, one must provide it at all times. Sometimes I think they just mysteriously have some when I'm not looking. Generally they really do get it mostly from their wet food. Many of mine enjoy playing with running water however, keep that bubbler going! The only times I've seen them drink much water is when it is a symptom of a kidney or urinary problem. Feeding wet food is what good, informed owners do as a hedge against illnesses.

As long as she seems happy, I think you can relax a little. Just keep enjoying her and observing as you do. Cats are pretty stoic and they don't say how they feel in our language. But if you do the things to keep her healthy and get her vet check-ups, you will probably know it if she really has any problems.

timoteo · Oct 30, 2015

I just add water to my boy's canned wet food. He loves slurping it and is never dehydrated. Just fill the empty can with a bit of water, swish it around and pour it into the bowl.

Can't Get New Kitty to Drink Water

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member