Convincing cat to drink more

lazer · Dec 13, 2016

Our cats are both on wet food, one on home made raw and the other on grain free wet. Rigel (the one on raw) has a history of urinary problems caused by a badly done unrelated procedure and since then he has been visiting the internal medicine specialist every 6 months for blood and urine tests. All the tests check out fine except for one: at the last couple of checkins we've been told his urine concentration is slightly too high. The vet said it is nothing too worrying but while on one hand it shows that the kidneys are functioning well, on the other it is a sign that we should try to get him to drink more water.

Unfortunately he rarely drinks aside from his meals. We use TCFeline premix and add a little extra water, so his food is very moist. We have tried a number of other things to encourage him to drink more. They include but are not limited to:

* Numerous water fountains of different kinds (he destroys them)

* Ice cubes in water

* Chicken broth ice cubes

* A few drops of tuna in water (but I am very hesitant to use fish-anything as I'm not comfortable feeding him seafood with his urinary history)

* Trying to play with him in the water, throwing his bouncy balls in there

* Seeing if he'll drink from the tap

* Bringing home some snow (from a clean location)

* Multiple bowls of different types around the house, making sure they're always clean with no filmy residue on the edges

* Feeding wet Royal Canin Urinary S/O which increases thirst (this works when he eats enough of it, but he is also not a fan and usually just takes a few bites and walks away)

Tonight I am going to make chicken soup for him and try to give him some warm chicken broth to see if he'll have any. The thing is he is not a very food-motivated cat in general. He is currently underweight because his appetite never fully recovered after his hospital stays. We get as much food as we can into him and he is healthy and energetic, but he just isn't super into eating so any flavoring related thing we add is likely to not have much of an effect on him.

Does anyone have any other suggestions on what I can try to convince him to drink more?

Thanks!

greypaws · Dec 13, 2016

New cat owner, take what I say with grain of salt. My adopted cat has FLUD and I've been reading till my eyes are crossed. It is my understanding that the fish bones, not the actual fish meat, that raises the phosphorous levels, which may lead to urinary crystals. The smaller the fish, the less time it needs in the ocean to reach maturity, so less chances of mercury and other poisoning. Look at sardines and anchovies, human grade and see if this might work as a topper to get your little one to eat. In any case, wishing you the best.

I know from my own experience, it's hard to get them to drink beyond what is in their canned food. I'm not feeding any dry, just canned RC feline urinary, split into 3 meals. If mine comes up clear in 2 weeks, I"m probably going to switch to Weruva there are two that are chicken/turkey based with 10% protein & low phosphorous. I'd continue with the RC except that it has carrageenan.

lazer · Dec 13, 2016

Greypaws said:
New cat owner, take what I say with grain of salt. My adopted cat has FLUD and I've been reading till my eyes are crossed. It is my understanding that the fish bones, not the actual fish meat, that raises the phosphorous levels, which may lead to urinary crystals. The smaller the fish, the less time it needs in the ocean to reach maturity, so less chances of mercury and other poisoning. Look at sardines and anchovies, human grade and see if this might work as a topper to get your little one to eat. In any case, wishing you the best.

I know from my own experience, it's hard to get them to drink beyond what is in their canned food. I'm not feeding any dry, just canned RC feline urinary, split into 3 meals. If mine comes up clear in 2 weeks, I"m probably going to switch to Weruva there are two that are chicken/turkey based with 10% protein & low phosphorous. I'd continue with the RC except that it has carrageenan.

Thanks for the reply! Phosphorus and mercury are not the only concerns I have with fish, here is one of a few overviews of possible problems with feeding fish, it being a common allergen for cats being one of them: http://www.littlebigcat.com/nutrition/why-fish-is-dangerous-for-cats/

However I am not against adding some fish in small amounts so I will certainly look more into stuff like sardines. I just doubt I would feel safe to flavor anything with sardines on a frequent enough basis for it to make that much difference to his day-to-day hydration

I'll look into it further though, thanks again!

sargon · Dec 13, 2016

You might have better luck with some of the stainless steel pioneer pet fountains ( put the split cable covers over he cable if that is the point of failure) holding up.

You also may want to use fresh, filtered water Tap water has a lot of chlorine in it by default, and your cat may not like that taste, so filtering that out of the water may make it more paletable (you can get filtered water quite cheaply at many grocery stores, or you can install your own ( just be sure you either get a filter rated for chloramines if your municipal water supply uses that instead of chlorine.)

Another option is to drop a bit of kibble in a water bowl to add flavor ( my cat likes this, anyhow)

lazer · Dec 13, 2016

Sargon said:
You might have better luck with some of the stainless steel pioneer pet fountains ( put the split cable covers over he cable if that is the point of failure) holding up.

You also may want to use fresh, filtered water Tap water has a lot of chlorine in it by default, and your cat may not like that taste, so filtering that out of the water may make it more paletable (you can get filtered water quite cheaply at many grocery stores, or you can install your own ( just be sure you either get a filter rated for chloramines if your municipal water supply uses that instead of chlorine.)

Another option is to drop a bit of kibble in a water bowl to add flavor ( my cat likes this, anyhow)

Thank you, these are brand new ideas I haven't tried before. I will start with getting a small bag of kibble and dropping a few pieces in, and then get a filter and the water fountain you recommend in January (too many spendings in december to buy yet another water fountain to potentially go to the water-fountain-graveyard now

)

kirathecat · Dec 13, 2016

My two cents on getting more water into a cat:

Mine is mostly on homemade raw diet but I give him 1 serving of grain free canned food turned into 'soup': 1 - 1.5oz of canned food + 3 to 5 teaspoons of warm water, mix really well in a little plastic container (I use the one from noosa yogurt), close the lid and put it in anything filled with really warm water for a few minutes and then serve your kitty - result is really smelly warm dish that my cat gobbles down with much enthusiasm.

Maybe this could work for you as well.

lazer · Dec 13, 2016

KiraTheCat said:
My two cents on getting more water into a cat:

Mine is mostly on homemade raw diet but I give him 1 serving of grain free canned food turned into 'soup': 1 - 1.5oz of canned food + 3 to 5 teaspoons of warm water, mix really well in a little plastic container (I use the one from noosa yogurt), close the lid and put it in anything filled with really warm water for a few minutes and then serve your kitty - result is really smelly warm dish that my cat gobbles down with much enthusiasm.

Maybe this could work for you as well.

I will definitely try this (maybe even tonight), thank you. He turns his nose up at most wet food (so basically the only thing he eats fairly consistently is his raw, but I am trying to get him used to more variety) but there is one flavor of grain free MAC's that our other cat eats that he takes a couple of bites of now and then, so I will see if we have any more cans of it left and give it a go. I just tried the warm chicken broth and *neither* of our cats went for it! Even the "vacuum cleaner" cat wasn't into it.

greypaws · Dec 14, 2016

When I asked in another thread about the best food to feed my FLUD cat, one poster said you need to pick you battles. I have to agree. I'm certainly no cat nutritionist but even I can see that with any commercial foods, there are both upside and downsides to each brand. The littlebigcat link while an interesting read, doesn't include one link to the scientific research to back up the claims. All that said, my common sense agrees, most likely feral cats left to their own would not go fishing in a stream for their dinner but I bet if there was one flopping on the rocks, they'd retrieve and eat it. My common sense also tells me that a feral cat will hunt and eat anything smaller them, so mice, moles, song birds and baby rabbits would probably be a staple of their diet. I personally can't see any cat strolling thru a veggie garden and eating potatoes or peas or greens. Nor can I see them taking down a turkey, chicken cow, kangaroo or deer. Not to say any of these foods are bad for our cats but if you want to duplicate what they'd get in the wild, I'd guess we have start hunting for fresh field mice, song birds & baby bunnies. Go to any slaughterhouse and see how chickens, turkeys and cows are processed and then see what left over parts end up in the canned cat food and dog food for that matter.

All that said, back to pick you battles. It seems to me if you cat is reluctant to eat & drink, anything is fine in moderation. Make whatever you think are the best choice for your little one. Genetics play a huge roll in every creatures life. I had 3 male cats whom ate dry kibble for their whole life without any urinary or cancer issues. Never gave the water consumption thing a thought either. Years later I adopt a FLUD and now I'm on board with everyone on this forum, what are the best choices I can make for him, what will clear the blood in his urine and what can he eat so he doesn't grow crystals and possibly require a late nite Evet run or surgery? I'm feeding Royal Canine Feline Urinary right now. Prescription food that has no medicines in, just a great marketing plan by the companies, and one of the ingredients is carrageenan which is an autoimmune/cancer agent. Why on earth are the companies adding something like this and then proclaim it's a healthy prescription food that can be fed for life? Pick you battles is all I can say

lazer · Dec 14, 2016

Greypaws said:
When I asked in another thread about the best food to feed my FLUD cat, one poster said you need to pick you battles. I have to agree. I'm certainly no cat nutritionist but even I can see that with any commercial foods, there are both upside and downsides to each brand. The littlebigcat link while an interesting read, doesn't include one link to the scientific research to back up the claims. All that said, my common sense agrees, most likely feral cats left to their own would not go fishing in a stream for their dinner but I bet if there was one flopping on the rocks, they'd retrieve and eat it. My common sense also tells me that a feral cat will hunt and eat anything smaller them, so mice, moles, song birds and baby rabbits would probably be a staple of their diet. I personally can't see any cat strolling thru a veggie garden and eating potatoes or peas or greens. Nor can I see them taking down a turkey, chicken cow, kangaroo or deer. Not to say any of these foods are bad for our cats but if you want to duplicate what they'd get in the wild, I'd guess we have start hunting for fresh field mice, song birds & baby bunnies. Go to any slaughterhouse and see how chickens, turkeys and cows are processed and then see what left over parts end up in the canned cat food and dog food for that matter.

All that said, back to pick you battles. It seems to me if you cat is reluctant to eat & drink, anything is fine in moderation. Make whatever you think are the best choice for your little one. Genetics play a huge roll in every creatures life. I had 3 male cats whom ate dry kibble for their whole life without any urinary or cancer issues. Never gave the water consumption thing a thought either. Years later I adopt a FLUD and now I'm on board with everyone on this forum, what are the best choices I can make for him, what will clear the blood in his urine and what can he eat so he doesn't grow crystals and possibly require a late nite Evet run or surgery? I'm feeding Royal Canine Feline Urinary right now. Prescription food that has no medicines in, just a great marketing plan by the companies, and one of the ingredients is carrageenan which is an autoimmune/cancer agent. Why on earth are the companies adding something like this and then proclaim it's a healthy prescription food that can be fed for life? Pick you battles is all I can say

Sorry, I'm not sure if your reply was intended for a different thread! This thread was about convincing my cat to drink more, not dietary choices (we already know what food he does well on and prefers to eat the most of, there is no battle on that front other than getting him used to a higher variety of food as time goes on).

greypaws · Dec 14, 2016

lazer said:
Sorry, I'm not sure if your reply was intended for a different thread! This thread was about convincing my cat to drink more, not dietary choices (we already know what food he does well on and prefers to eat the most of, there is no battle on that front other than getting him used to a higher variety of food as time goes on).

Sorry disregard, you mentioned feeding fish and a link in an earlier post on this thread, which is what I was commenting on. Yes it had nothing to do with getting kitty to drink more water, unless a salty fish topper might be an encouragement, if you chose to do that.

lazer · Dec 14, 2016

Greypaws said:
Sorry disregard, you mentioned feeding fish and a link in an earlier post on this thread, which is what I was commenting on. Yes it had nothing to do with getting kitty to drink more water, unless a salty fish topper might be an encouragement, if you chose to do that.

Ah I see! I will definitely not be feeding them any fish based foods, but I will do more reading about possibly offering water flavored with some sardines as we discussed earlier if that will help get him to drink more. Have to do more research before deciding, but also he has acted kind of unenthused about tuna juice in the past so not holding up much hope of it being too successful. We shall see!

ailish · Dec 14, 2016

I do what many people do, and that is add water to canned wet. I mean, we're talking soup. She slurps the water right down and then eats the food. She drinks no plain water at all, although it is always available. She pees a bunch, so I assume she's getting enough to drink.

lazer · Dec 14, 2016

Ailish said:
I do what many people do, and that is add water to canned wet. I mean, we're talking soup. She slurps the water right down and then eats the food. She drinks no plain water at all, although it is always available. She pees a bunch, so I assume she's getting enough to drink.

His food is quite soupy also, but if I make it too sloshy he just won't eat it at all. I am actually surprised that his urine concentration is still high, even if just a little, considering his food is so moist. He does also pee very sizeable amounts.

LTS3 · Dec 15, 2016

There are tips here: http://www.thecatsite.com/a/tips-to-increase-your-cat-s-water-intake

lazer · Dec 15, 2016

LTS3 said:
There are tips here: http://www.thecatsite.com/a/tips-to-increase-your-cat-s-water-intake

Thank you. I have read this and already tried the vast majority of these ideas as per the list in my original post. We discussed the filtering and "soup water" further up in this thread which is on my list to try next.

Convincing cat to drink more

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