water

I live at the beach and drink city water filtered through a filter that hooks onto my faucet. I've noticed if I leave water in a glass overnight, it gets a mark all the way around the glass at water level. The locals have said this is because it is "hard water". Is it safe to drink? I'm giving Sierra bottled water just in case. On that topic, which is better for her, "spring water" or "drinking water"?

I've always gave Sash bottled water(spring water). I don't have a filter on my water so I feel much better with him having the bottled water. Lisa & Sash


http://pages.ivillage.com/lisalee992 (Sash's website)

I give my cat bottled water, but I've heard that if the water is purified water, i.e. it's tap water they filtered a million times, it could lose some of the natural minerals that are good for cats (and people). So spring water might be best. The water I get is purified but it also says "enhanced with minerals for a pure, fresh taste" so I don't worry about it.

My cats and I drink bottled water. But if I am not looking they managed to drink water from puddles after it rained, water from the swimming pool and tap water. They were not affected at all.

The term "hard water" means the water contains a large amount of dissolved minerals in it. That in it self, should do no harm. In fact, many of these minerals are good for you. I would only consider bottled spring water if you had a high lead or bacteria content in your water. There are some good filters you can buy that will remove most of the lead if that is the problem. I would also consider bottled water if your water source came from a well and if the ground water was contaminated by chemical pollutants. If you have well water, that can be tested to make sure it is safe. Other than that, hard water is safe. I have hard city water here as well, that comes from lake Erie.

We also drink bottled water as well as the cats. We also have 'hard water' in our town as well.

We use a Brita pitcher to filter our drinking water and give Snowball the same filtered water.