water

how much should an 8 week old kitten be drinking of water. Since the vet said hes a little dehyradrated i figured id start force drinking water to get him some more.

It depends some on what he is eating. If it is wet food - he doesnt need to drink so much. It it is mainly dry food - he should drink quite a lot.

Try with several drinking cups in different places. Made of different materials ceramic-clay, stainless steel, even one in plastic. Fresh water in most, but in one stale water. (some cats prefer stale water!).


I presume there are drinking fountains for cats in US too?? feks Drinkwell or Cat-it. Many catowners witness theirs cats are now drinking much and freely and with enjoyment.

If you forcefeed (necessary sometimes, feks in hot summers), use a syringe - without needle of course, or eyedropper. In the corner of the mouth ACROSS the mouth, NOT down the neck. Best and easiest is if one holds, one forcefeeds the water.

Today he liked drinking from my girlfriends cup, as does my other cat. I forcefed him a syringe of water, took it really good. im just gonna make sure i see more than just a dot in his urine.

Yes, if they pee only a dot it is way too little. It is also dangerous for kidneys, too little pee means different crystals normal in urine and kidney and urine ducts arent washed out properly and urinestones are building up.
One more reason why the cats, especielly male cats, must drink in sufficient amounts.

I would honestly be careful with forcefeeding him water. As an 8 week old I would be worried about asperating him [[getting water into his lungs]]. It doesn't surprise me he was a little dehydrated. At 8 weeks he's still trying to figure out what he's supposed to be eating, and trying to find a routine. I would just monitor how much he's drinking by himself. If anything he should be going for water at least twice a day. A good way to check for dehydration is pinch the skin between his shoulder blades it should fold back down immediatly. if it kind of sits there he could be dehydrated, if it goes down slowly he could be a little dehydrated. In the event he's still a bit dehydrated, I would offer him some canned food and still monitor the drinking, if he isn't wanting to drink water, there could be an underlying problem.

ya the vet told us about the pinching skin thing, and i do it to him, it goes down right away, but doesnt but not at a fast rate like it should.

I second StefanZ's suggestion to try a pet fountain. Prego and Polly love theirs. I had the fountain before I had Polly so I can't say if she drinks more with it, but Prego definitely drinks more since I have gotten it. The only downside is that they take more time and effort to clean than just a regular plain water bowl.

I use clumping litter and when I first got Polly at 11 weeks, her pee clumps were about the size of a ping-pong ball.