Cat refuses to drink

Hello

I have a question. I can't get my kitten to drink. If I put plain milk down, he will lap up a little bit, but not a lot, water or watered down milk is completley ignored. It's not that much of a problem if I work early shifts, as my daughter feeds him before school at 9am and I am back by about 4:30pm, but if I work "normal" shifts, we leave the house by 9am and aren't back before 6:30pm, so I would like to leave some dry food out, for little hunger pangs. He is only 9 weeks old, so I would think he needs more than just 2-3 feeds a day, and he is always starving when we get home. I have tried to feed him wet food in the morning and evening and leave some dry out for day and night time snacks, but the water bowl is still untouched, and I don't like giving too much milk (and it's not like he drinks much of it anyway...if I give him half a cup, most of it stays untouched).

What can I do regarding his feeds ? (and no, it wasn't my idea to get a kitten with both of us out of the house most of the time.... I wanted a cat of at least 10 years of age, but the cat shelter refused me, as we cannot fit a cat-flap and the cat can only have "assisted" access to the garden.....)

I have not personally had this problem, although my cats love running water... the tabletop fountain in my living room is their favorite. They will also avoide water that is not changed and cold. I am in the habbit of changing the water when I wake up and again when I get home from work and once befor I go to bed.
Also have you explored the possibility that the cat is drinking from a different source, for example the toilet, a dripping focet in the sink, overfilled plant, or even sucking on a damp facecloth. I know it may sound wierd but cat's are generally wierd in cute yet indifferent ways.

A lot of cats don't tolerate milk well, but if your little guys likes it and suffers no ill effects from it, then give him about an eighth of a cup in the morning. It would be fine to leave dry food down for grazing while you are out during the day. Make sure you are also giving at least two small cans per day of the moist kitten food in as high a quality as you can afford to supplement his diet.

As for the water, I had a similar problem here so I bought a water fountain for the cats and have no problems anymore. There are a lot of threads about the different water'ers in the Grooming section of these forums, but unfortunately, the search function is currently disabled so I can't cite them for you at the moment. Once that is enabled again, I will come back and see what I can find for you.

Also, cats get a lot of their fluids from the canned food. So you may not see him drinking a lot of water. Is he dehydrated at all? Are you familiar with the skin pinch test to see if he is? Pinch up a flap of skin right behind the neck and let it go quickly. If it snaps back with no hesitation or is tight to the underlying tissue, he is well hydrated and there is no problem, but if the skin stays up instead of snapping right back, then you might want to have your vet take a look at him.

Best of luck,

~gf~

Something I have had great success with besides the pet fountains, is to take a glass bowl, fill it with water and put aquarium rock (washed and drained) or pebbles from outside, washed and drained, or marbles, or something on the bottom so the kitty can see it. They then recognize that water is there and will start to drink.

ok, Milk is off the menu - he has runny poos now (yikes they stink). It's not that bad, and he still makes it to the litter box, but it doesn't look healthy. I checked the cat food I am feeding has 82% moisture, so I guess it is no wonder that he isnt drinking. I guess I will just give wet food moring and evening and leave some nibbles out for the day.

Currently he is haning off the top of the Net Curtains looking out of the window.... so I guess he is healthy enough....

When you say the water bowl is untouched, he may have been drinking from it still and you haven't noticed the teensy amount the water level has gone down. At 9 weeks, he'll only drink about 1/4 to 1/3 cup a day so you won't notice any major differences in the water level.

You can get cat milk at just about any supermarket (Whiskas). Also, where is his water bowl? Cats don't like it next to their food bowl, as they wouldn't find their water right next to their food "in the wild". In addition to a water fountain, you could try having several water bowls throughout the house, or adding a little unsalted chicken broth to the water.

Originally Posted by madpiano

Hello

I have a question. I can't get my kitten to drink. If I put plain milk down, he will lap up a little bit, but not a lot, water or watered down milk is completley ignored. It's not that much of a problem if I work early shifts, as my daughter feeds him before school at 9am and I am back by about 4:30pm, but if I work "normal" shifts, we leave the house by 9am and aren't back before 6:30pm, so I would like to leave some dry food out, for little hunger pangs. He is only 9 weeks old, so I would think he needs more than just 2-3 feeds a day, and he is always starving when we get home. I have tried to feed him wet food in the morning and evening and leave some dry out for day and night time snacks, but the water bowl is still untouched, and I don't like giving too much milk (and it's not like he drinks much of it anyway...if I give him half a cup, most of it stays untouched).

What can I do regarding his feeds ? (and no, it wasn't my idea to get a kitten with both of us out of the house most of the time.... I wanted a cat of at least 10 years of age, but the cat shelter refused me, as we cannot fit a cat-flap and the cat can only have "assisted" access to the garden.....)

Click to expand...

cat are designed NOT to have thirst drive. They are designed to get all the water they eat from their natural prey. Continue feeding him wet food and I sugget adding little bit of extra water to the wet food. Dry food LEADS to dehydration, so you oughta cut that out completely for that and other reaons.

Originally Posted by madpiano

ok, Milk is off the menu - he has runny poos now (yikes they stink). It's not that bad, and he still makes it to the litter box, but it doesn't look healthy. I checked the cat food I am feeding has 82% moisture, so I guess it is no wonder that he isnt drinking. I guess I will just give wet food moring and evening and leave some nibbles out for the day.

Currently he is haning off the top of the Net Curtains looking out of the window.... so I guess he is healthy enough....

Click to expand...

Now that he's off the milk his poo ought to become more solid and less stinky in a couple of days. If it doesn't, there's a possibility of worms or other parasites and it would be good to have a vet examine him -- they'll want a fecal sample to examine for signs of worms.

Not sure if this will help, but MoMo is a funny cat...if I put a bowl of water down she wont touch it. Soon as I head to bed with my bedside glass of water....she's following me up the stairs. I've come to realize she thinks she human....and wants to drink out of a glass. I tried getting a plastic cup and she won't touch it. So I put a glass of water on the table everyday and she's happy. Gotta love having a cat with personality LOL

I just recently (before Christmas) purchase a pet fountain and our two are definitely drinking a lot more. I also moved the water away from the food dishes.

It's good that you leave some dry food out while you are gone during the day so the little fellow can eat on and off all day. Young kitties need to eat more often than grown cats. Also I would be sure to feed him kitten food as there is a difference between kitten food and adult cat food.