Water for cat with kidney disease

[sebbycat]

Hello everyone,

My diabetic cat Sebastian has kidney disease but he has no real symptoms yet, just his creatinine is high. It was discovered in his pre dental bloodwork. He is acting totally normal. The problem is he doesn't drink any water that I see and his water bowl is always full. I got a fountain for him, but I haven't seen him use it in 4 weeks. But I have been able to add 3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) water to his wet food total every day. Is this good enough? Is it too much? It's crazy I am worried about him getting enough water now after I was so happy he stopped drinking so much as his diabetes got under control. He is almost 9 years old and is an 18lb. cat (he needs to be closer to 14lbs but it's been slow going) and his diabetes is possibly in remission, the vet is trying him on no insulin currently to see. His liver enzymes were also discovered to be high on his bloodwork, but he has no real symptoms associated with that yet either, but he is going to start on denamarin soon once it comes in at the vet.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

What I found was that a cat should drink about 2 T per pound every day. However, he is eating wet food, so that's additional water in his diet. Or, by all means, call your vet and ask what you should be shooting for! That's one of those questions he should be happy to answer. My girl, thankfully, sucks back water like a camel in August. Drove me nuts for awhile, worrying about diabetes, but no, she's just fat and thirsty. Her glucose and A1Cs are textbook normal.

 

[Antonio65]

I was told a cat should drink about 2 ml/kg/h per day.
So a 4 kg cat should drink about 190 ml a day.
The moisture in the wet food contributes to this quota. So, if your cat isn't drinking from the bowl, you can add some water in the food.
I add about 40 ml water a day to their wet food.

 

[LTS3]

Every cat is different so there isn't any sort of rule of how much water a cat needs to drink daily. More water is better than not enough water IMO. Keep the bowl and fountain clean and filled with fresh water. Add extra water to the food.

You may also get helpful info at the FelineDiabetes.com message board. Many members there have diabetic cats who also have kidney disease.