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So does anyone else have a cat that just refuses to drink water?!
We adopted our cat when he was about 5 months old maybe. We discovered fairly quickly after a couple emergency room visits that he had a problem. They said it's this FLUTD (feline lower urinary tract disease) but I"m still not positive that's it - either way, he has an issue. Basically if he doesn't get enough liquids, he doesn't poop! And when you don't poop... well it's no good.
So we switched him to an all wet food diet. And at the advice of the vet gave him a primarily chicken (not seafood) diet. We also got him one of those fancy water fountains. For a while there he was great... he loved his fountain! Then all of a sudden, he just stopped touching it! Wanted nothing to do with it. We cleaned it a couple times, throroughly rinsed & dried it, even used filtered bottled water. Nothing. We leave out bowls of clean water for him - bottled and tap - nothing.
One day we mixed a little water from a can of tuna with a little water and he drank it all. But that was it, 2nd time - nothing.
He gets Miralax (regular people Miralax to help "move things a long") every other day and he eats his wet food and he uses his litter box with no issues. But it still worries me that he won't touch any water. We're really dependent now on him getting his liquid solely through his food which leaves us in trouble days he doesn't eat much or when we can't be home for a night or something.
Any similar experiences with a cat who won't drink water? Any success in getting them to???
Ours drinks water on his own (thank goodness), and he'll agree to eat some wet food for moisture. He gets the same water we use--bottled--and I freeze ice cubes using that. When he hears the cubes go into his bowl, he comes running. Chasing those cubes around the bowl is a game to him, plus he ends up licking them, too.
Wow, that is weird. What does your Vet say ? Every cat I have known loves water, our 3 go through a big dispenser of it every couple of days and the ferals I feed will sit there and drink a lot of it that I put out too.
cats tend to like running water. something about evolutionary things and running water being "cleaner". my cats sit by my tub when it drips to catch the water LOL. but try one of those cat water fountains. they're like 30 bucks at petsmart/related stores. my cats love them. they still prefer the bath water tho
Running water helps for most cats once they adjust to it. Not all though. My cat spent the last 5 years or thereabouts of her life drinking from a Drinkwell fountain which has a true running stream of water not unlike a faucet. She drank right from the stream and even through her kidney disease time seemed to drink plenty. Another cat we had would not take to drinking from a fountain even after trying a couple different types.
I would suggest trying it though.
Another thing I learned much more recently: put a little distance between the water bowl and the food bowl. Cats in the wild don't eat and drink in the same places. Now I never noticed a problem having them together, but some cats may end up drinking more if you spread them out a bit. Not necessarily opposite corners of the house but several feet apart might be good. Along the same lines, multiple bowls in different places might be good too.
Getting most water intake via food is the natural way of cats in the wild, so if he is eating wet food ONLY (no dry kibble) then it may not actually be that huge of a concern. But it wouldn't hurt to try one or more of the above things to see if it encourages a little water intake.
I don't know if it really would count as fluid intake but you can give some milk as a treat either as the Cat-Sip or Whiskas milk that's shelf stable in the pet food aisles of grocery stores, or, if you're already buying Lactaid milk for yourself you can just give that. 70% or more of cats are lactose intolerant. You can also freeze this and give a frozen treat; some cats (like mine) really love it.
I'm a little confused about FLUTD and not pooping; those don't particularly have anything to do with one another as far as I know. The Miralax in really small doses (like 1/8 teaspoon or something) should be safe. (Make sure vet knows you are doing that though if you're going to do it on ongoing basis.) I gave my cat some of that late in her life. Constipation and hydration DO go together, so wet food and fluid intake should help but FLUTD would affect urinating more I should think, hence the name.
I'm a little confused about FLUTD and not pooping; those don't particularly have anything to do with one another as far as I know. The Miralax in really small doses (like 1/8 teaspoon or something) should be safe. (Make sure vet knows you are doing that though if you're going to do it on ongoing basis.) I gave my cat some of that late in her life. Constipation and hydration DO go together, so wet food and fluid intake should help but FLUTD would affect urinating more I should think, hence the name.
I agree! In the very beginning he was having trouble urinating. But I think that had more to do with not consuming enough water. There was never any stones or urinary blockage. I think they gave him that "diagnosis" to give him something, but I don't think that's it. As long as he gets liquid he's good though.
Thanks for the tips, I will work these in! I like the idea of ice cubes. I may even try mixing the water and tuna water and freezing that.
We did have a fountain and he LOVED it! He used to come smack it when he wanted us to turn it on. I have no clue why he stopped using it We put it away for a while but maybe if we take it back out it'll be "new and exciting" to him again.
Running water it is for Orion. When I first got him he was all of 13 ounces,(he's now 14 pounds!) but he tried to get on the sink and failing that would put his paw in his dish.
My solution was to get him a fountain. I've gone through several, he didn't care for them. I got a small fish tank aerator put it in a large glass bowl and he loves it. He drinks several times a day although he eats both canned and dry food. He's never had a urinary problem, although he did have two teeth extracted - his only real health issue in the 9 years I've had him.
Getting most water intake via food is the natural way of cats in the wild, so if he is eating wet food ONLY (no dry kibble) then it may not actually be that huge of a concern. But it wouldn't hurt to try one or more of the above things to see if it encourages a little water intake.
If your cat is eating only wet food, he may not need to drink any water, since wet food is primarily water. In the wild, cats drink little water because of the water content in prey.
Ours are on wet food and rarely use the water bowl. In fact, I don't think I've seen our youngest drink more than a couple of times from it.
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but several feet apart might be good. Along the same lines, multiple bowls in different places might be good too.
We put it away for a while but maybe if we take it back out it'll be "new and exciting" to him again.
