How do we get our cats to drink more?

We've tried a number of things, but they're not drinking enough.

Our black cat only drinks from the kitchen faucet, but that's only in the morning. Our other guy goes to drink the water from the shower tap. All in all, they're not getting enough and my lady is getting nervous about this because of something she heard from a family friend.

We read that we should pour a little bit of water into wet food, but I don't think that's enough. It also suggested to keep the bowl clean all the time (we do), add filtered water (we do) and use glass or stainless steel (we do).

Any suggestions?

 

What I do is put water in the wet food. Wet food already has a high moisture content anyway, so they will be getting water from that. But adding a good amount of water, I would say I add about 1/4 - 1/3 of a cup to each bowl of wet food I give them. I use filtered water for them.

My cats also love to drink from the toilet. You can get running water fountains for pets, so this might help, especially since they like to drink from the faucets.

You can tell if your cat is dehydrated by looking at their gums, if the gums are pink, the cats are fine, if the gums are grey they are dehydrated.

 

Cats get a lot of their fluids from wet foods. If you only feed them kibble and they don't drink very much, they might get less fluids than they actually need. We had a cat that didn't like wet food and also drank little. We bought a special 'fountain' they can drink from. Because the water is running 24/7 and is being filtered as well it stays fresher. We saw a huge improvement with both her and all our other cats. I can recommend a drinking fountain to anyone for their cats, especially if you are worried about them not drinking enough.

Great tip on the gums Scottyxx!

 

My cat was sick for the longest time, so I was paranoid, he was dehydrated, so I learned the gum tip, you can also check with the skin pull reaction at the back of the neck, but i found this made my blood run cold lol!

 

We use to just have a bowl for Gemma that we changed several times a day. My wife purchased a fountain and that's the next best thing to sliced bread. Rosco's always slurping up water at the fountain (for now). Gemma perfers to lap at water coming out of the faucets. She also likes to drink water out of my hands when I take a bath. Soapy water doesn't seem to bother her all that much. Since Rosco can't jump to the counter tops (yet), he'll cry at my feet until I raise him up. He's got to play in the sink while up there so I turn the water on for him. I'd say a good portion of time he's there, he's lapping at the water. If not drinking, he's sticking his paws in the stream until they get dripping wet. Cutest thing ever.

We're both surprised how big Gemma's pee balls are in the litter tray. Probably another good source to determine if your cats drink enough.

 

Everybody has given some great advice on how to get your cats to drink more fluids so there is really not more I can add. Just make sure fresh water is readily available to them. Most prefer to drink from a faucet or running water. If they are getting wet food that helps a lot. Check their guns to make sure they are not dehydrated. They really don't drink or need a whole lot so.they may be getting enough even though they don't appear to be drinking water.

 

The running water scene is so true. Even though we have a pet fountain, both Rosco and Gemma still like to jump up on the counter top and drink from the kitchen faucet (or bathroom). Their pet fountain is even filtered water and the faucet water tends to have a yucky smell to it but that's what they like! Rosco is too cute to watch when he drinks. Besides lapping at the water, he'll stick his paw in the stream to test the water. Surprisingly, he gets a good soak on as well. As he drinks, he'll hold onto the faucet as well. Too funny.

 

R

Roscoe sounds really adorable. It cute how they have their own little ways of doing things. They are so smart. My kitties get their feet all wet then crawl in bed with me. I can always tell when they have been in the sink getting a drink.