Is this considered drinking a lot of water?

I recently bought a Drinkwell fountain and unless there is another way the fountain empties itself, it seems Nano is drinking 20 oz of water on a daily basis. I start off with a full fountain and then add a full 16.9 bottle of filtered water each day (full bottle = 16.9 oz, 500 mL) and sometimes more just to keep up. In addition, I still catch her periodically drinking out of the bathroom faucet. She might easily be drinking 25 oz of water every day for all I know.

Granted she is a 14-15 lb cat, but this is approaching how much water a small to medium sized dog might drink on a daily basis!

On the plus side, all the typical tests (scruff neck, etc.) show her to be well-hydrated and she seems to have no pain/trouble urinating it back out. On the negative side, if 20 oz/day actually is a lot of water, it might suggest her kidneys are really shot and she is in serious trouble. But to even things out, she has been with me for six months and has always been interested in drinking water so it hasn't gotten worse -- it is just that she used to drink fro the faucet and the new fountain has actually let me measure what she is drinking.

So how much water do your cats drink and what is considered normal?

I have a fountain for Dori and I used to think she was drinking alot of water daily because I can also pour a 20 ounce bottle of water in the fountain daily. I have come to the conclusion though that some of the water must evaporate. I paid close attention to her for a few days and she just did not drink that much water.

I'm no expert but it kind of sounds like alot of water.
How old is she?
I would definately have her checked by a vet if this is a new behavior.

The only way I know to check this definitively (that must be my word for the week ) would be to take the fountain away for a week, put a measured amount of water in, and then measure what's left at the end of the week. I do know that it's probably evaporating more than you're aware of, especially if you've got A/C. I've got a 10 gallon aquarium with a "waterfall" type filter on it (aquaclear) and I can easily add a gallon of water in a week's time.

Cindy

Hmm...?

How much water should a dog or cat drink?

Adult dog - drinks one ounce per pound per 24 hours.
Puppy, kiten or adult cat - drinks one and one half ounce per 24 hours.

Click to expand...

from: http://www.kthv.com/Special_Sections...?storyid=14134

So if I read that right, a cat drinks 1.5 oz/lb each day and Nano is 14.6 lbs, which means...21.9 oz of water a day!

According to that guy, Nano's water consumption is right on target.

It doesn't say 1.5 oz per pound per day for cats. I read it as 1.5 oz per day for cats. Maybe the website made a typo. I don't know.

My two cats share a water bowl and I fill it will 8 oz of water per day. The don't always drink that amount every day, but that's the most they've drank on hot days.

Originally Posted by Nano

Hmm...?



from: http://www.kthv.com/Special_Sections...?storyid=14134

So if I read that right, a cat drinks 1.5 oz/lb each day and Nano is 14.6 lbs, which means...21.9 oz of water a day!

According to that guy, Nano's water consumption is right on target.

Click to expand...

I think you've mis-interpreted that equation. If you re-read it, it says an adult cat will drink 1.5 oz of water a day. It says nothing to do with their weight.

I have to joke, of course, so can you imagine a cat drinking close to 22 ounces of water a day!!!! I think they'd have to name the cat Orca, or some other fish name!

Originally Posted by ccoccocats

I think you've mis-interpreted that equation. If you re-read it, it says an adult cat will drink 1.5 oz of water a day. It says nothing to do with their weight.

Click to expand...

I think it's got to be some sort of typo. An adult dog drinks 1 oz per pound a day. But can, kitten and puppy only drink 1.5 oz, regardless of weight a day?
It doesn't even make sense. Why would dog drink per pound, but cat, kitten and puppy all drink the same amount regardless of their body weight?
That website must have made a typo.

Originally Posted by RoseHawke

The only way I know to check this definitively (that must be my word for the week

) would be to take the fountain away for a week, put a measured amount of water in, and then measure what's left at the end of the week. I do know that it's probably evaporating more than you're aware of, especially if you've got A/C. I've got a 10 gallon aquarium with a "waterfall" type filter on it (aquaclear) and I can easily add a gallon of water in a week's time.

Cindy

Click to expand...

Good idea. You have more evaporation from the fountain than you do a typical water bowl. You could also, just to see for yourself, take the fountain away from the kitty for one day but leave it plugged in and working. You will be very suprised to see how much water you lose.

That article is really confusing. I know my cats each drink a lot more then 1.5 oz each per day. That is really next to nothing! That said, I also think the evaporation theory probably has something to do with it.

I read somewhere that 4-6 ounces a day for a cat if only on dry food//

This recommendation goes by weight: http://www.petngarden.com/cats/cats12.php
That would be 1.86 - 2.37 fl. ozs. per 2.2 lbs., but it doesn't distinguish between cats that eat canned food, and those eating dry.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=431
One article says a cat normally drinks about 6 teaspoons of water per lb. of body weight, so I'd say you didn't misread the article you cited. http://www.amcpets.com/ingest3.html

I've done some further surfing on my own:

http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm

If anyone has an extra hour or so, that page had a lot of interesting information in general. As for the water issue, the author works out some examples where a cat on a canned diet gets nearly all of its water from the wet food. Cats on a dry food diet need to drink enough water to process what they eat.

And if I adjust that example to match Nano's food intake and weight, then she needs to drink about 14-15 oz of extra water each day. Which still doesn't explain where the other 5-10 oz might be going, but at least it is in the right ballpark. Some water is probably being lost to evaporation but Nano might drink extra water out of "old habits" or even for fun (she plays with her water fountain).

Just to add more information, here is another link which has a lower estimate:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/cat-ur...n-problems.htm

Anyway, looking through all the information presented so far, it seems like Nano is on the upper end of the normal range but that's not a bad thing considering her background (general condition) and how much dry food she eats.

More information: For anyone whose cats eat strictly wet food, apparently that mimics what they do in the wild where they get nearly all of their needed water from their prey. But even cats living strictly on a diet of prey would need 1-2 oz of water (total) each day.

When we bought a FreshFlow fountain for Molly, it seemed like she drank an unbelievable amount of water every day. She was absolutely fascinated by it and you woudl find her near it or drinking from it all the time. I used to constantly fill the fountain. Of course I mentioned it at the next vet visit and they did do a few extra tests. I know one of them was diabetes, and she was clear. Can I suggest you do mention it at your next vet visit? Better safe than sorry. Yes, the water DOES evaporate, especially during the dryer winter months. For us, it ended up that Molly just loved her fountain. In her final days with us when she wasn't feeling well, she actually slept near it because she considered it one of her "comfort" items.

We just had three days of 90 - 98° F weather, and I noticed today that Jamie's Fresh Flow was nearly empty, although I'd cleaned and filled it Tuesday evening. That's a lot of evaporation, but I also think he was drinking more because of the heat. Today (75°), he's just had a few sips.