Do cats drink more in winter?

[Antonio65]

To those who care for feral or stray cats in an outdoor environment:

Do you notice that cats tend to drink more in winter than they do in summer?
I have three outdoor cats in my yard, with three dishes and a large bowl for water, nearly 1 liter. I have noticed that this bowl needs refill more often in winter than it does in summer.
Same thing happen for the cats of my colony, where they have two large bowls for water (nearly 2 liters total), but it seems it never lasts a whole day, while in summer this rarely happens. And we have to consider the evaporation during the high temperatures.
It's as if the cold drives them to drink more. Is it possible? Is there an explantion to this thing?

 

[di and bob]

Well, it is drier in the winter, and other animals could be coming up too, since their water is frozen! My inside cats drink a lot more in the summer when it is hot.

 

[DeesCats]

The usual water sources available to cats in warm weather are probably not available during cold winter months usually due to freezing. Colder winds may also play into why the water bowls need more frequent filling due to evaporation especially if using heated bowls.

I just saw a post on my local TNR site that addressed the issue with a lack of water sources in the winter and lower humidity can impact the cat's ability to groom properly due to decreased saliva production.

Last year I had a heated bird bath I kept filled with water as well as a heated water bowl in our cat feeder box we built to keep wet food from freezing. I did notice the strays and a couple ferals utilizing the bird bath more often than during the warm weather.

My heated bird bath was old and failed to heat this year so I ended up buying a larger heated water bowl to replace it and it's been working out great so far. I do need to fill it more often (after cleaning) when the temperature drops below 35F or if it has been windy.

 

[Antonio65]

Well, it is drier in the winter, and other animals could be coming up too, since their water is frozen! My inside cats drink a lot more in the summer when it is hot.

di and bob , thanks for your reply.
Thank God, it rarely freezes over here, and so far this winter it only happened once, with a very thin layer of ice one morning at the colony. Yes, it can drier in the winter, but I would think that water is more needed in the summer anyway.
Other animals aren't common at all here.
The only animal that can occasionally visit the dish place at the colony is a fox , but it happens a very few times in the year.
At home, the only stranger animal that visits my yard is a hedgehog which shows up at night, and only until November, then they hibernate.

 

[Antonio65]

The usual water sources available to cats in warm weather are probably not available during cold winter months usually due to freezing. Colder winds may also play into why the water bowls need more frequent filling due to evaporation especially if using heated bowls.

I just saw a post on my local TNR site that addressed the issue with a lack of water sources in the winter and lower humidity can impact the cat's ability to groom properly due to decreased saliva production.

Last year I had a heated bird bath I kept filled with water as well as a heated water bowl in our cat feeder box we built to keep wet food from freezing. I did notice the strays and a couple ferals utilizing the bird bath more often than during the warm weather.

My heated bird bath was old and failed to heat this year so I ended up buying a larger heated water bowl to replace it and it's been working out great so far. I do need to fill it more often (after cleaning) when the temperature drops below 35F or if it has been windy.

I do not have any heated bowl or bath in my yard, and the water bowl for my yard cats is in the most protected place of the yard, against the house wall. It doesn't get sun, it isn't exposed to winds, it froze only a very few times in the last few years.
My yard cats don't have other sources of water in the neighborhood, so they drink here all year round, but I noticed that in the winter the water level decreases faster.
At my colony, the water bowl is in a protected spot, but it is more exposed to the cold and can freeze much more easily, but last winters have been warmer here, and freezing isn't so common anymore.
As I told di and bob , winters can be much drier, but they are colder, so I would expect that the cats would drink more in the summer months.