How Do Make A Cat Drink More Water

[Daisy6]

I never thought dehydration could happen to a cat who eats wet food twice a day and drinks in my bathroom sink. Her faucet-drinking habit worked well e4nough for me to stop worrying she needs a high maintenance electric fountain Now it seems I can't even get6 her to drink enough from the faucet. She just watches the stream for a minute, then jumps down. What can I do to change her drinking habits so she will not be dehydrated? I would buy an electric fountain, but have read stories about them breaking and needing to get new pumps. I need a solution that's not plugged into a wall outlet.

 

[jen]

I recommend Whisker City's Small Cat Fountain you can find at PetSmart for maybe $25? I have been using this one forever. It's great!! Filters come in a multipack and are under $15.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Also, the placement of the water bowl is important. Cats do not like to drink from water bowls that are placed too near their food source. Instinct tells them that food+water=contamination.

 

[Animal Freak]

We have two Whisker City water fountains due to one of our cats getting a UTI pretty much every year. We have not had an issue with them breaking other than when they get dropped and have gone through a couple due to that. We haven't had to get a new pump or anything like that though.

Some cats just don't like water that's still. All of mine prefer to drink from the top of the fountains where the water comes out of though only one of them had a problem with a regular bowl. And yeah, they do take a bit of effort to keep clean, but not that much. It's definitely easier than dealing with health problems because a cat doesn't want to drink.

Other than that, maybe add water to the food? Even though it's wet, a little extra couldn't hurt. And, yes, consider the location of the bowl. None of mine have been bothered by having the water bowl near the food, but even after getting a fountain bowl, Ash wouldn't always drink from it. I realized he might be a bit uncomfortable sharing the one, large bowl with the dog and so I got a smaller one and put it in my room. That seemed to help, but I have to unplug it at night because it does make a little noise and I forget to plug it in sometimes.

 

[rubysmama]

Are you sure she's dehydrated?

Until I started giving my Ruby a few more pieces of dry kibble as treats, I never saw her drink water. But she had normal pee clumps in the litter box, so I knew she was fine. Now that she eats more kibble, I do now occasionally see her drink from her water dish. I also add a bit of water to her wet food, just to be on the safe side.

 

[Lionheart22]

Have you tried giving her a bit of cantaloupe? My cat Richard goes crazy for it. That would get a bit of water into her, at least.