Kitty Not Drinking Water

bethneebabe

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My kitty Xen, as posted earlier, has a problem with constipation. Though he is on laxatives and canned i/d, I can't get him to drink water to save his life...literally. The vet thinks increased water will help. I have tried her suggestions of adding a little tuna water, ice cubes, and low sodium chicken broth but Xen isn't buying it. I haven't gotten one of the fountains yet because I've heard mixed things. Anyone have advice? Thank you so much!
 

purrpaws

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Prego and Polly love their water fountain. It has completely stopped Prego from getting in the toilet.

Also, Polly has a medical condition which requires her to have an increased intake of water. The easiest way I've found to do it is to add it to her food. Xen may or may not go for this plan. For wet food, I add a little water, and mush it around with a fork to make sort of a soup. For dry food I just add water to the bowl with the kibbles.
 

jenny82

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I love my Petmate fountain and have noticed that both cats have been drinking more since I got it. The only negative thing for me about the fountain is that it is difficult to hand wash (our house doesn't have a dishwasher yet). But I would definitely recommend one.
 

madpiano

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Bubbles doesn't drink much either, so I get Whiskas Canned Kitten food (the loaf style) and mix it up with warm water, until it is all gooey and stinks to high heaven. He loves it and he gets some water as well.
 

cairo

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Does your kitty take interest in running water in the sink? Paris refused water from a bowl for the first several months, and the fountain helped a lot when she was a kitten.

You can also try some KMR mixed in with the water if he likes that. Some cats also have water temperature preferences (yes, talk about high maintenance
). I used to care for a stray that would only drink warm water, and another that only drank cold water. Just be careful not to burn his tongue with water that is too warm.
 

cairo

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I should add that most larger chain pet stores will fully refund the water fountain if it is not a success within 15-30 days. I'm thinking about PetSmart and Petco to name a few.
 
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bethneebabe

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I don't know if he likes running water. Our sinks are up really high and the only other running water he's been around is the occassional bath. I think it's possible. It's just odd that he used to drink a lot and then he just stopped, even before we switched to wet cat food. His vet knows about it and isn't too worried but it would help his constipation a lot if we could get him to drink more water.
 

yosemite

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I can only tell you that our two drink more water since we got the PetMate fountain. Bijou drinks from the bowl and Mika loves the water flowing down the slope. I take it apart and clean it every weekend and it's quite easy to do.

Oh, and I should also mention that I don't give them tap water - we give them bottled water which doesn't have that flouride type odour (cats have such sensitive little noses).
 
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bethneebabe

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Omg! One of my cats growing up was named Bijou. I haven't met anyone else with a cat with that name. Good choice
Thanks for the recommendation. I think we may try the fountain. He's turning his nose up at the bottled water.
 
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bethneebabe

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It is quite remarkable. Xen just started drinking water today after mommy had a long talk with him about why he had to drink water. So far I've only seen it once but I can tell from his water bowl. It looks like he is doing better overall. Thanks for all of the suggestions!
 
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