Struggling trying to up cat liquid intake

pmv

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My seven-year-old cat, Reggie, tends to get somewhat dehydrated, which can lead to symptoms like constipation. I've tried a lot of different things to get him to drink more liquids, and it's been a real challenge.

Some things I've tried:
  • Adding an extra meal of wet food per day. He is a notoriously picky eater but he enjoys eating one specific flavor of one specific brand of wet food, for dinner. I tried giving the same brand at breakfast and he wouldn't even so much as look at it. So right now, he's probably eating 3/4 dry, 1/4 wet food.
  • Changing up his water bowls for water fountains. This seemed to work at first but after a while he gets disinterested again. It again works for a time to switch to a new style of fountain, but it's expensive and annoying to try to swap to new fountains all the time. I had wondered if the fountains were picking up any kind of off flavor after a while (even with regular cleaning), but even fountains made of stainless steel or ceramic, which shouldn't retain odors, tend to get less used over time.
  • Adding some extra moisture through things like Tiki Cats broths. He won't do more than sniff it, and he won't eat any food that's been "touched" by the broth.
  • Made a homemade no-sodium chicken broth. He took two or three laps from a bowl and left the rest.
  • Increasing the size of his wet meal dinner. He only eats about half a can, no matter how much I put in his bowl.
I'm starting to run out of ideas to try.
 

optimispar

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I've been mixing water with the wet food for years now. At first it was because my cat would only lick off the liquids from his wet food and leave the flakes behind. Then, I figured out he only like pates. Most pates are still pretty thick so I add some extra water (~15mL per 1/3 of an 85g can) and mix it in to make it almost resemble those lickable treats. I'm not sure if this isn't good for his digestive health but it's honestly the best way to get him eat his wet food.
 

optimispar

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Another tip I've come across on the internet is to squeeze out a "mountain" of a lickable treat (eg Churu or Delectables) on to one side of the plate, and then filling the plate with water. As long as you don't mix the water and the treat, the treat'll still be appetizing for the kitty - as in, not bland - and as they lick up the treat, they unintentionally lick up the water as well.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Maybe there is something in this article that will help: Tips To Increase Your Cat’s Water Intake – TheCatSite Articles

Also, have you tried some other of the broths, other than Tiki Cat? My boys hate anything hving to do with Tiki Cat, but will eat other broths. I hate to admit it, but they will eat Fancy Feast Broths. How about Bone Broth? Have you tried those? And, again, there are many different brands out there, and they are all different. Our noses may not be able to detect much difference, but the cats' sure can :rolleyes2:
 
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pmv

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Thanks for the tips! Yesterday was a really good day for Reggie getting his fluids. I did try to put a bit of water in his bowl along with his wet food, and he drank every last drop. Additionally, I was totally wrong about Reggie not touching his broth - he ignored it when I initially gave it to him, but when I go to bed he normally takes a "midnight snack" of dry food. Last night, he went for the broth, although he didn't like the flakes. That's amazing for him, as it was the first time in years I've been able to get him to consume a new food product, even if he did only drink the liquid (which was what I cared about in the first place).

I think I'll try a mousse and see if he likes that texture better, and perhaps add a bit of additional water, and give it to him just before bedtime, when I know he's interested in having a meal.
 

jcat

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Also, have you tried some other of the broths, other than Tiki Cat? My boys hate anything hving to do with Tiki Cat, but will eat other broths. I hate to admit it, but they will eat Fancy Feast Broths. How about Bone Broth? Have you tried those? And, again, there are many different brands out there, and they are all different. Our noses may not be able to detect much difference, but the cats' sure can :rolleyes2:
:yeah: I was hesitant to try broths with Mowgli, because broth is something that's donated to the shelter a lot. People buy a carton of it, their cats don't like it, the unopened cans are dropped off at the shelter, and most of the cats there won't drink it.
During our August heat wave, I decided to try a (European) brand, Miamor, that I hadn't seen donated, in order to get more fluids into him.

Mowgli has gone out of his mind over it, even though I water it down quite a bit to reduce the calories. He appears out of nowhere as soon as he hears me shake a can of it. :drool:
 

MissClouseau

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Wait. It sounds like you give too much food at once. That alone can cause digestion problems including constipation when mixed with hairballs.

My cat also doesn’t eat more than half a can wet food AT ONCE but she finishes in different meals. She gets four meals of wet food a day, half a can each time. (So 2 cans a day in total.) Pate texture and I add some water to each portion. There is like 3-4 hours between her wet food meals. She gets dry food in between and I leave some at night in case she gets hungry.

You can also add puree form treats. Sometimes I give mine high quality plain yogurt as a treat as well. (About one dessert spoon size.)

Is the water fountain plastic? They get algea. Regardless of the material in my experience if a cat is picky about water, she might need the fountain yo be cleaned daily. Just like you would and should with bowls. And always have more than one source for water from different materials. At my house there is a stainless steel bowl, a glass, and a ceramic. The stainless steel one is in the room she spends most of the time. I change its water both in the morning and in the evening. Always bottled water. Mine is very picky about water too, you see.
 
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pmv

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Yeah, I did try a half-can of wet food each in morning and evening - he ate the evening portion (his normal evening food) and ignored his morning portion.

I have had some good luck recently with getting him to try new foods (pate / mousse) or treats. The trick apparently was to start out by putting a small amount on my finger and letting him sniff it many times before he has the courage to lick it up. Once he gets a mouthful, he seems to really enjoy it, so that's been great news - I'll give him a few tastes off of my finger and he'll be ready to have some in his bowl. He also has done well even just having water in the bottom of the dish with his normal wet food - in fact he'll often drink the water before finishing all of the wet food.

For water fountains (of which I have four or five), I try to empty and refill the water daily, and give them a dishwashing / hand cleaning of the non-dishwasher-safe parts on a weekly basis. Every other week I replace the filters and about once every month or two I sterilize the whole thing; metal parts get sterilized with boiling water, and plastic fountains are moved one at a time into the laundry room where the cats can't enter, and I run water with a tablespoon of bleach through to kill any algae / bacteria that managed to survive the normal cleanings. Then give the fountain a very thorough washing and rinsing to remove the bleach and the odor of bleach.
 
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