Ever since transitioning to wet food slurries, my cat no longer drinks plain water

[MisterBillie]

See title.

My cat was a former dry food junkie before being dx with diabetes and used to drink water daily. Ever since transitioning to wet food and adding water to the food to make it a slurry, he no longer drinks plain water at all.

How do I know I am giving him enough water or too much water? Anyone else have this same issue?

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Cats do not have a large thirst drive. This is part of the issue with dry food. Given your transition to a food that all by itself is high in moisture and then adding water, I'm sure your cat is fine. I have a water fountain available for my cats. They rarely drink from it since I add a good amount of water to their food.

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

we have noticed the same here in our six-cat household. We still have fountains and auto-waterers around but I cannot tell you the last time I actually witnessed a cat drinking from any of them, since we switched to canned and re-hydrated raw.

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

Cats do not have a large thirst drive

Look at the water content of your wet food. If he's in basic good health he'll drink when he needs to. We change three big water bowls daily and I almost never see the cats at the water.
If it makes you feel better see if you can sneak a peek at his litter box habits and check for weight loss. We've all seen this when switching to wet food.

 

[MisterBillie]

I get that cats can get enough water from their food alone, especially when I am adding water to their already wet food and making it into a slurry.

My concern is that there is no way for them to "free feed" (or "free drink") on their water now, since they expect it to come from their wet food. So if I don't put enough food on their water, then they might not be getting enough.

I have water bowls out but he hasn't used it in months AFAIK.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

My cats (none of which are diabetic now) are fed a wet diet with a bit of water added and I rarely see them drinking the water. Occasionally I see one of them drink but never the other. If they are thirsty, they will drink.