? How much water should a cat drink?

[Julie mueller]

Before Smokey was diagnosed he was drinking a whole bowl of water a day and now since being on insulin and all wet diet I feel like he never drinks. His bowl of water could be out all week and barely any water will be gone. Is this normal?

 

[Idjit's mom]

Since Idjit has been on an all wet food diet, with a bit of extra water added, he does not drink water from the bowl. The bowl of water is always available, especially now that it's heating up, but the level each day has not changed.
Cats eating dry food need to take in more water, and that extreme thirst was also a symptom of the diabetes. If you pull gently the skin away from the scruff, and it snaps back (has elasticity), he's not dehydrated. If he needed the water in the bowl, he would drink it.

 

[Julie mueller]

Since Idjit has been on an all wet food diet, with a bit of extra water added, he does not drink water from the bowl. The bowl of water is always available, especially now that it's heating up, but the level each day has not changed.
Cats eating dry food need to take in more water, and that extreme thirst was also a symptom of the diabetes. If you pull gently the skin away from the scruff, and it snaps back (has elasticity), he's not dehydrated. If he needed the water in the bowl, he would drink it.

Ok thanks !

 

[Bama Kitty Mom (GA)]

Bama Kitty was a water freak long before he developed diabetes. With access to the outdoors he would go out in the early mornings chewing grass and licking the dew off the leaves all over the yard. He also liked to drink from the outside faucet, downspouts from the house and all sizes of puddles. Because he was housed inside the garage, he also liked to lick rain drops off the cars. Now that he is indoors only and diabetic, I keep a close eye on his water bowl and measure it every day. He free drinks ~4 oz. per 24 hour period and I add an additional 3 to 4 oz. to his two main meals when he eats his wet food. He snacks on Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein Chicken kibble for his two mini meals that he eats about 3 hours after his shots.