How much water should a cat drink?

[Catannc]

Hey all, I've been monitoring input/output and it's dropping. I was just wondering, what is "normal" water intake for a cat?

 

[Blue]

I have no idea if there is a normal amount; I just let my cats drink all they want.

if a cat is eating dry food, you will likely see that cat drink a great deal more water.
you also hear many people say their cats started drinking lots more water and then they found the cat to be diabetic.

here's a link with some info on cats and water needs.

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/dehydration-cats

 

[kimouette]

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index ... 182902.htm
Read the "water" section.
But honestly the only time my cat drinks THAT MUCH, is when her BG levels are really high. So let's just say that in my case, I dont worry if my cat doesn't drink that much on a daily basis.

 

[Blue]

It is very important to worry about the intake of water for your cat; many cats are not big water drinkers, and I have never seen my Oliver drink water from a bowl. Ever.
It is for that very reason that I add lots of water to his foods, and if you are adding miralax to foods, you would need to add even more water to your cat's foods.

There are likely more dehydrated cats than people believe.

I have always added a min of 1part water to 2parts food. For Oliver I prefer to give him equal parts food and water, and some times, he would lap up the water and want more water.

 

[Brian]

According to Understanding Feline Diabetes Mellitus: Pathogenesis and Management a healthy non-diabetic will drink <10 mL/kg/day if eating canned food and <60 mL/kg/day if eating dry. A diabetic cat with "excellent glycemic control" will drink <20 mL/kg/day on canned food and <70 mL/kg/day on dry food.

There's a table in this article that includes water intake as a means of adjusting insulin dose and it calls for an increase if the cats taking in more than 40 mL/kg/day on a canned diet or 100mL/kg/day on a dry diet. This is one metric they used to use to adjust insulin intake before home blood glucose testing became so cheaply available, and not an ideal approach (note the article is from 2005).

The difference in water intake between wet and dry diets is pretty incredible. A couple days ago I caved and gave my diabetic some dry food as I was worried he wasn't eating enough and for the first time in weeks I actually saw him at the water bowl (his blood sugar was still below 6.0 mmol/L). Canned food is usually about 78% moisture, so it does make sense.

 

[Catannc]

Guess I should have paid more attention to the metric system in 5th grade.

 

[Catannc]

So 9 lbs is 4.09 kg, range should be 20 to 40 ml per kilo on wet, so intake should be 81.18 ml to 163.63 ml per day. So around 1/3-2/3 c. Okay, cool. Then my other cat, who is on dry food unfortunately, old and will not eat enough wet to keep his weight is a large 17lb maine coon who could drink up to 2 c per day. And together they are drinking 1.5 c currently, guess they're good then. Thanks Brian!

 

[Brian]

1 kg ~ 2.2 lbs, 5mL ~ 1 teaspoon, 1 metric day= 1 imperial day

So roughly
10 mL/kg/day = 4.5 teaspoons/lb/day
20 mL/kg/day = 9 teaspoons/lb/day
30 mL/kg/day = 13.5 teaspoons/lb/day
40 mL/kg/day = 18 teaspoons/lb/day

etc.

 

[kimouette]

I found another website giving a concrete exemple that is really similar to my cat and my cat's food (PurinaDm cans) ;-)

The cat has evolved to obtain her water requirements almost entirely on the moisture content in her food - inherited from her desert-dwelling ancestors. Cats can live for long periods without drinking water when receiving food containing 67-73% water but become dehydrated when the water content of the food is 63% or less. Canned diets contain enough water that cats consuming them rarely need to drink. Daily water needs, in milliliters, often are "guesstimated" as equal to the metabolizable energy requirement in kilocalories or approximately 60 ml/kg. Once the diet is consumed, oxidation of nutrients produces an additional 10 to 13 grams of water for each 100 kcal of metabolizable energy. Thus a 4 kg cat consuming a 240 kcal canned diet containing 78% moisture will consume 237 ml or 98% of its daily water need directly from the diet. Thus the cat needs to drink less than 1 oz. of additional water per day whereas a cat consuming a 240 kcal dry diet needs to drink over 7 oz. of water per day. This can be difficult because cats are not naturally big drinkers. Feeding a canned diet containing 78% moisture virtually guarantees homeostatic control of water balance in the cat.

Here's the reference : http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm
** All these infos are precious to me since my cat wont drink or will almost not drink any water ever since I switched to canned food. Now I know I dont have to ad THAT MUCH water to her food to make sure she gets a normal water intake every day