raw diet peeps - q about poop & pee

[Michele&Errol]

yep, weird subject line but i need some info!
those who feed raw:
how often do your cats poop, what consistency is it and what volume?

now for the pee question:
Errol is doing well on the raw, not drinking from the bowl apart from about 2 or so weeks ago before i put him back on raw exclusively (he was on 50/50 canned and raw and then 100 canned until a few wks ago) and now he never drinks from the bowl. There's only so much water i can add to his food before he refuses to eat it.
1. how much water should a cat get / day in general?
2. he is still peeing quite a bit, despite not drinking any water and only getting a few tablespoons in his raw diet. is this a problem or normal?

He is happy, coat looking good, weight seems fine, i'm just concerned about the 'elimination' issues

 

[BJM]

Feline Constipation can show you what is and is not normal poop. Firm but not hard, darkish brown.

Cats would normally get most of their water from their prey, having evolved in desert type conditions. You might see about 1/2 cup or so of wet litter per day.

There are a couple of dehydration checks in my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools.

 

[RobinCot]

My cats on raw don't poo near as much as they used to and they don't drink from water bowls because they get all of their hydration from their food. Catinfo.org has a good section on the changes in your cat's discharge after starting a raw diet. My older cats, who were not privvy to the better diet until just recently, get a little Miralax in theirs from time to time to help them poo. For the most part, I use the water bowl as an indicator of illness.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Neither of my cats drink much from the water bowl now that they are on raw. The raw meat (and raw veg in some formulations) have a lot more water in them. I add about a tablespoon to each mini meal, because one is diabetic and the other has idiopathic cystitis so I need to keep him well flushed. I get either one or two pees a day and the poops are more often once every two days but sometimes once a day, and definitely smaller than what you see on wet food. Colour can vary depending on the protein and amount of raw bone/calcium in the meal. When I feed turkey and chicken which has raw bone in it, the poops are tan coloured. More calcium can also make them a bit harder as well as lighter. The red meat meals with just bone powder are darker. For some pictures, here is the link to the page Robin referenced.