cats and water

ailuro2

frugallass wrote: »

maybe it's the chlorine - my frogs water has to be left for 24 hours before I can give it to them so maybe the cat doesn't like the 'smell' - just a guess cos I haven't got a cat, sorry !

fwiw, chlorine is only rarely added to our water supply these days - mostly it's chloramine which stays in the water longer, and will not dissipate/outgas by being left overnight. It needs special dechlorinator from the pet shop to get rid of it to make it safe for AQUATIC creatures, ie frogs.;)
If it's an ordinary frog and not an aquatic frog, then just ignore me....:D

We put water out for the cat but she rarely drinks it, but it's nice to know it's there if she needs it. She does eat only wet food though.

Nikiya

Interesting thread....I also used to worry about my cat. She would leave the water bowl untouched but drink from whatever pool she found in the patio or garden (debris, rain water, whatever!). Now she is on a special diet (as a matter of fact I found this thread while researching the matter and will open a separate thread for that) and does seem to drink more.
Maybe one should use mineral water?

nealallen

robpw2 wrote: »

i have a question for you all

my cat doesnt drink water- if you put it down for him he will flick it jump in it push it round the room and do everythin but drink water

is this normal

he is healthy and eats non stop but wont drink water

Rob, he must be drinking water from somewhere. Does he go out?

moogy

i worried when i had my kittens but i asked the vet about it and he said to be worried if they drink to much, if they drink alot it could mean they're diabetic. i always leave fresh water but very rarely see them drink it. sometimes i give them cat milk which they love. if they seem fine i wouldn't worry to much they'll get fluid from somewhere!

rita-rabbit

Wet food - tinned & pouches - contains ALOT of water 80% or so. Cats that eat wet food may get all their fluid requirements from that. It won't do their teeth any good (see below).

Wetting dried food means the poor cats teeth will not get the friction they need to clean them & decay will ensue in time! However dried food is generally of a better quality than wet though....

Feeding dried food dry means cats need to drink water separately. I find it a much cheaper way of feeding mine, there are the obvious other benefits:
litter trays are less smelly
litter trays are less dirty
less litter is necessary & also saves me cash
dried food needs less storage space
dried food smells less than wet

I have heard that chemicals can seep out of plastic containers & that metal or crockery bowls are a better way to feed your cat water.

BridgetJones_2

I know a lot of cats have a preference for running water or at least water with regular movement so still bowls of the stuff doesn't cut the mustard.

You could buy one of these - http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_bowls_feeders/cat_fountains

Wesker

I have 5 cats and they drink from a bucket of water lol
Some of them drink more than the others, they have both dry and wet food
As rita-rabbit says wet food does contain a lot of water

robpw2

nealallen wrote: »

Rob, he must be drinking water from somewhere. Does he go out?

nope he is a scaredy cat lol
he meows at the door so you let him out and the minute anything or anyone moves he runs straight back in upstairs to his fave chair and pretends to sleep

Wesker

robpw2 wrote: »

nope he is a scaredy cat lol
he meows at the door so you let him out and the minute anything or anyone moves he runs straight back in upstairs to his fave chair and pretends to sleep

Lol you gotta love 'em eh?

Ephemera

ailuro2 wrote: »

fwiw, chlorine is only rarely added to our water supply these days - mostly it's chloramine which stays in the water longer, and will not dissipate/outgas by being left overnight. It needs special dechlorinator from the pet shop to get rid of it to make it safe for AQUATIC creatures, ie frogs.;)
If it's an ordinary frog and not an aquatic frog, then just ignore me....:D

We put water out for the cat but she rarely drinks it, but it's nice to know it's there if she needs it. She does eat only wet food though.

I work for a water company, and although I don't know exactly how your water is treated, where I work you are partly right.
Raw water is highly chlorinated to kill bugs, then after a certain amount of time most of the chlorine is removed using sulphur dioxide, then it is ammoniated to leave a residual chloramination that, yes, does stay in the water longer. Or slight variations on this theme with different chemicals. In order to assure water reaching the end user's taps is safe to drink all water is left with more chlorine than it really needs, to cope with worst case scenarios. That's why you can smell it.

You can leave tap water out overnight and most of the chlorine will have outgassed, the longer you leave it the better.