How often/much do your cats drink?

[eternaljester81]

This whole thing has me completely paranoid. One of our cats was at the water dish about three times last night, for short drinks each time. I don't normally see him at the dish this many times in one evening. He seems to be perfectly normal otherwise. Could you all please tell me how much and how often your cats drink water?

[himimom1254]

I usually see my kitty at the water bowl at least twice per evening, sometimes for just a short drink and other times a longer one.  He will also drink more when the heat is on and it's very dry or the weather is warmer.  I thought this was too much too, but it's apparently "normal" for him.  I just had his labs done at his vet check because I was paranoid too with all this recall stuff.

Carol

[eternaljester81]

Carol,
Thank you so much!

[Cindy Nevarez]

We currently have 3 cats; 18, 12, and 8 years old respectively.

The 18 yr old drinks a bit once per day, the 12 yr old drinks a little more once or twice per day. The 8 yr old drinks about the same as the 12 yr old, maybe a little more. They used to be real inconsistent with their water drinking until I changed their food somewhat after the recalls. They now get mostly wet food...one has a LOT of gravy in it, and hardly any dry.

[zanzie]

Our girls are 8. Typically they take a nice drink when I give them fresh water at dinner time. I seldom see them drink otherwise, with one exception. One of my girls likes to play in the water, so she comes running when I'm brushing my teeth or someone's running a bath. She drinks a little then.

I changed their diet to home-prepared raw food 3 weeks ago. They seem to drink less now than when they ate kibble. (I've also noticed smaller poops, and much less stinky poops - hallelujah!)

[himimom1254]

I used to feed raw and never saw my cat drink...ever.  He went from nasty IBD diarrhea to normal stools overnight it was amazing.

[mel_t]

I'm feeding raw, and I rarely see my cats drink now either.  Dr. Pierson on her site www.catinfo.org explains that cats are meant to get their water through food, which is why cats on dry food are chronically mildly dehydrated:
http://www.catinfo.org/#Cats_Need_Plenty_of_Water_With_Their_Food
(bolding is mine)
"Cats are designed to obtain most of their water with their diet since their normal prey contains approximately 75 percent water.  Dry foods only contain 10 percent water whereas canned foods contain  approximately 78 percent water.  Canned foods therefore more closely approximate the natural diet of the cat and are better suited to meet the cat’s water needs. 

A cat consuming a predominantly dry-food diet does drink more water than a cat consuming a canned food diet, but in the end, when water from all sources is added together (what’s in their diet plus what they drink), the cat on dry food consumes approximately half the amount of water compared with a cat eating canned foods.  This is a crucial point when one considers how common kidney and bladder problems are in the cat. "