Lola and Lexy’s Top Five Ways to Get Your Cat to Drink More Water
1. Place Bowls in Different Areas Around Your House
Having several places around your home where your cat can make a pit stop for a cool sip makes getting a drink more appealing. Not to mention super easy. If your cat likes to drink from a cup, leave one or two (non-breakable) cups placed around the house to entice her to drink. If your cat experiences whisker stress, try using wide rimmed bowls. Did you know that the close up vision of cats is much weaker than their long distance vision? This makes it difficult to see the water level. A great tip (which is one of my favorites) is to make sure the bowl is filled to the brim. This makes it very easy for me to see that there is water in the bowl.
2. Use Filtered Water
Some cats don’t like tap water (unless they’re drinking it from the faucet like I love to do.) If your finicky feline is not drinking as much as she should, try filling the bowl from a filtered water pitcher or use bottled water. Lola loves when Mother fills one of our bowls with fresh water from the Brita pitcher. I have to admit, it is very refreshing.
3. Feed Your Cat Wet Food and add Some Water to It
Before starting any change in your cat's diet make sure you consult with your veterinarian. If they agree, feeding your cat a canned food with high moisture content is a good way to get more water into their diet. You can also add a splash of water to the food for added moisture, and if your cat is a little picky, try some low sodium chicken broth or a bit of tuna water.
When Mother notices that Lola hasn't been drinking much, she'll add a teaspoon or two of water to her dinner and Lola will lap it right up.
4. Change the Water Often
Cats prefer fresh water. Not only will our water start to taste stale after sitting for a while, but a biofilm can also form on the bottom of the bowl. Not very appealing, that's for sure. Clean and refresh the water at least once daily, preferably more. Since Mother has been working from home for the past several months she cleans our fountain more often so our water is always fresh and delicious.
5. Use Fountains
I love fountains! Depending on the fountain and how much it splashes, Lola sometimes prefers a bowl, but there are fountains to please every cat.
Fountains entice cats to drink more because many of us love moving water. (If Mother has a bowl of water out I will move it with my paw so I can see the water move before I start to drink.) If your cat loves drinking from the faucet, a fountain is a great way to mimic that.
Benefits of Using a Fountain
- Runner water stays cooler and tastes fresher
- The water runs through a charcoal filter so water is clean and healthy
- Most fountains have a well, so it appeals to cats who like running water and those who like drinking from a bowl.
We hope you find this information helpful! Join us next time when Lola and I bring you five tips to get your picky cat to eat.
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What tips do you have to get your cat to drink more water? We'd love to hear them in the comments.
You can catch up on all our Top Five posts here.
Lola and Lexy
Actually, we like to drink out of woofie Ollie's huge bowl. Does that make us weird?
ReplyDeletePurrs,
Tama and Genji
Good info! Our kitties love water and placing bowls in various parts of the house really works well - as well as keeping the water fresh and the bowls clean.
ReplyDeleteWe all love our fountains and used them every single day!
ReplyDeleteWe cannot get Da Boyz to drink much water, despite location, bowl type changes, and the other various things we've tried...so I simply add filtered water to their canned food. Yeah, sometimes it's a bit slurry-like, but they lap it up, and I find nice big peeballs in the litter box!
ReplyDeletewe haz all wayz been good water drinkers; knock wood N tozz salt... coz we haz all wayz been suspiciouz two...wait...that soooper stitiouz ;) ♥♥☺☺
ReplyDeleteGood tips! The mom says I never seem to drink enough water. ~Ernie
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! Mudpie loves water, and I'm so glad because all she wants is dry food. Her favorite place to drink as a coffee mug that's all hers!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips. I am glad we have well water so we don't have to worry about what chemicals are in it like town water. XO
ReplyDeleteWe've always been good about drinking water here - but then, we get fountains with mountain spring water, and that's pretty hard to complain about!
ReplyDeleteGirls, you hit on a really good bit of advice today! All of my kitties have drunk well thank goodness. I live in an old house with too few receptacles and I actually don't have a place for a fountain unless (and I won't do that) I string the cord across the floor. BUT I love the idea of water elsewhere. I will try that. She has three bowls as it is. More can't hurt.
ReplyDeleteGreat info!
ReplyDeleteI love drinking water.
Great tips ladies. Dad also keeps a dish in the sink as I like to drink out of that and so does Toby. Good to keep hydrated
ReplyDeleteGreat tips, Lola and Lexy! We do all of those things here. :)
ReplyDeleteThese are great tips! Being more dog affiliated, I had no idea that cats' close up vision is weaker than their long-distance vision. Thanks for the education :) I know of several cats who are raw-fed (since I'm a raw feeder and know of homes whose dogs and cats eat raw) and need less water intake because raw food contains considerably more water than dry pet food does.
ReplyDeleteI have a few bowls in the house, but I prefurr the outside bowls and drink only when Granny cleans and refills them with furresh water. I like to play with it too, but that's a different story ;) Great information, Lexy and Lola! 😸Pawkisses for a Happy Weekend🐾😽💞
ReplyDelete