How much water should cats drink?

It is something that occurs to most cat owners at some point; Is my cat drinking enough water? Owners of cats could be forgiven for thinking that their cats rarely, if ever, drink water at all, and unless they are obsessed with playing with a dripping tap or other running water feature, it can be quite rare to see your cat actually sitting down to have a drink! Cat owners are often concerned that their cats aren’t drinking enough water, which in itself can be difficult to calculate as it can be hard to find out exactly how much water cats should be drinking anyway, never mind working out how much they actually consume in reality! Of course, at the other end of the spectrum is the concern that your cat is drinking too much water, and what this might indicate, again, something that is not always easy to identify.Do you want to find out how much water cats should drink on a daily basis, and how to work out if your cat is drinking enough or too much? Read on to find out more!

The importance of fresh water

Cats, like all animals, need to have freely available access to fresh, clean water at all times. Your cat’s water bowl should be emptied, washed and refilled at least once a day- twice is better- and not just topped up on an ad-hoc basis.Some cats are particularly fussy about what kind of water they will drink. Some will only drink running water from a tap or fountain, or from a certain bowl, and some seem to have distinct preferences for hard or soft water respectively. Of course, there is always the odd one or two whose water source of choice is the bottom of the bath, or even worse, the toilet bowl!

How much water do cats need to consume on a daily basis?

Just as when working out how much water people need to drink on a daily basis, this varies greatly according to factors such as the age and weight of the cat, what they eat, how active they are, and the time of year, so there is no one size fits all answer for all cats. It is fair to say though that cats do not drink a particularly large volume of water compared to dogs or people. A good rule of thumb and a very broad average in terms of appropriate water consumption for cats, is that cats should receive 60ml of water for every kg of body weight each day. However, working out how much your cat should actually be drinking from their bowl is not as simple as multiplying your cat’s weight by 60ml increments! This figure for the water intake of cats includes the water content present in their food as well, and the higher the water content of their meals, the less water they will actually need or choose to drink alongside of it.

The water content of food

Cats get a large amount of their hydration requirements each day from their food, and this is especially true for cats fed a wet food diet rather than a dry diet. While feeding a dry diet is often recommended as a good way of helping to prevent dental problems in later life and for the sheer convenience of storing and feeding it, there are several issues surrounding feeding a dry-food only diet as well, not least of which is the issue of moisture content.The moisture content of wet food such as tins and pouches averages between 60% and 75% of the total volume of the food. Therefore, if you feed your cat a 100g sachet of wet food, 60%-75% of that is water, equating to around 60ml-75ml of your cat’s daily water intake requirements, or enough to fulfil the needs of 1kg of your cat’s weight for the day.However, when feeding a dry food to your cat, only around 10% of the weight of the food is moisture; so 100g of dry food contains only around 10ml of water, not enough to fulfil a fraction of your cat’s daily water intake.It is of course naturally assumed that cats that are fed a dry diet will simply drink more water than cats fed a wet diet to account for this difference, and indeed, cats fed a dry diet will drink rather more than those on a wet diet will. However, they are not considered to drink enough additional water to make up for the large discrepancy between the water volume of wet food (and caught food that cats would eat in the wild, such as rats and mice) and that of dry. Cats fed a diet of dry food are often slightly dehydrated, due to a simple unwillingness to drink as much water alongside of their meals as they really need to, which can lead to problems in later life.

Is your cat drinking too much water?

At the other end of the spectrum, if you often notice your cat at the water bowl or they seem to be drinking a particularly large volume of water or showing a lot of interest in the water itself, this is often indicative of an underlying health problem. Some cats actively enjoy playing in water and splashing about, but if your cat is actually drinking or trying to drink rather than just playing, it is important to look a little more closely to discern if they are maybe drinking too much.Drinking too much water, especially when accompanied by a corresponding increase in their urine output can indicate the onset of a range of potentially serious health conditions, including diabetes, kidney and renal problems, thyroid problems and bladder infections. Monitor your cat’s water intake for a few days if you suddenly start to notice that they may be drinking a lot but are in otherwise good health. But don’t leave it too long to get your cat checked out by your vet if you suspect a problem, as by the time dehydration and increased water intake manifest within cats, the underlying cause of this symptom can often be quite advanced.