Cats have a naturally low thirst drive, which causes them to drink less water than their body needs to stay hydrated and maintain optimal organ function, specially as they age. Trying different ways to increase your cat’s water intake is important if you want them to have a long healthy life.
Proper hydration is obviusly vital for maintaining a good overall health and well-being and other species like dogs do a good job of hydrating themselves enough on their own. However, it’s very common for cats to drink way less water than they actually need if hydration is offered only as water in their water bowl.
This is usually not noticed by their owners on a daily basis but studies show that water intake of domestic cats is not covering their hydration needs and several common health problems in cats (like kidney or urinary issues) are correlated to insufficient water intake.
As a cat owner, it’s important to encourage your feline friend to drink an adequate amount of water but it’s not always an easy task since cats are picky with their water sources and not all of them will like their water in the same presentation.
In this blog post, we will explore practical tips and strategies to increase your cat’s water intake and promote hydration. I will give you some vet-approved ideas to make hydration available for your kitty and to help you identify the strategy that works best for your furry family. You can of course adapt all of these tips to their preferences, schedule and health requirements.
Why increasing your cat’s water intake is important
The requirement of water per cat is approximately 50-60 ml of water per 1 kilogram of body weight. Meaning the average 4 kg domestic cat (8.8lb) has to drink approximately 200-240 mL (1 cup) of water per day for their body to function properly.
Studies show that the water intake of domestic cats is not covering their needs since several health problems that are correlated to insufficient water intake are amongst the most common issues in feline patients.
Kidney failure, FLUTD or urinary stones are some of the top issues cats show at the vet clinic so learning how to increase your cat’s water intake is considered the best management strategy to limit the appearance of urinary and kidney diseases which can become chronic conditions that put their organs in serious danger.
Even for kitties with already diagnosed early forms of kidney failure or urinary problems it is never late to learn how to increase their water intake to help their condition advance at a slower pace.
How to increase your cat’s water intake
Keep in mind that each cat’s preferences, aversions, fears and abilities are different so make sure to try different options to reach the best combination that suits theirs and your needs as a family.
Here’s the list of things you can try to ensure your kitty is drinking enough water and increase their intake in their preferred form. No option is better than another one so I suggest you try different ideas (you’d be surprised of how different cats react to different changes unexpectedly) and stick to the ones that your cat likes better and are doable to you on a daily basis. This will allow you to add them to your routine and ensure it’s not something you do for a week and then go back to the kibble and waterbowl because you all get tired of the new thing.
Measure your cat’s water intake regularly
I always tell pet owners that knowledge is key in noticing early changes that can mean something is wrong with their baby’s health before they show clear signs and in the case of cats this is even more important than dogs since cats tend to hide their issues until they are in an advanced stage.
It might sound silly but the first thing I encourage you to do is to figure out how much water your cat is drinking before making any changes and to do it regularly through all their life.
Doing it is super easy and it can give you and your vet extremely important information:
To measure the water drank from each container in a certain period of time (24h for example), fill it with a specific amount that is more than they need (2 cups per container for example) and measure how much is left after two days. Subtract the difference and add up the amount from all the containers you have in your home and you’ll get the amount they are drinking per day.
I recommend you repeat the process 3-4 days that are not in a row and divide your results to get an average in case there’s any factors affecting the result on a particular day (like a hotter day or a saturday when you’ve played with them for hours vs a weekday where they only lounge all day).
The amount of water required per day mentioned earlier (1 cup per day per 8.8lb cat) is an estimation and it will depend on the diet, exercise, weight and other factors like temperature and metabolism of each individual but it can be a guideline for you to know if your cat is drinking around average.
If after repeating the process a few times you realize your cat is drinking noticeably below or over average make sure to let your vet know.
ADD MOISTURE TO THEIR DIET
Studies show that different types of food and their water contents have a significant effect on the total water intake of cats. By evolution, cats are adapted to fulfil most of their water needs from their diet, as their normal prey in the wild contain 65–75%.
Wet foods with 75% moisture content are more similar to the natural diet of cats and can meet their water needs. This might be the reason why most cats are more interested in consuming wet food than dry food. It is also reported that the total water intake of cats consuming only dry food is half of those consuming canned foods.
Even if we know their preferred water bowl or fountain and they have plenty of water sources around the house, chances are they are still not drinking enough and that’s why us vets always recommend adding wet food to their daily diet or, in some cases switching to a whole wet-food based diet.
Here’s a few options to increase your cat’s water intake through their diet from obvious to more original ones that might work even for cats who dislike regular canned wet food:
Add Store-Bought Wet Food to their daily feeding schedule
There are endless options of wet-food in the market including a variety not only of brands and flavors but also textures and, most importantly, quality of ingredients and nutrient balance which makes choosing one particularly difficult but here’s what I recommend you prioritize when buying some:
1. Learn to differ between “complete meals” and “complementary food”: both are good options in general but only complete meals can be given as a sole component of a cat’s diet while complimentary food needs to be fed with another complete food for a balanced diet.
2. Natural ingredients: walk away from labels that state meat by-products or derivatives, meat meal or derivatives of vegetable origin especially if those are listed first in the ingredients list meaning they constitute the majority of the meal. No wet or dry quality pet food should be based off those ingredients and if you do some research you’ll realize some of the most popular high-end expensive brands use them. I usually recommend trying to find options which 5-6 first ingredients you can recognize and could be in your home kitchen.
3. Monoprotein: when trying a new productand especially for cats with sensitive gastrointestinal system or allergy/skin issues try sticking to one source of main protein (same with dry food). This can be chicken, lamb, beef or salmon/ocean fish for example.
This doesn’t mean the meal cannot include ingredients from other sources (like a chicken recipe that has salmon oil in its ingredients) but to start with try mono-protein options and once you know what your cat digests and likes better you can try mixed options safely.
4. Grain free: I am not fully against grain in pet food and I know this is a very controversial topic that, in my opinion, has more to it than just love or hate grains but it is true that it is easy to find grain free wet food options since it’s easy for the companies to formulate them without grain (which is not the case with dry food) so specifically for cats I do recommend grain free wet food if possible.
5. Variety: might sound contradictory with what we’ve talked about before but since most wet-foods are complimentary, having a variety of good quality ones at hand that you know your cat enjoys and sit well on them is better than always getting the same ones, especially if you are feeding wet food daily. This way they’ll be getting the nutrients from different recipes contributing to an overall better balanced diet.
6. Different textures: You’ll find filets in broth, pates, jellies, chunks in gravy, soups and others so make sure to try different options to see what they like best. I don’t know a single cat who doesn’t like any of the texture-flavor options available but some are pickier than others.
Among all this options, learn your pet’s preferences: For example in our case Poppy will eat anything but doesn’t like recipes with fruits in them like pineapple or papaya and will literally not touch her bowl if she smells them and Pippo likes everything but gets soft stool after any wet food with fish or a lot of ingredients we’ve tried so we stick with chicken for him. They both enjoy any texture but Poppy particularly loves soups.
Taking all of this into account might sound daring when shopping for wet food and I am not saying you can only feed your cat a product that is perfect in every sense, only to have it in mind when shopping and do your best.
I also recommend when introducing wet food go ahead and get a few single tins/pouches of different ingredients and textures, once you know what your kitty likes, adding it into your feeding routine is a no brainer.
When shopping for store bought wet-food you’ll quickly realize some brands do a very good job at listing their ingredients clearly and saying exactly what their product is in terms of complete/complementary and how to feed it having your cat’s health as their top priority. Others do an amazing job at labeling the product in the most confusing way possible so beware of that and, in general like always in life, stick to the honest clearly-label products and don’t be fooled by bright colors and on-your-face adds.
Here’s some of my favorite options and brands in case you want to try them at least to begin with while you get comfortable with the change:
REVEAL: Limited ingredient grain free fish/chicken/fish and chicken flavors in broth
APPLAWS: Chicken/Fish/Kitten variety pack in broth cans or Chicken and pumpkin/tuna and salmon/chicken breast with asparagus (and others) pouches.
SOLID GOLD: Tuna and sardine classic pate or Turkey and coconut oil pate.
Add moisture to their usual dry-food
If you haven’t been able to find a wet-food your kitty likes it might be a good option to start making their usual feed more moist for them to get used to the concept of wet-food.
This is particularly useful for cats with very restrictive dietary needs that eat a specific brand or line of food like urinary or hypoallergenic in case they don’t like the wet food from the same line and you are left without many options.
You can start by adding a small amount of water to some kibble (always in another bowl) alongside their usual meal and see if they are interested. Once they get used to the softened kibble you can increase the amount of water.
A good option if they don’t like the wet pellets is to use warm water instead of tap water which they might enjoy.
You can also substitute the water with a simple homemade vegetable broth (celery and carrot) or chicken or fish broth you can make ahead and store in the fridge or frozen in ice cubes to add to their kibble. Of course you can make bone broth too (no salt added) or use store-bought one from the pet store.
Turn their wet food into soup
If they enjoy their wet food but you feel like they could do with more water in it you can add some more water or broth to it and even blend it if they prefer the pate consistency.
Change their dry treats to liquid ones
If you are using regular crunchy treats for your cat on a daily basis changing those to liquid forms like Nulo perfect purees, Churu or Applaws Puree will add some water to their daily intake.
Learn homemade broth and high water content recipes
Start experimenting with a simple vegetable or chicken or fish broth that you can make by simply simmering some celery and carrot with or without skinless boneless chicken or white fish in water. Make sure not to add any salt or onion to it.
Remove excess fat and freeze in ice cubes to use in different homemade liquid treat recipes, as a base for licky mats, to flavor water, to add moisture to kibble or on their own as enrichment.
Another good option is to make complementary food with natural ingredients combining a protein like chicken, salmon or hake, a vegetable like pumpkin or peas and health boosters like turmeric or blueberries (more recipes on the blog soon!)
You can also make homemade frozen treats like catnip cubes or jellies with bone broth and other ingredients to have water based options for treats.
Here’s my recipe for frozen breath mints that have a high water content while also contributing to gut and dental health!
INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF WATER THEY DRINK
Fresh and Clean Water
Cats are sensitive to odors and contaminants in their water. You would not enjoy drinking from a dirty cup of sitting water for days and neither does your cat so make sure to provide fresh and clean water at all times.
Refresh the water bowls daily and consider using filtered or bottled water especially if the water from the tap in your area is hard, I always recommend giving your pets the same water the humans in your family consume.
Multiple Water Sources
If you have only used one kind of water bowl, start by trying different types of water sources to see which one(s) your cat prefers. Try bowls of different materials and heights, fountains or waterers. Experimenting with other sources of water like wet food, broth or ice cubes are also very good options we’ll talk about in detail below.
When introducing new things like water bowls or litter boxes to a cat make sure to never remove their old one but to add the new sources to their options. This is the only way to evaluate what they prefer and not cause them stress about the new item that could lead, in this case, to actually decreasing their water intake if they are scared or don’t like the new option.
Cats always prefer to have options, so provide multiple water sources throughout your home. Place water bowls in different rooms or on different heights or surfaces (a cat might prefer to have their waterer in the living room with all the family and doesn’t mind sharing with the sloppiest dog while another one might prefer their ceramic water bowl on the highest piece of furniture where no one can mess with it and they can drink in peace).
Easy accessibility ensures that your cat can easily find water whenever they feel thirsty. Having their water in only one spot of the house might cause them not to have it accessible for long periods of time if a door is closed or the vacuum cleaner, which they are scared of, is on in that room.
Water Fountain
Investing in a cat water fountain is an amazing option especially for cats that have shown a clear interest in flowing water (like drinking from the kitchen faucet when it’s on for example). The flowing water not only attracts cats but also mimics their natural instinct to drink from running water sources. Many cats are more inclined to drink from a fountain, as the movement and sound make the water more appealing and refreshing. It is true that others find the noise and movement of the fountain super scary (like Poppy) or only use it to play and dump all the water outside (like Pippo).
Make sure to always leave their old water bowl or waterer if trying a fountain just in case they don’t like it at first or at all.
Different depths and materials
Whiskers are highly sensitive, and some cats dislike drinking from deep bowls that touch their whiskers. Try out some wide and shallow bowls that allow your cat to drink comfortably without their whiskers touching the sides.
Some cats are bothered by the material their water or food is in. Ceramic or stainless-steel bowls are always preferred to plastic, as they are easier to clean and don’t retain odors. Make sure to try different ones since some cats are scared of the glare in steel bowls or the sound of the water filling the bowl of the waterer for example.
Water Flavoring
Some cats are enticed by the taste and smell of flavored water. Consider adding a small amount of low-sodium chicken or fish broth to your cat’s water bowl to enhance its appeal.
Ice Cubes and Water-based Treats
Introduce ice cubes made from diluted chicken or fish broth into your cat’s water bowl. The cold temperature and enticing flavors can pique their interest and encourage them to drink more especially in the hotter months.
Interactive Toys and Games
Engage your cat in interactive play sessions that ingesting water. Licky mat and stuffable toys are my favorite to use. You can put wet-food or even broth on them and freeze them. They make good enrichment, and help cool them off on hot summer days while keeping them entertained for hours.
Here’s my post on ways to vary your pet’s diet which includes home-cooked dog and cat treat ideas:
Use specific hydration products on the market
Due to the high number of cats affected by urinary and kidney health problems, there’s a variety of products available in pet stores to increase water intake. Although some of them might look overpriced or your cat might not like them, they are a convenient option to have on hand.
General considerations
Remember, cats can be creatures of habit and may resist sudden changes. Introduce these strategies gradually and observe your cat’s response. Be patient and persistent in encouraging increased water intake, as it may take time for your cat to adjust to new routines and preferences.
Promoting proper hydration is essential for your cat’s health. Implementing these tips and strategies you can encourage your cat to drink more water making a daily effort to prevent and delay the outbreak of severe health issues in the long term.
Make sure to observe how your cat reacts to the changes (not only learning his preferences but also tracking their stools and urine) and get into the routine of not only increasing the water content in your cat’s diet and intake in general but also to measure how much they are drinking to have that knowledge if your vet needs it.
Of course always consult with your veterinarian if you have concerns about their hydration levels and remember, your vet won’t bite but your pet won’t speak either so ask any questions you may have and we will always try to help!
Do you have any other tips to increase your cat’s water intake? leave them in the comments!
