hot weather: how do you get your cat to drink?

11 years ago

With the hot weather recently, my cat is not drinking very much. She normally urinates a lot. She seems to have urinated once in the last day. I keep changing the water in her bowl, in the hopes she will drink more. But unless I catch her drinking, I don't know if the level is going down due to evaporation. I work at home, am here all day, and am using air conditioning, though its still not exactly cool in here.

She is in good health, and had a check-up with blood work a month ago, and was fine. She has no history of kidney problems. Her activity level in the hottest part of the day is almost nil. Of course she persists in laying, most of the time, not in front of fans or cool places like tile floors, but in front of the refrigerator, where warm air comes out the vents at the base.

Thanks for your suggestions!

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Comments (13)

User
11 years ago
Just like people, animals can get sick w/in a months time and if it's only urinated once w/in a 24 hour period that would be a concern. You should monitor it through the holiday and if there is no change, please take it to the vet on Thursday.
sephia
11 years ago
Perhaps try feeding some wet food? Wet food has high moisture content so it would provide some water.
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cat_mom
11 years ago
I mix water (hot) in the bowl with our cats' canned food in order to maximize their water intake.
jimmysgirl1523
11 years ago
I would take it to the vet. If it's not urinating then that's a huge problem. Just like people animals get sick over time.
linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks! Of course I notice this right before a holiday. She normally gets half dry, half moist food. I'll switch to all moist, and add extra water, so at least I know she is getting more.
mountain_lady
11 years ago
Here is something else to try. I dont know if u have taken the cat in yet. But run water in a sink and see if she will drink from it . check litter for wet spots . When our cat was younger he had lots of problems with water intake . and we about lost him a few times over it . He is on a specail food that is salter so makes him drink more.
I have little water falls I have around the house that he drinks out of . But yes take her to the vet soon.
oregpsnow
11 years ago
Moving water might help if the vet says everything is OK. Cats like to drink from moving water, just like people do when they are outdoors. Get a small cat fountain - Petco has a small CatIt fountain that is not expensive. Or even a small aquarium pump with airstone in a bowl.
camlan
11 years ago
My cat drinks more if there are multiple water bowls dotted around the house. I have one in my bedroom, one in the living room beside her favorite bed, one in the study under my desk where she hangs out when I am on the computer, and one in the kitchen.

It is a huge pain in the neck to fill all those bowls every day. But it does keep her water consumption up. My theory is that she's just too hot to walk very far.

In the winter, I reduce them to one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen and she's fine with that.
schoolhouse_gw
11 years ago
I have two of the ones with the big inverted plastic container that fills the bowls automatically, one in the house and one out on the back porch. I buy drinking water from the store for the one inside and fill the other with tap. Which do the prefer? The one on the back porch that gets green and with dirty bits in the water - which I am continually cleaning. Also put a tablespoon of warm water on their refrigerated canned food like another poster mentioned, to warm it and give it a more liquid consistency - just a tablespoon, not too watery. They love it.
linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
Original Author
11 years ago
The situation has improved. As cat mom suggested, I mixed water into her moist food. When the dish is empty, there is a residue left behind. I add water to that, and stir it up. She likes the water that tastes like food! She has started to run over when she hears me doing that.

I have been coaxing her to move away from the hot spots where she had been spending her time out of habit. She has always come when called. I make it worth while for her to move, with extra attention. When I have to get back to work (I work at home) I put her down in a cool spot, and half the time she stays there.

I had an automatic water dispenser, but she was afraid of the noise. She can't jump up to a sink.
quasifish
11 years ago
One of my old cats use to love to drink out of a glass (I think she liked it an extra bit when she thought it was a person's glass of water). As she got older, had more health problems, and needed to drink more water, I sometimes got in the habit of setting a glass of water out somewhere near to where she was.

Her brother loved to drink from a dripping faucet and could manage to get in the tub to drink out of that dripping. Sometimes I plugged the tub and then he would have a little reservoir of water to play in after a few minutes, and I could turn off the drip. Could or would your cat get in the tub?

Sometimes they like ice and if you throw a few cubes into the water bowl it will intrigue them and get them to drink a little more.

Good luck.
ilovepoco
11 years ago
I have an elderly cat who spends 95% of her time snoozing on the bed. Besides the big water bowl in the kitchen that the other cat and dogs use, I also keep a small bowl of water right next to the bed on the nightstand. I have to refill the bowl frequently, and even hear her getting up in the middle of the night to drink. This solution seems to work for her - I really think she is just too lazy at this point to walk down the hall to the kitchen when she is thirsty!
jomuir
11 years ago
Glad she's feeling better & drinking for you linnea. We have 2 water bowls for the dogs that the cats drink from too. One is a huge one we call the Pond. They often line up & drink in groups at the Pond. It's the Wild Kingdom in my house!

We also have a drinkwell fountain, the cats love it. I'm on my 2nd one, had the 1st for 8 yrs & finally got a new one. They're worth the money IMHO.