Cat doesn't drink, help!?

Question

Hi, my cat is around 4-6 years old, has no health problems and is a generally happy cat BUT

she never drinks!

In the two years we've had her, none of my family have seen her drinking from her bowl.

We do see her drinking from the fountain in our back garden every now and then, and she will drink milk whenever we give it her (a little bit once or twice a week as I'm aware most cats are lactose intolerant). I've tried giving her special cat milk but she's not interested.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Could she not like the taste of tap water chemicals?

Has anyone got any experience of the cat water fountains such as http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=363&pf_id=4193 ?

Are there any water treatments available (other than standard human water filters) that can neutralise the chemicals that she might not like?

Thanks!

Oh, we change her water twice a day obviously :).

We take her to the vets at least twice a year and have a full check up, so they'd have picked something up if there was anything wrong I presume.

We recently changed her bowls, she now has three of varying shapes and depths and she doesn't seem to like any of them.

We put a couple of splashes of water into her wet food twice a day to keep her nice and hydrated.

I will try using water from our filter to see if she'll drink that, but I wasn't sure that she'd notice the difference and just presume it was the same!

If she doesn't respond to this I might consider getting that fountain, especially if it has a bowl part at the bottom. She doesn't drink from the actual spurt of water, just the water sitting there.

It's clean and has no algae or anything nasty, no fish or frogs or anything, so we don't mind her drinking from it - I'm just worried out my kitty :)

My cat is FULLY vaccinated so no need to worry there. The fountain isn't drank out by anyone else and the water in it is changed weekly and the actual stone fountain is cleaned once a month so it's okay for her to drink from.

I feed her on wet food dampened with water so she's getting water from there.

One of her bowls is metal, she doesn't seem to drink from that either but I'll switch it for a while and check.

I'll definately try the measuring idea! Seems a good way to monitor it.

My kitty is primarily a house cat, she doesn't have a cat flap so we let her out when she needs the loo, or if she can't get out she uses the tray. She goes to the loo (wee!) about 2-4 times a day which seems normal really.

Answer 1

most cats are likethis they drink from ponds and puddles,i have 3 cats and none of them drink from a bowl of their own,sometimes they drink the dogs water sometimes the fish bowl,so dont worry about that,i have owned many cats in my lifetime all lived to good ages and none of them were water or milk drinkers,also cats dont like fresh water they would rather drink from a bowl of flowers or fish than a clean bowl of water

Answer 2

I'm sorry to hear about your cat. Not drinking water is not good especially for her age. I would change the bowl to a ceramic one, never use plastic. I would give filtered water, not from tap. There's a water out there for pets that are flavored chicken, beef etc. Try the pet stores. Now drinking from the fountain in the back yard could be a problem. Giardia is a water born parasite that lives in water, depending if any wild animals drink from the same fountain. I wouldn't take that chance get her a vaccine at the vet (giardia). She also might be a night drinker. I would do scientific research here. Measure 1 cup of filtered water, arrowhead, sparklett etc. into a ceramic bowl, start in the morning till noon, measure the water to see if she has drink, if not change water and continue to do the same thing. Check to see if all toilet seats in the house are down, also any running or leaking faucets. If she is getting a good bill of health at the vets than she's drinking water somewhere.

Answer 3

Did you know that studies have shown that cats and dogs prefer drinking out of metal water bowls? Who knows why, but they just do! So if you aren't already using a metallic bowl, you might try that first.

Most cats also really like the cat water fountains. It seems to be the movement of the water, rather than just the freshness aspect.

You asked if she might not like the taste of tap water chemicals... what kind of water do you use for the garden fountain? Is it coming from a different source than your home's water pipes? In many locations, the water from the garden hose is the same water that runs through the pipes in your home.

Answer 4

I, too, found that my cat did not like to drink from her bowl: ceramic or glass, never plastic. She would get up on the counters and howl for me to turn on the sink! A friend recommended the Petmate fountain (it has a replaceable filter in it). I've had it a year.
http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441779167&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302033556&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023690&bmUID=1183912190486

My cat is 18 yrs old and had no problem getting used to it. With a 50 oz capacity I am filling it every other day. So I can guage how much she is drinking.
I find I'm having to scoop the litter box more frequently, which, in my opinion, is a good thing!
Over the years I've found that cats DO like moving water.

Since your cat is drinking outside, I'm guessing you have no way to track her urinary patterns as you can with a litter box. That information may be very helpful to your vet.
I suggest you try a fountain and see the vet about parasites.

Answer 5

We had the same problem with our shelter rescue, only he would beat us to the sink in the morning to lap up the tap water. I was so worried about him because, other than trips to the sink, we never saw him drinking. I finally figured out that he liked the idea of "running" water, kind of like the fountain that your cat enjoys! So, I did some research and bought the "Drinkwell Pet Fountain" ;It worked like a charm (just google it-they have it at most pet sites). My other cat even liked it. I recommend going ahead and buying the large water "reservoir" so you don't have to worry about refilling it daily. Also, you will need to clean it with warm soapy water about every seven days, so get the small cleaning brushes too. I found that both of mine liked the water chilled. We actually gave ours bottled "spring" water (I know super expensive), but tap should be fine, as well. Good luck!

Answer 6

Cats do drink water every animal drinks water to stay healthy the thing with cats is that they have a very low thirst indicator in their bodys some of them cannot tell when they need to drink that is why you should feed your cat soft food as well as dry food because the canned soft food has a high water content which supplies water to cats that do not drink much water milk is not good for cats although you can by special cat milk at walmart

Answer 7

i know that cats drinking out of plastic bowls are sometimes bad, but if she drinks out of the fountain outside you could get her a little kitty fountain.. i had the one 'catit' and my kitties loved it. If you have really hard water where you live that could also play a factor, it's not good for their systems because of all the harsh chemicals and chlorine in it.
try bottled water, she may enjoy it more.. if she's drinking out of plastic right now, maybe try stainless steel, the hard glass cooking dishes or ceramic. could be the nasty taste of the plastic.

if she doesn't drink i'd bring it up to the vet.. but sometime else you could do is buy a really good grade of cat food such as wellness or royal canin. they have a lot of natural ingredients and hold a lot of moisture for dry food. they also have wet food that hold a lot of water content.. so she could get her water that way.

try not to give her too much cow milk if that's what you're giving her.. harder for them to digest.. best of luck!!

Answer 8

I used to have a cat that never drank water from a bowl. He would sit on the bathroom counter and drink from the facet...we would turn it on at a trickle for him whenever we saw him in the bathroom! Sure we had a bowl for him, but he would never use it! We gave him milk every day...he loved it and it never seemed to harm him. If she is drinking from your fountain and has no heath problems then she is getting her water some place.....maybe she would like her own fountain in your house!! Good luck. Cats are great, but a bit eccentric aren't they?

Answer 9

I give our cats bottled water in a metal bowl (heard it keeps the water cooler during the day.) I also mix a little extra water into their wet food.

I would skip the milk - they can get really sick.

If you cat likes the fountain, then get the fountain for indoors. I've heard they're great.

Answer 10

A lot of cats prefer moving water. I have the petmate fresh flow fountain for my cats. I decided to get this after I kept catching both cats trying to drink out of the toilet lol. After I started using the fountain I noticed that both cats drank a lot more.
Do you give your cat wet food? Wet food contains a lot of water. My vet suggested I give my cat wet food more to increase their hydration. One of my cats has some bladder issues. When I started giving them wet food regularly, I noticed that I didn't have to fill the fountain as often as I used to. My vet told me this is very normal.