By: Christian Yost
April 9, 2009
How much water does your cat really need?
That’s a good question. But before I answer it, I want to talk about the importance of water to your cat’s health.
It simply cannot be overstated how important water is to your cat’s health and well being. It helps digest food, absorb nutrients, flush out waste and control body temperature. Next to oxygen, water is the most important nutrient in your cat’s body.
Cats can go for days without food. They can lose up to 40 percent of their body weight and still survive. But when a cat loses just 10 percent of its body’s water, bodily functions shut down causing serious illness. A 15 percent loss of -body water will kill him.
So how much water does your cat need?
A general rule of thumb is that cats need about 1 ounce of water a day for every pound of body weight. So, a 9-pound cat needs about 9 ounces of water a day, which is about 2 quarts of water a week. (Water requirements for cats with kidney failure, urinary tract disease or bladder infections are even higher.)
Unfortunately, most cats just don’t drink enough water to stay healthy.
So what can you do to get your cat to drink more water?
Here are a few tips:
1. Make it more appealing. Keep the water bowl clean. If you wouldn’t drink from it, chances he won’t want to either. Wash the bowl every day and disinfect it regularly to control bacteria. Change the water several times a day.
2. The better the water tastes, the more likely your cat is to drink it. Try adding some water from a can of tuna to change the taste, or use bottled or filtered water. Cats are cool … and that’s the way they like their water.
Please visit us at www.siamese-cattailscattery.com
