how much do cats drink?

[waterflow]

Patches will not drink milk and she seldom drinks water. Mostly what she will drink is the broth I put on her food. Everyone is telling me I should force her to drink the milk and water. Like how do I force a cat to do anything???? Then it's feed her this, she isn't eating enough. I keep telling them she is a small cat not a lab dog. She will not eat 5 pounds of food in a day! I'm getting tired of agrueing over her and how I don't feed her right. If it keeps up I think I will just let her back out. I can't deal with it. have enough headaches with everything else. I did buy her cat treats but she won't eat them. Also bought the cat harness and leash. Not sure if I can get it on her. Not even sure I can understand the directions on how to get it on her. I am in one baaaaaaaad mood and don't really feel like bothering with anymore animals at all. I'm the one that fed all the dogs, and the other animals we had including the fish in the pond. NO ONE ELSE BUT ME!! They sure know how to take the joy out of things that's for sure.

[ICNDonna]

One thing you could do is to take your kitty to a vet and have it checked over. If you have a healthy animal, you're doing what you need to.

Huuuugs,
Donna

[lnseagraves]

I would agree that a vet visit is in order. However, I have a colleague who has a cat that, like yours, will only drink gravy. He makes a little more gravy to add to the food but other than that lets it go. You can buy gravy in pet food stores, or probably buy instant gravy from the grocery store. If you go the gravy route, avoid ones with onion flavor or garlic flavor. Those are toxic to cats.

His vet said that some cats are just like that. They drink what they need to. Some cats don't like water, especially if its "sitting" water. You could try one of those fountains and see if that helps, but if I were you, I'd call the vet and not worry too much.

About milk, cats are actually lactose intolerant to cows milk anyway. If you force her to drink then she's quite likely to develop diarrhea, which will diminish the help of the milk in the first place.

One treat my cat likes is tuna water. I give her the water from a tuna can in the summertime to encourage her to drink more. She laps that right up.

Good luck!

[Sarojini]

It's true that even though cats usually like milk, they're usually lactose intolerant and can develop diarrhea if they drink too much. I give my cat a teaspoon full every now and then for a treat, but no more.

My cat is weird about water too. He loves it really fresh. Sometimes when someone turns on the faucet to fill their glass, he will jump up on the counter and start lapping out of the person's glass! He likes you to hold it over the sink for him to drink too... if I put the glass down for him to drink, and then go to get another for me, he'll be right back at my glass while the full one is standing there...

Oddly, he WILL drink out of the toilet... I guess it's gotta be really fresh or really gross.... LOL

[traceann]

I had a cat like Jen's who would drink out of the toilet as well, ugh. That's how I got into the habit of always making sure the lid was closed after I started using the bleach tabs in the tank One of them as well only liked to drink out of the faucet, so I got them one of those "water fountain" drinking bowls for pets. I found it at Walmart and it recirculates the water through a filter so it's always running and always fresh, they all loved it!

And most cats will eat only what they want to eat, they'll stop when full - not like some dogs where if it's there, they'll eat it and keep eating, lol. I always have a bowl of "crunchies" out (dry cat food, good for their teeth) and she gets a 1/4 of a can of Fancy Feast in the morning and for her "dinner" - really, it's just enough to be a treat basically. Plus - she will NOT eat treats. Never has and I still can't get her to. Shoot, it wasn't until a couple years ago that I got her to even eat canned cat food! She never will touch people food at all, so it's probably ok if Patches won't eat treats, she may just not like them. You two are still in the getting-to-know-you phase, hee hee!!

So no worries, don't stress about it - I am sure you are doing fine, and like the rest said, a trip to the vet is a great idea! And you can always look up cat care on the internet too at some great reputable sites too!! No worries!!!!

[waterflow]

She loves and I mean loves dry cat food but EVERYONE tells me she can't have that to eat. It is bad for her. She is to only have canned food ( supposed to eat 3 cans a day ) and canned tuna or steak. I don't even eat steak and not about to cook that for her. Not that she isn't worth it but our dogs didn't even get steak. They had dry dog food/canned and dog biscuits and treats. They seem to think she has a stomach that can hold 50 pounds of food. She hasn't really had anything to eat today yet. I think she is just over stuffed from yesterday. She had canned food, 3 fried eggs, and some chicken.

Maybe I can google cat food care and print it out and maybe everyone will finally shut up about it. I'm 42 years old for goodness sakes. If I can't feed a cat I need to be put in the loonie bin farm.

Oh, doubt the harness thing will work. I tried getting it on her but she attacked it. Maybe she likes the color pink?

[lnseagraves]

She might like pink, my ruby LOVES a teal blue color.. no joke, she has a toy thats that color thats her favorite toy. She stole a pair of socks that were that color (only socks she's stolen) and she keeps stealing a dishrag thats that color. Cracks me up.

Anyway, I just posted a good article on pet food yesterday in this forum. I think you should check it out. There are plenty of good dry food out there, just as there's plenty of bad wet food out there. Actually, my breeder said that if you get a good dry food, there is more nutrients in it, and is better for vitamins than any of the wet foods. For my cat, I give her dry in the morning and a half a can of wet in the evening. She likes the mixed diet. Dry food is also more economical. Check out the article I posted on how to find a good one.

There is also something called raw diet for cats, which is supposed to be the BEST BEST BEST diet there is for cats. But, it is pretty expensive, and a lot of work. You can buy it in frozen section of pet stores, but you might have to search for that. You can also look online and find out how to do it yourself, but you have to buy only FRESH meat because you don't cook out any of the bacteria that we can cook out of our meat. Cooked meat isn't SO good for cats. I give Ruby raw pieces of meat when I'm cooking, if I think its fresh enough. I also let her lap up the juices in the styrofoam from the meat packaging. Some people give cats (like dogs) bones. NEVER give a cat a COOKED chicken bone. Those shred and can cause damage to the cat's digestive tract. Always give a raw bone, if youre going to do that.

Anyway, I never feed Ruby steak. Too expensive. I don't even eat steak that much!!! So long as you get a quality pet food, (either dry or canned) your cat will have a happy healthy life.

Sidenote: Some cats are required to have certain diets because of a medical condition. Only a licensed vet can diagnose that.

[traceann]

LOL, oh my, if you feed only canned, it's kind of hard on their teeth, with the crunchy it cleans them etc, that's why mine gets both and always has a bowl of crunchies out so I'm with Inseagraves! And let me tell ya - my 23 yr old ONLY ate crunchy stuff, never canned, and it was just plain old Purina Cat Chow. So, since he lived to 23, I'd say he was a-ok with dry!!!!

And my Missy too loves her crunchies (she now gets Iams dry food for older cats)! She'll sit and wait for you to put a "fresh" scoop in her bowl! (by the way, if there's typos here it's because she's feeling the need to sit on my lap here as I type - guess she wants to make sure I get right for you Mary! )

Just take their advice and let it go in one ear and out the other, you've managed to keep the dogs healthy, I think you're doing fine with the kitty too!!!!

[lnseagraves]

PS. 3 cans a day is WAY too much for a cat. Especially if youre talking adult can sizes. Maybe 3 Fancy Feasts would be ok for a large cat, but even thats a lot. You really don't want to make your cat overweight, just like for humans overweight can cause health problems. 2 pounds pudgy on a cat is equivilent to 50 extra pounds for us....

[SandyRN]

Cats aren't human....eating 3 fried eggs can't possibly be good for her. An egg, scrambled with very little butter is good for her coat, but thats only as a treat, every once in a while.

Cats should eat cat food...they get fat eating people food. The milk is a bad thing because it will cause diarrhea which will make her dehydrated. Water, maybe ONE can of food per cat per day, plus a never ending bowl of dry food because they nibble. Most cats will not over eat unless they have worms, so it's possible she's got tapeworms.

Overfeeding them is not a good thing, no matter how sweetly they look at you.

[waterflow]

I filled her water dish full today and she drank half of it so she is drinking. Just couldn't tell before. Have noticed when she has dry food she only nibbles on it during the day. The canned she will gobble up fast but then she was so thin when she came but now she is starting to get fatter. I thought egg yolks were good for their coats? We always gave the dogs egg yolks since they were outside. Read where they were supposed to have lots of that stuff but can't believe everything you read. Thanks Sandy for that information.

[SandyRN]

The egg yolks are good for their coats, but only in moderation. We give the dogs eggs like once a week. My cats won't eat them...picky little things.

[charmedx3]

my cat Dennis will only drink water from our dog Reo's bowl !!! i put water in his dish.... won't touch it! Dennis is so picky he will only eat wet food after i take a fork to it a mush it up THEN put dry food on top of it !!! We found out he only likes mushed up food he won't touch the chunky food !!!
I just love my cat! He follows me everywhere! if i go visit a neighbor he will walk across the street with me and wait for me to walk back home! and it doesn't matter how long i am visiting the neighbor he waits!!!