Cat not drinking

CuBz90 · 03/02/10 - 01:35

I have a 6 month old kitten that will not seem to drink water. I have tried putting water next to her milk but she drinks the milk and doesn't even touch the water, just sniffs it.
So, since yesterday I have put water in her bowl instead of milk to try and get her to drink it without having the choice of milk as well, but she still hasn't touched it.

What can I do to get her drinking water? Does it have to be a certain Temperature (warm or cold)?

gonnaenodaethat · 03/02/10 - 01:42

cats like and need fresh water. They also drink out of puddles tho. Don't worry about not seeing her drinking. Do you give her wet food? I have 6 cats and there are 5 i rarely see having a drink.

CuBz90 · 03/02/10 - 02:23

gonnaenodaethat wrote: »

cats like and need fresh water. They also drink out of puddles tho. Don't worry about not seeing her drinking. Do you give her wet food? I have 6 cats and there are 5 i rarely see having a drink.

I always gives her wet food, she seems to leave a lot of dry food behind when I feed that to her.
The water in her bowl is no less than what I put in for her

yorkiegal · 03/02/10 - 02:56

my cat never drinks from his water bowl. I don't even bother putting one out for him now as he'd much rather drink from a puddle outside. Cats can get all the water they need from their wet food so don't worry if he's not drinking too. It's only if he stops eating that you need to worry, as cats can dehydrate very quickly.

[Deleted User] · 09/02/10 - 15:09

Cut out the dry food, the cat does not need it, and stick to good quality wet. I add a good spalsh of warm water to food and mash it up so the cat gets a bit of extra fluid with the meal. It warms the food so it smells better to them and they all seem to like it this way.

[Deleted User] · 09/02/10 - 20:37

We have 6 cats and I have only ever seen 3 of them drink the water we leave for them.

Lippincote · 09/02/10 - 21:12

If your cat eats wet food she will not need to drink water as she will get enough moisture from the food. Cats are originally desert animals so they are good at conserving any moisture they find in food. (A cat on a diet of dry food will of course need to drink water.)

She probably drinks the milk because she likes the taste. A lot of cats are intolerant of milk (gives them diarrhoea), and there is no particular reason to give it to her, so there is no problem is just leaving down water which she can take or leave as she likes.

[Deleted User] · 09/02/10 - 23:55

You didn't say where the water comes from. To your cat, chlorinated tap water probably smells like a swimming pool. Try it with some bottled or rain water.

Poblet · 10/02/10 - 00:05

Actually, a lot of cats are milk intolerant, but a cat who adopted me ignored the water and drank skimmed milk. If your cat is not being sick a lot or exhibiting any other symptoms, contrary to popular belief the milk is probably fine.

Dry food is good for them and helps keep their teeth healthy, is she/he old enough, and had her jabs to go outside yet? If so you can be assured that they will find the dirtiest puddle of water possible and ignore your clean bowl.:D

I gave the cat special cat milk, and he ignored it for proper milk.

My current cats drink water no problem, but will lavish an occasional teaspoon of cream.:D

You could try mixing milk and water, and see what happens.

cosmo · 10/02/10 - 00:10

My cat won't drink tap water.

I have a water butt outside and fill her bowl from that. Even then she doesn't drink very much at all really.

CuBz90 · 10/02/10 - 00:18

Poblet wrote: »

Actually, a lot of cats are milk intolerant, but a cat who adopted me ignored the water and drank skimmed milk. If your cat is not being sick a lot or exhibiting any other symptoms, contrary to popular belief the milk is probably fine.

Dry food is good for them and helps keep their teeth healthy, is she/he old enough, and had her jabs to go outside yet? If so you can be assured that they will find the dirtiest puddle of water possible and ignore your clean bowl.:D

I gave the cat special cat milk, and he ignored it for proper milk.

My current cats drink water no problem, but will lavish an occasional teaspoon of cream.:D

You could try mixing milk and water, and see what happens.

She's 6 months old but not had her jabs yet. For that reason I don't let her go out (not further than the tree in the back garden anyway

)

I tried mixing milk with water and she drinks, but she will not drink water on its own

Poblet · 10/02/10 - 00:27

CuBz90 wrote: »

She's 6 months old but not had her jabs yet. For that reason I don't let her go out (not further than the tree in the back garden anyway )

I tried mixing milk with water and she drinks, but she will not drink water on its own

If she is not showing any adverse effects (squitting or sick) then seriously, I wouldn't worry. As I said, my current cats drink water, but my previous cat drank milk by the bowl full. Not all cats are lactose intolerant, so I would carry on letting her drink milk and water. She will be getting sufficient liquid intake with that, without it being too rich.

[Deleted User] · 10/02/10 - 00:29

If she's eating wet food I wouldn't worry too much as the water content is a very high percentage. I'd start diluting her milk a little more each week with warm water from the kettle. She will eventually turn to water. My two guzzle like anything and out of my glass too if they can but I remember when they were young, they loved the kitten milk from sainsbury's (not whiskas or cat milk) and they still get it as a treat.

Also, if everything looks ok in the litterbox, I wouldn't worry. It thinks start to look very dark in colour then she may be dehydrated but the sooner she does move on to water the better or she'll be one fat little cat

Incidentally if my two drink normal cow's milk they are ill - not suitable for their tummies really.

Lippincote · 10/02/10 - 10:56

CuBz90 wrote: »

She's 6 months old but not had her jabs yet. For that reason I don't let her go out (not further than the tree in the back garden anyway )

That is much more of a worry than whether she does or does not drink water. You or your guests can bring in the cat flu virus on your shoes (and if she goes in the back garden she could pick it up out there too). Cat flu is a horrible illness and can leave a cat with very unpleasant lifelong symptoms. Please get her vaccinated.

And then you can let her out and she can drink out of filthy puddles.:)

[Deleted User] · 11/02/10 - 03:28

My housemate has a cat that likes to go over to the dogs water bowl and scoop it out with her paw onto the floor and then drink from the floor.Its funny to watch her but anoyin having to keep moping up after her.

Hey there!

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