October 6th, 2009
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In the beginning, domestic cats were not dependent on drinkable water. It is thought that this nutritional quirk is the result of where cats were first domesticated: Egypt has a hot, dry climate where water is scarce (hence those handy camels for getting around without “refueling!”) It is thought that the feline system evolved so that survival did not depend on finding drinkable water: instead, “survival of the fittest” dictated that cats had to depend on their lunch for their fluid intake, deriving it from the blood and other internal fluids of small birds and rodents.
Radio show host and pet expert Tracie Hotchner is the author of The Dog Bible and The Cat Bible. Click here to follow her on Twitter. |
My cats love to drink water.
…which is why dry food makes no sense at all for cats…
But since their domestication, they are no longer dependent upon finding their own lunch to which they can derive fluids. Please don’t stop giving your cats water.
Hahaha–Cats didn’t evolve!! We were created.
I have two cats my little female drinks water but then again she eats more dry food then the male cat who i haven’t seen drink once in the month or so he’s been here. I’d say always have a fresh bowl of water out.
Sorry, but I don’t believe this article and PLEASE DO NOT STOP GIVING YOUR CATS WATER! Also, as Luther posted above, CATS WERE CREATED BY GOD! Next, my husband and I have been breeders and have had sooo many kitties of ALL BREEDS, for over 30 years, and ALL of them LOVED water. As soon as their mothers weened them, we NEVER gave them milk, it was WATER and they LOVED IT! In fact, our Vet has always told us NOT to give them milk, but to give them WATER. I can’t stress that enough and especially for males. Cats do get urinary tract infections and our Vet has always told us that they should have PLENTY OF CLEAN WATER as this helps prevent that and other things. I HOPE PEOPLE WILL PAY ATTENTION TO THIS BECAUSE WATER IS VERY GOOD FOR CATS. Maybe my husband and I should be writing a book about CATS since we’ve seen everything under the sun that has to do with cats. Also, DO NOT LET YOUR CATS GO OUTSIDE. WE DO NOT ALLOW THAT EXCEPT WHEN GOING TO THE VET IN A CARRIER. OUR CATS DON’T EVEN WANT TO GO OUTSIDE, THEY RUN WHEN THE DOOR OPENS…THANK GOD. YOU ALLOW THEM TO ROAM AROUND OUTSIDE AND THE NEXT THING YOU’LL KNOW IS SOMETHING BAD WILL BE HAPPENING TO YOUR CAT…EITHER, SICKNESS, INJURY, DEATH OR BELIEVE ME…SOMEONE WILL BE MEAN TO THEM AND YOU MAY NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN.
It is irresponsible to say that cats do not need water, Cats are prone to diabetes, and male cats are subject to kidney stones. In both cases, more water is needed.
Many cats like running water. Mine likes to stick her paw in her bowl before drinking and will let me know when she thinks the bowl needs to be refilled.
Please give your cats the water they need,
good lord…of course cats evolved, let’s not get silly. however, our present kitties evolved FROM a small wild desert feline with a plentiful source of prey-derived moisture. they are no longer in that environment. unless you plan to serve your cat several whole mice a day-give them water. even canned food doesn’t provide enough fluid, and neither does raw unless you’re also serving up the whole critter, guts, organs and all. if they don’t need the water, they won’t drink it-but be sensible and provide it.
This is ridiculous. People are going to think that Cats today our indoor precious felines do not need drinking water. Shame on you for posting this on Catster. The first thing my vet asks is , Is he drinking water? If not he has to look for the reason why not. My cat drinks a lot of water. With the food that we feed mostly dry and the climate in Colorado we all need hydration. I hope cat owners do not take you seriously and gage their cats drinking habits to those of ancient Eygpt. I thougt Catster was smarter than that.
This article just proves that cats are smarter than some people. Maybe that is why they have survived this long. If our ancesters descended from apes and lived in caves, then with this idiology we should not need to have homes or grocery stores, we should be out preying on small animals. PLEASE DO NOT BELIEVE THIS HOGWASH!
Some cats are ‘thirstless,’ an expression we learned from our vet. He wasn’t particularly concerned that I wasn’t drinking water, as long as I was eating ‘wet’ food. After doing some research, my human found that it’s true that many cats will not partake of water, particularly those cats who are getting their allotment of moisture from canned or raw food. For many years, I didn’t drink water at all, and now I only take a scant bit. That said, it’s prudent to keep fresh water available for cats so that we can make our own choices about whether we need to drink it.
The title of this article is going to mislead many people into thinking that cats do not need water. Cats need water as do all living creatures, especially if their diet consists of mainly dry kibble. Wet food is a source of water but should not be considered an exclusive source of hydration.
ALWAYS have a dish of water available for your cat. If reluctant to drink, many love the fountains you can buy.
I had a friend who went to Africa for 3 weeks and due to a miscommunication with her caregiver never came. Because the lid of the toilet was left open, the cats, though quite emaciated, survived the ordeal.
I don’t understand why everyone thinks the article says you should stop giving your cat water??? I don’t even understand why anyone would think that reading the title???
Lighten up people. People aren’t really going to take water away from their cats. Ashley barely drinks any water as it is.
While that is most likely true cat’s today have yet evolved again. Most of us keep our cats indoors and feed them mostly a dry diet or semi-moist. so todays cat does require water to diget their food as well as keep there kidneys and bladders flushed and free from amonia build up as well has other toxins. Give your cats clean fresh water daily, as you would yourself or any other.
Thank you so much for your comments to my posting on Catster about cats and their water needs. I am so glad so many people feel passionately about their kitties – and I do understand that many of you are not familiar with the information I have been giving my readers and listeners about the dangers of any dry food – which I call Kitty Crack because of its harmful, addictive qualities for an obligate carnivore. I also know tht on the other hand, many of you have already learned to feed ONLY wet food, which reduces the cat’s need for water down to nearly nothing. However, you also need a visit to the vet any time a cat is drinking copious amounts of water because it is a sure sign of problems with the kidneys – very often caused by feeding dry food in the first place (and often remedied simply by removing all Kitty Crack and replacing it with high quality canned or raw frozen cat food(there is a downloadable printable list of CAT CHAT approved foods n my website, http://www.TracieHotchner.com). Please spend time on my website learning everything your pussycat expects you to know!