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01
"Feline Behavior Post- cats and water consumption"
"Hi Imgur, I'm your friendly neighborhood feline behaviorist. Cats are often misunderstood creatures- I can't tell you how much misinformation I see out there about them. Part of this is because cats have NOT been studied scientifically nearly as much as some other species, such as dogs!
I want to help cats by making sure that humans have a better understanding of them, and thus don't have unrealistic expectations for their behavior. I figured why not share some info on Imgur :) Even if you don't want to read it, you can at least enjoy a few pictures of some shelter kitties!
This time I'm going to talk about water consumption! Making sure your cat stays hydrated is a key component of keeping them happy and healthy, as it is a piece of helping to prevent medical problems like kidney disease or urinary tract infections."
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02
"Cats typically get a lot of their moisture from their food, which is one reason to consider offering your cat wet food. If you've been advised by your vet that it's really important for your cat to stay hydrated, you can even add water to their food- sometimes heating it up a little and mixing it all together can make it more appetizing. However, there are ways to encourage cats to drink more water."
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03
"Many people have witnessed a cat drinking out of a dripping faucet at some point, and there's a scientific reason for this! Our domestic kitties are descended from the African wildcat (Felis sylvestris lybica), and for them, the only source of germ-free water available in the savannah was flowing water- streams, rivers, and the like. The cats who drank this water rather than the still water survived longer, passed on their genetics, and their preference for moving water has been passed down to our cats. While it's of course not reasonable to install a stream in your home, there are many different kinds of moving water fountains available for cats, and these can encourage water consumption."
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04
"Not every cat is going to love a water fountain- some kitties can even be afraid of them. If your cat doesn't like fountains, or you can't have one for whatever reason, there are still strategies you can use to get them to drink more out of their regular bowl:"
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05
"Make sure the water is CLEAN. Changing it daily may seem like a pain, but it really is important for your cat.
Avoid putting a water dish near the litter box, and where your cat eats. While the reasoning behind the first one may seem simple, it is not as common knowledge that many cats prefer to have their water far away from their food to avoid contamination."
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06
"If you have more than one cat, you should provide more than one water fountain or bowl in separate areas, to avoid the possibility of resource guarding and ensure that everyone feels comfortable getting a drink."
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07
"Offer your cat a wide, shallow bowl to drink out of. Some cats suffer from 'whisker fatigue' and have a painful or uncomfortable sensation when their whiskers touch the sides of bowls. This could also apply to food dishes. Of course, some cats seem to have the opposite preference, and enjoy drinking out of glasses or mugs. Quite often this is because that water is 'fresher' than whatever is in their bowl, so if your cat does this a lot it could be a sign that you aren't cleaning their bowl enough."
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08
"Make the plain water more appetizing by adding some flavor to it. Get pet-safe chicken broth, and add a little to the bowl, or make ice cubes out of it and put them floating in the water dish- some cats may enjoy batting them around or licking the cube, especially on really warm days. If you do add something like this to their water, just remember that it becomes even more important to clean the bowl or fountain on a daily basis!"
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09
"If your cat is mainly a kibble eater and isn't really interested in having canned wet food added to their diet, you could try adding a topper of cat food 'broth' treats (or pet-safe chicken broth), wet food treats (like tiki cat sticks or churu), or give it to them separately if they enjoy them enough. Just keep in mind that these things aren't nutritionally complete, so they have to be an addition to whatever regular food your cat needs, rather than a substitution. And if your cat is on a special diet for medical reasons, be sure to check with your vet before giving them any broths or special treats!"
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10
"Thank you all for reading! For a full list of all my feline behavior posts, see here: https://imgur.com/gallery/QWAWDJS
If I've helped you out with a feline behavior issue, please consider donating to me! https://ko-fi.com/friendlyneighborhoodfelinebehaviorist"
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