My cat and water.

[TheOneWithTheHair]

My cat is 14. She will only eat cat biscuits and only one brand. The thing is she won't drink fresh water.

I have tried all different types of bowl. I thought it might be the fluoride so we filled it from the water butt. What she does is drink from puddles or any other stagnant water she can find.

Will this do her any harm?

I'm at a wedding today so not ignoring any responses. Thanks.

[Woodenheart]

Are there any pouches she would eat, or trays, like Salmon Sheba? as they probably have a bit of water in them,

ave you tried Whiskas Milk?

It lasts 3 days in the fridge once opened, Mine loved it.

[GerundTheBehemoth]

Where's her water bowl in relation to her food? In my experience cats don't like to drink water close to where they eat, so I put the water bowl in a different room to the food.

[TheOneWithTheHair]

Thanks for your replies.

She won't drink milk or eat anything else.

Her water bowl is outside because we thought she may drink out of it there if she won't drink inside.

She's a funny one though. As she's got older she's developed a habit of only eating if we are in the room with her.

[CabbagePatchCheryl]

Our vet told us cats have a very low thirst drive - they naturally get most of their water from food. We started feeding ours 2/3 wet food 1/3 dry after he got a UTI (male neutered particularly prone apparently). He wouldn't (won't) really drink water so we felt we had to get some hydration into him somehow. He wasnt going outside much at the time so i didnt feel he was drinking elsewhere either.

At our old house though he used to regularly drink out of the gutter on next door's garage roof and lick raindrops off our car! Never seemed to do him any harm.

I'd say keep an eye on her - if she goes outside plenty and is showing no ill effects, I wouldn't worry too much. If you are concerned, possibly try:

• to introduce some wet food
  
• move her water away from her food bowl (as someone else said)
  
• one of those kitty water fountains which dribble the water out. Apparently a lot of cats don't like still water.
  

HTH

[TheOneWithTheHair]

Brill thanks.

She doesn't seem to be ill from it so maybe just leave it and keep an eye on her then?

[lljkk]

Have you tried a fountain?
I noticed mine won't drink if the water is below the brim; I have to have the bowl filled right up.

[TheOneWithTheHair]

I haven't. Didn't know such a thing existed. Will google.

[evuscha]

I have a very strange thing that worked for me. My cat never liked to drink from bowl but very much enjoyed drinking from MY glass whenever I got myself a glass of water. So I dedicated one of the glasses to her, it is a tall and wide one (comfortable for her to drink from) and sits on the table and she has been a happy drinker ever since.

[TamzinGrey]

We've got a glass drinker here too, but only the glass of water on DH's bedside table will do. She comes up to bed with us every night and has a really long drink from it before settling down.(DH doesn't use it any more but it gets filled with fresh water each night just for her.) Other than that she'll only drink from the dirty old bowl of rainwater outside the back door, or her water fountain which she adores. Refuses to drink from a bowl and just looks disdainful if one is presented to her.

This is the fountain we've got www.amazon.co.uk/Petmate-06039-Cat-Mate-Fountain/dp/B001NYGB8W?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21. Highly recommended.

[2kidsintow]

Our cat always shunned his water bowl and would drink from our pond. In miserable weather when he started to avoid going outside we ended up putting a water bowl on the landing as he would otherwise try and drink out of the toilet.

[kittyvet]

Try a larger dish too as some cats like to dangle their whiskers... Mine have 2 dog bowls. Different room to food and litter. Try filtered water or bottled water or just cooled down kettle water. Fountains a great idea but some of them heat the water too much.

[givemushypeasachance]

One of my friends' cats almost exclusively drinks from glasses, and my boys both prefer a big plastic jug of water I once just offered them to see if they were interested rather than their water bowls, even though they have three scattered around the place and I change the water every day... classic cat contrariness!

[WitchWay]

Mine prefer the bird bath & the pond. In the house they get filtered water which gets rid of the chlorine smell & occasionally have a little drink.

[GRW]

Mine will only drink from the fish tank, so I have to leave the lid off it and he perches on the edge of it. It does have a filter.