How do I encourage my cat to drink in this heat

[DirtyDianaa]

My cat never seems to drink. He is out and about all day in the heat and seems fine but I feel thirsty on his behalf 😅I fill his water fresh and try to keep it cool, I turn on the tap to encourage him drinking from the tap in the kitchen sink. I have tried water fountains but he cannot be asked with them. Any ideas or do I need to chill and he probably drinks in secret?

Mine goes downstairs to take his drink from a special rectangular vase I made.

Another only drinks if i put water onto a bowl of dry food. Another one waits til the dry food has been dewatered and then eats the soggy biscuits. He is recovering from gingivitis so that's his excuse.

The others all drink from the range of shallow trays and trugs round the garden. Which are manky but it's good for their immune system.

Next door's cats come and drink water out of our birdbath...

Mine will only drink from a human glass, placed on the upstairs landing, and it has to be filled right to the top. He meows loudly if it’s not full enough.

He also likes it if we drain the liquid from canned tuna into his bowl (tuna in spring water) and will drink that immediately.

Try bottled water. Most cats dislike the chlorine that's added to tap water.

Mine like their water fountain. I’ve never seen them use it but I fill it about 1 - 2 glasses a day.

i have also seen them drink up water splashes from the shower. My old Burmese would drink from the toilet bowl :/

if a cup of water is left out they seem to like that too (not that we leave them out and I get rid of it, but teenagers…). One of mine also likes to splash his paw in his water bowl (separate to the fountain) and seems to have a lot of fun with that. I’ve also seen him dip his paw in it and lick it too.

if he’s out most of the day hed find it somewhere.

cats are very resourceful

Evian?

Keep lots of different bowls of water around. Inside and out.
Maybe also try a pint glass.

They're cats. They're as close to a wild animal as pets get. No-one's following a tiger and to make sure it drinks enough.

A cat will drink when it's thirsty. Providing it's not fed entirely dried food, you don't have to jump through hoops to get your cat to drink. Leave a bowl of water outside to get a bit fetid/flavourful and trust your cat to keep itself alive.

The time to worry is when they start drinking too much.

Our boy has a bowl of water in the living room which he does drink from - it’s not very aesthetic but hey-ho. I have never seen him drink from the bowl in the kitchen. If I make a tuna sandwich/pasta I will always give him the spring water from that with a bit of tuna.

Our previous girl loved cat milk but was never ever seen to drink from one of the many water bowls, only the manky bird bath or puddles on top of the wheelie bin. (our vet told us off for giving her the cat milk because it was making her fat.)

Funnily I’ve had two cats and they’ve both been good drinkers! They also both loved licking rainwater off the metal bench in the garden
plant pot also popular

Mine drinks from our swimming pool despite the salt in it and sometimes chlorine. At first I was worried, but the pool guy told me all the animals do it here (Caribbean). Ive even seen a bird drinking from it 🤷‍♀️

Dcat sometimes drinks from his bowl of water but only when not fresh. I add a bit of water to his wet food but can't add to much otherwise he doesn't eat it.

My late girls drank really well from human glasses or beakers. So they had their own. They would only eat dry food, but drank really well. Current girl drinks from a Mackey old litter tray that’s been in the garden for ages. But just discovered that she’ll drink out of a bigger dog bowl.

Maybe start with rainwater!

Put various bowls of water around the house, not near his food. Friend who volunteering with a cat sanctuary gave me that tip - cats don’t like drinking water that’s near their food.

Leave a glass of water by the side of your bed. We’ve just got 2 kittens who don’t go outside yet and they’ll happily drink from my glass, the trick is remembering not to drink from it myself!

I've seen mine drink around five times in 15 years, the previous once three times in 22 if you discount the occasional stealing from an unsupervised glass.

I wouldn't worry if water is available at all times.

A pint mug full of water on the kitchen table works well for us.
Or a dirty plant pot full of rainwater.

Bowl of water outside so it gets all the rain water, dead leaves and bugs, cats lap it up, inside water bowl not touched .

Do you have a water butt? My cat will drink water from the water butt, but only if its in a bowl outside, well away from his food inside. I also often add a tiny splash of water to his wet food too- but not too much though or he turns his nose up!

Put water in a human type pint glass - put it by your side on floor as if you will drink it. You will get a furry face in it

Ours barely drinks at the best of times, so when it is hot we make ice lollies with a tiny bit of tuna tin water (not oil) in the mix. It’s the only thing that will work with the silly creature!

He does find some ways to stay cool though…

My boy absolutely loves his milk. I buy lacto free full fat. He gets so excited when I’m pouring it out that he’s diving in his bowl before I can fill it up.

Totally agree with telling them a glass of water is yours and they are not to drink it, voilà!

Cats are desert creatures and are evolved not to need to drink a lot of water. A cat visibly drinking a lit of water usually signals a health issue (my elderly cat has kidney failure so drinks a vast amount). Feed wet food or leave dry food in water to soak if your cat doesn't like wet food.

That’ll be a surprise to cats that live in the Amazon, for example.