How to Get Your Cat Drinking More Water 🐈💧

You fill the water bowl, walk past hours later, and the level has barely moved. Many cats drink less than they need, and the cause usually sits in the setup, not the cat.

Here is a water station taken apart piece by piece, with the small changes that get a cat drinking more.

On the bench: one ordinary bowl

The usual setup is a bowl beside the food dish in a kitchen corner. It looks fine. Cornell's Feline Health Center puts a cat's need at about 4 ounces a day for every 5 lean pounds, food moisture included, so roughly a cup for a 10-pound cat.

The water

Good: emptied and refilled fresh every day. Weak: topped up over yesterday's dust, hair and stray kibble.

The bowl

Good: wide enough that her whiskers don't brush the rim; glass or ceramic, which many animals seem to favor. Weak: a narrow, deep cup she has to push her face into.

The spot

Good: away from the food, well away from the litter box, with a view of the room.

Hidden tip: try another room entirely. In a Royal Canin owner survey, cats given a choice preferred water in a room other than the one where they ate.

How many stations

AAFP and ISFM guidelines call for separate food and water, and in multi-cat homes nobody should have to drink beside a rival. In my experience, a shy foster in the spare room drinks far more once a second bowl sits near her hiding place.

The part nobody checks: the food bowl

Dry food holds at most about 10% moisture; wet food can run close to 80%. Cornell notes that wet food, or water added to food, is a good way to raise intake.

Hidden tip: Cornell also suggests flavoring water with a little tuna-can water or low-sodium chicken broth. Use a second bowl so the plain one stays plain.

The part that matters less: running water

Fountains get the attention, yet in a study of 16 cats, average intake was about the same from still, falling and circulating water. A few cats had clear favorites; if yours does, clean it as its maker directs.

Check it with a kitchen scale

Weigh the full bowl. Then weigh it again a day later; each gram gone is about a milliliter. If drinking suddenly changes, or she seems weak or off her food, call your vet.

Save this: the water station check

Start with the spot and the food bowl. The rest is fine-tuning, by and by.