Question for Cat People

[Jerome Stanek]

My cat shakes it off and runs around getting it all over the place

[Chris Walls]

Belinda
Our cat "Ernestine" , a shelter cat , was as the shelter said " about 3 " when we got her. I think ALL of the cats at a shelter are " about 3". She is not picky about her water dish. We have very good water , we're on a well. She gets fresh water every morning at the same time I feed her. She's an early riser, I'm up at 5 every day I work SHE"S up at 5 EVERY day. We use both wet and dry food, wet in the morning and dry in a bowl available all day.


Chris

[Belinda Barfield]

Belinda
Our cat "Ernestine" , a shelter cat , was as the shelter said " about 3 " when we got her. I think ALL of the cats at a shelter are " about 3". She is not picky about her water dish. We have very good water , we're on a well. She gets fresh water every morning at the same time I feed her. She's an early riser, I'm up at 5 every day I work SHE"S up at 5 EVERY day. We use both wet and dry food, wet in the morning and dry in a bowl available all day.


Chris

I completely understand. I'm up at 4:30 every day I work, and the cats don't get the concept of Saturday and Sunday.

[Curt Harms]

I don't know that cats drink a lot of water. They don't normally pant, they don't really sweat and they don't seem to excrete all that much. We have 2 crocks about 4 feet from the dry food dishes. 3 cats are fine with the crocks as they are. The 19 lb. Maine Coon has to take a paw and pull on the top of the crock to create waves - and sometimes a mess. Then it's okay to drink. We have a sump discharge that a couple cats had fun with. If they were in the back yard they'd hear the sump pump start and make a bee line for the discharge end and have a drink. Yum.

[Shawn Pixley]

Our cat drinks from his water fountain, the dog's water bowls, and from LOML's water glass if she's not attentive (ich!). Unless you know your cat is dehydrated, I would just keep water in a bowl (change 1-2 times per day). A cat won't deprive itself of water.

[Paul Saffold]

Our 2 cats like their water bowl on the bathroom sink. They drink lots. Dry food always available. Their treat is a rounded teaspoonful of soft food at 6 PM. They have a hard time when the clocks change twice a year. So far no problems with hairballs as long as we give them a full-body wax job regularly. And you thought a bikini wax was painful.

[Belinda Barfield]

Our 2 cats like their water bowl on the bathroom sink. They drink lots. Dry food always available. Their treat is a rounded teaspoonful of soft food at 6 PM. They have a hard time when the clocks change twice a year. So far no problems with hairballs as long as we give them a full-body wax job regularly. And you thought a bikini wax was painful.

Bathroom counter, I may try that as skittish cat likes to jump up on the counter for her morning brushing. That's her "alone time" with the SO. They chat while he shaves, etc.

[John Shuk]

IAMS hairball formula food helped bigtime with our cats when we had them. That became their new food. Cats by their nature don't require water the way that people or dogs do. They are able to go longer on less water. I've read that that is why their pee smells so bad. Remember that cats are a very adaptable and successful species. They'll take a drink when they need to.
I posted a link to Amazon so you can read the reviews. Though the one I linked to is 5 small bags and much more expensive than normal.
http://www.amazon.com/IAMS-Hairball-...owViewpoints=1

[Chuck Wintle]

Cats will only drink as much as they ever need to. They were originally desert dwellers a long time ago and Egyptians managed to domesticate them. Most of their water needs come from the food they eat and the wetter the better.

[John Coloccia]

re: drinking out of the toilet with the lid closed

If you think a lid will keep them out, you're dreaming. LOL. I came home one night and couldn't find one of my cats. I was young...20 or 21 years old. I was in graduate school and had my first apartment. These were the first living things that I had to take care of all by myself. I was mortified. Oh no! I lost one of my cats...what the heck have I done??

*****meooowww......meoowwwww****


Huh? Where is that coming from? Closet? The fridge? The freezer?!? The OVEN?!?!??

LOL...no. To this day I don't know how he did it, but he opened a heavy drawer on my desk, jumped in, and then closed the drawer.

If you want to know for sure, sprinkle a little salt or pepper on the toilet seat cover. If they're lifting it, you'll see it moved. Back then, in 1995, having the little blue toilet dye junk was de rigueur, and I wanted to keep them out so I kept the lid down....but then I noticed they stopped drinking their water. Hmmmmm..... Salt and pepper don't lie

[Larry Klaaren]

Clients ask me this question all the time. They don't think their cats drink enough water. But they are almost never dehydrated, so I tell them not to worry about it. Most dehydrated cats have kidney problems and don't conserve the water they should so they are urinating all the time. Those cats also drink an awful lot of water. If the cat is otherwise healthy, I would keep on keeping on. Remember cats are only about 4-6% the weight of a human. Most get fed too much and people might expect them to drink too much. An eleven pound cat would require about 267 ml per day of fluids, which is a little over a quarter liter or half a pint. If you are feeding them wet food, they wouldn't need a lot more.

[Larry Klaaren]

About the hairballs. Nothing has been proven to really "help" with hairballs. That's why there are lots of solutions floating around. If there were a good one, that would be the one every one uses. We give our cats the Iams Weight Management and Hairball Control. It comes in a teal bag. That being said, we never had a real problem with hairballs before or after starting that food. On the above answer, I just used eleven pounds because that is 5 kg. Most weight appropriate cats are a little smaller.

[Larry Klaaren]

One more thing, about putting the gel on the paws. I suggested that once. Then I got invited to come clean the carpet that the cat ran on when it took off after that treatment.

[Belinda Barfield]

Thanks for the advise Larry. There was one gel that was malt flavor (I can't recall who made it) but no pet stores around here carry it any more. The cats loved to lick that one off of my finger. I think it was called Petromalt. I'll look for it online and maybe give it another try. I'll weigh the cats tonight since I can't recall how much they weighed on their last vet visit, just out of curiosity. They are both under ten pounds I'm pretty sure.

[Mike Cruz]

Belinda, get a dog. Not only will they drink from anything (including the toilet bowl), but they will rid you of your cat problem...