New cat not drinking

[Mollysmummy]

More questions about Molly! She seems to be getting braver and more friendly, and definitely meows less at night.

She's eating fine and weeing/pooing fine, but I've noticed she just doesn't seem to be drinking much of anything?

She also had the runs for a couple of days so I'm aware that she probably needs to be drinking more!

Any tips?

[KittyWitty]

Hey! Does Molly eat wet or dry food? if it's wet I wouldn't be worried about her not drinking much as the majority of their water comes from their food but if she gets dry even if it is along side wet food I'd be a little bit worried - maybe you could increase her wet food while decreasing dry (that is if you feed her dry)

Also the runs - if she eating properly and acting alright in herself? When my youngest had the runs a few weeks ago we changed his diet to a very bland diet of boiled chicken but it turned out he had a tummy bug so ended up having to get antibiotics and a trip to emergency vets and normal vets the day after.

[Mollysmummy]

We give her half and half; she gets a pouch of wet food in 2 servings, and we keep a small amount of dry food in another bowl in case she's hungry at night or while we're out.

We got her 9 days ago from a sanctuary where she was the smallest, shyest cat in her run, and she was originally taken away from a woman who was neglecting 9 cats in a tiny flat. So, we think her runs was due to change in diet as the sanctuary fed them whatever was donated and god knows what she got before that, she's still very slim.

She licks the gravy off the wet food before eating the meat so do you think she's getting enough? She always has fresh water out too but I don't want to stress her out trying to catch her to take her to the vet; she's not keen on being touched yet!

[Mollysmummy]

Could I add more water to her wet food?

[KittyWitty]

Could I add more water to her wet food?

Yeah you can do that you can also add it to the dry!

[KittyWitty]

We give her half and half; she gets a pouch of wet food in 2 servings, and we keep a small amount of dry food in another bowl in case she's hungry at night or while we're out.

We got her 9 days ago from a sanctuary where she was the smallest, shyest cat in her run, and she was originally taken away from a woman who was neglecting 9 cats in a tiny flat. So, we think her runs was due to change in diet as the sanctuary fed them whatever was donated and god knows what she got before that, she's still very slim.

She licks the gravy off the wet food before eating the meat so do you think she's getting enough? She always has fresh water out too but I don't want to stress her out trying to catch her to take her to the vet; she's not keen on being touched yet!

Just keep an eye on the runs - more than likely is the change in diet, if things don't improve then you can give her a plain diet then slowly reintroduce the food you want to feed her. Also you could mash up her food so she is eating the gravy and meat at the same time

[nanny pamy]

A really good tip I got from our friends on here is that cats don't like their water next to their food. So I put theos water well away from his food and in a glass bowl and I couldn't believe how much he drank, practically the whole bowl the first time he saw it. I still have the small bowl next to his food and he sometimes has a little but he goes to the glass bowl most of the time. I also collected some rain water and he drank that. He has mostly dry food, he only licks the jelly off the wet and leaves all the meat but one ive found he loves is Goumet gold ocean fish pate. He prefares pate, mayby cos hes too lazy to eat the meat.

[Mollysmummy]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to move her water tonight and see if it makes a difference, I put extra water in her wet food last night and the bowl was licked clean when I came down this morning!

[magpi]

just another suggestion - all the cats i've ever had have been extremely particular to how they like their water... one would drink only from the bowl in the corner of the bedroom, another loved to tip over MY pint glasses of water and drink the spill(!); one of them seemed to prefer cold filtered water from a jug i keep in the fridge, as opposed to tap... a friend's cat liked the water from the bathroom tap - i don't know how there's possibly a difference, but she could tell.

At first, try leaving lots of little different bowls/mugs of water around the house and keep an eye out for their preferences. It may be that one particular location suits them, for whatever reason. If you find that's the case, then you can focus on watering them there.

Also, goes without saying - it can be a lot of work but they really need fresh water. Make sure the bowl(s) gets cleaned regularly and the water refreshed. They don't drink a lot in a single day so a giant bowl of water is just a waste. Unless that's how they like it

[Helen]

A really good tip I got from our friends on here is that cats don't like their water next to their food. So I put theos water well away from his food and in a glass bowl and I couldn't believe how much he drank, practically the whole bowl the first time he saw it. I still have the small bowl next to his food and he sometimes has a little but he goes to the glass bowl most of the time. I also collected some rain water and he drank that. He has mostly dry food, he only licks the jelly off the wet and leaves all the meat but one ive found he loves is Goumet gold ocean fish pate. He prefares pate, mayby cos hes too lazy to eat the meat.

My older cat won't drink tap water in a bowl in the house, but the second he goes out of the door he laps up rainwater on the patio - so i put a bowl outside to collect rain (this is England so no worries) and he goes straight to it .... cats hey !

[Grace56]

I keep Dave's tinned food in the 'fridge, so, when I serve him a portion, I put some warm water on the food so it's the required temperature. (Cats like there food 'prey temperature' ) So he gets some extra fluid that way.

[Mollysmummy]

Thanks everyone. Extra water in her wet food seems to be working, but I'll try different types of water/ different locations etc to see if that helps

[Crewella]

I have a cat with recurrent bladder problems and I always add water to his food, he'll even eat it if it's more like soup! I prefer to be absolutely sure he's getting the water he needs, and this way I can be.