Evanger's Health Watch: How Much Water Should My Cat Drink?

Evanger's Cat Food helps keep cats hydrated
for optimal cat health
Photo: Janeen Podgorski

Since water accounts for roughly two-thirds of a cat’s body weight and serves as the hub of all chemical processes in the body, it's actually a nutrient that’s vital to a cat’s health.

Consider water’s numerous physiological functions:

· Transporting nutrients and oxygen through the blood stream and into the cells

· Regulating body temperature

· Protecting and moisturizing joints and internal organs

· Moisturizing the air in lungs

· Helping eliminate waste products of metabolism through kidneys and gastrointestinal tract

A normal cat’s water needs range from 5-10 fluid ounces daily. Note that cats don’t normally need to drink as much water since they have evolved to fulfill their water requirements almost entirely from moisture content in their cat food.

The amount of water a cat drinks depends on her size, activity level, weather and special circumstances such as health issues or lactation. Some of these factors may double or even triple a cat’s water needs. Among the diseases that increase the amount of water intake are hyperthyroidism, kidney disease and diabetes.

Diet is another factor that impacts your cat’s water needs. Water needs will vary for cats fed canned cat food, dry cat food or a combination of both. You’ll find the moisture content of all canned and dry cat foods listed on the product label as part of the Guaranteed Analysis. Canned cat foods usually contain about 75 percent moisture. This means that for every 100 grams of food fed, 75 grams is water. On the other hand, dry cat foods contain only about 10 percent moisture. So for every 100 grams of dry food fed, only 10 grams is water.

Cats eating canned food may need to drink less than one ounce of additional water daily, while one limited to a dry diet may require more than seven ounces per day to remain hydrated. Again, since cats aren’t natural consumers of large amounts of water, it can be difficult to keep a cat properly hydrated when fed exclusively dry food.

We recommend incorporating at least some wet canned food into your cat’s daily diet. This can be done by mixing wet food supplements like Evanger’s Grain Free Rabbit or sweet potato supplements into your cat’s existing diet, or by providing scheduled canned food meals like Evanger’s Super Premium Holistic Pheasant Dinner in addition to a free feeding dry food bowl for cats to snack on throughout the day.

By providing a healthy diet and the right amount of clean water for your cat, you can help prevent illness and promote health!