Sunday, January 22, 2012
Requesting Advice From The Cat Community
This is the Mommie here. I need to ask everyone's advice. Sassy had a blood test during her annual exam. It is showing that she is slightly dehydrated. Doctor does not think that it is anything serious yet, but she is advising I try to get her to drink more. One of the things she recommends is a water fountain, since Sassy likes to drink out of the sink faucet instead of a bowl. But which kind and brand?
Any advice you have to offer about things I can do to increase Sassy's interest in water would be welcome. If you have tried any fountains that were really successful (or not!), I would appreciate knowing what kind. I know the vet said that this is nothing to worry too much about yet, but of course, since she is my baby, I am worrying...
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13 comments:
Me and mom can´t give you any advice about waterfountains but we can share "our" tip about adding water to the wetfood. If you have wetfood with meetballs in gravy you can add extra water to it and voila Sassy will automaticly get moore water :)
We have a regular Drinkwell and a Drinkwell 360, and we drink from both of them, a lot. The 360 is a lot easier to clean, but the filters are kinda pricey. There are a lot of fountains on the market--some of the ceramic ones are works of art, and not expensive, either.
We have a Drinkwell 360. We don't put the filters in as we scrub our fountain very throughly everyday. Nellie's Daddy is a Pipfitter/Plumber instructor and has taken many many water purity courses and says cleaning is much better than filters as filters harbor many nasty things. Most city tap water has been been filtered anyway. Cleaning is the key. Fountains build up a scum on everything and we have found scrubbing out all the parts and works everyday keeps the water clean.
We have had several others previous, but this is the one that Nellie likes the best.
Nellie also has/had a dehydration issue and we add water to all their wet cat food. We also feed her people tuna (1/2 water 1/2 tuna) to make sure she gets enough.
Nellie's Mommy
Oh Callie! Me loves your Cat From hell Badge!
Kisses
Nellie
You might try a Pioneer Pet Ceramic Drinking Fountain - that would be most like the drinking from the sink experience. I haven't tried the Drinkwell 360, but they look great, and the stainless steel one would also probably be a lot like the faucet.
Don't ask me. I just get a crummy ceramic bowl. My Human has been too CHEAP to buy me a nice fountain. Sigh.
King Spitty says: Off with her head! Oh no, wait--I need her thumbs, don't I??
Wow, we've never had one, but we keep thinking we'd like one. Over at Love and Hisses they have many and have told a few times how each one works out. Of course, I dont recall off hand which is what...
Jan is very happy we drink water out of a bowl - or a dripping sink or most anywhere - since we don't have a water fountain so we can't help with advice. But we know many have a fountain and can help you.
Well, as far as getting more water into Sassy, you could add some water to either her canned food or dry food. That's what our mom does sometimes. We also have the Pioneer Pet Ceramic drinking fountain and we like it. It's pretty easy to maintain. As far as drinking fountains, it's best to get either ceramic or stainless steel. Our mom also keeps another water bowl upstairs for us so we don't have to travel far when we are thirsty.
We don't have a water fountain either. We just have bowls all over the place. So we can't offer any help but I do believe that the cats get liquid out of canned food especially the gravy kind. Hope Sassy feels better. Love that name Sassy. We used to have a cat by that name.
No real suggestions that haven't already been said two or three times.
We have a Drinkwell Platinum (available from lots of places) that we use a lot. Dad just takes it apart & runs it through the dishwasher every week or so. Just remember to turn the Heated Dry OFF if you do that. Otherwise the plastic will likely melt. (He's hoping to get a ceramic or stainless steel fountain someday, but green papers are a bit scarce right now.)
Forgive me.. I'm probably going to end up on my soap box here with out meaning it. If so, feel free to take me with a grain of salt..
Cats were designed to be desert creatures and to get all the hydration they need naturally from their prey of small animals. Most cats when feed a kibble diet are chronically dehydrated. Some cats do drink water well and enjoy it, some never will. Getting the hydration they need into them is often only done through their diet.
If you are feeding kibble, can you switch to canned? If you are feeding canned, can you mix some water in with the food?
I see in your next post you already bought a water fountain. I am sure that will also help.
I put up a post about the two fountains we have in our house on the Hordes blog. Some cats are finicky about their fountains! I agree with others that feeding wet food can help. You can also try putting a bit of water on the dry food once a day. Best of luck!
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