Water?

Hi everyone!

I have an adult cat that is very tiny due to malnutrition as a kitten. She's semi-feral I guess. Recently she's gone thru a lot of changes and ended up loosing even more weight. She was just skin and bones when I got her, and she lost even more.

She's now eating and I think gaining a bit of weight. She looks better, but I haven't tried to pick her up and really check her.

She always has moist food and water available, then 2-3 times a day I give her 1/2 can of 9 lives and mix about 1 oz of water in with it.

Although I refill the water several times a day, she doesn't seem too be touching it. She's peeing and pooping just fine, but I'm concerned she's not getting enough water? I've never had just one cat, and I always just left water out, refilled/changed as needed...which is what I'm doing now, but the water always looks untouched.

Thanks!

the natural food they consume.

In fact, some (Pitcairn, for example) think we should already be suspicious if a cat on a 100% natural or wet diet drinks any water at all, as this may indicate the beginnings of kidney problems or diabetes.

Since canned food comes closest to a natural diet, I wouldn't worry too much about that.
Actually, since she seems to desperately need those calories, I wouldn't add any water to the canned food at all. But do leave some water out, just in case there are other problems. Just keep observing her as closely as possible.
Thanks for caring for this poor kitty.

Best of luck!

PS
Important: Cats on a dry diet, or even those who just get some dry as a snack, absolutely MUST have fresh water available to them, at all times! And they should be seen to be drinking.

[Dodge'smom]

I feed nothing but canned to my cats and they barely drink any water (they have no need to drink it). Cats tongues aren't really designed to get water by drinking but more by what they eat. My cats aren't fat at all on the canned diet and they eat plenty of food each day, my vet (who is very compatent) says they are in excellent health. My one cat had severe IBD until he went on a complete canned food diet and now has not had one bout of diarrhea since. The expense of a case of canned food is a little more severe than a bag of dry food but I think that extra cost is worth it. The benefits of feeding all canned far outweigh the price of their food

[manoo]

nice informative post,...
water was so necessary for cats,...thanks for sharing this information,...