How to get kittens to drink water?
Andi asked:
I have 3 kittens who are about a month and a half old. When we first found them their mom had left them. So we bottle feed them for about 2 weeks, then we started giving them soft canned food. They will not drink water at all. Any tips on getting them to drink water?
I have 3 kittens who are about a month and a half old. When we first found them their mom had left them. So we bottle feed them for about 2 weeks, then we started giving them soft canned food. They will not drink water at all. Any tips on getting them to drink water?
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July 30th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
THEY’LL COME TO IT ON THEIR OWN TIME WHEN THEY ARE BORED LOL. MAKE SURE TO ALWAYS LEAVE THE WATER OUT FOR THEM AND EVENTUALLY THEY’LL COME TO IT
July 30th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
You are doing it and I hope for the whole of your cats life you continue to
Cats are not big drinkers and are forced to drink cause people feed kitty crack (dry food) They are suppose to get their water from their food/prey. I have a 17 yo who I have seen drink water 1x in her life
Leave water out but understand they are already getting what they need
Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health
Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.
Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingredient a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Male cats are especially prone to blockages
from dry food. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with grains and carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. ( Have a fat cat?)
Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don’t use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn’t have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all.
THE BEST CAT FOODS CONTAIN NO GRAINS NO BYPRODUCTS
Cats are meat eaters not cereal or rice eaters
Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. I would rather feed a middle grade canned food then the top of the line dry food.
Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck?
Please read about cat nutrition.
Vetinarian diets The reason your vet thinks so highly of the pet food they sell probably has more to do with money than nutrition. In vet school, the only classes offered on nutrition usually last a few weeks, and are taught by representatives from the pet food companies. Vet students may also receive free food for their own dogs and cats at home. They could get an Iams notebook, a Purina purse and some free pizza.
Nutritional Education Program website page for the American College of Veterinary Nutrition. Notice who they are receiving grants from for this program
August 1st, 2009 at 6:17 am
you can try to add a bit of tuna juice to the water for flavour. or you can take their canned food and water it down alot, so it still tastes like the food but is liquidier (i dont think thats a word but you know what i mean!)
August 4th, 2009 at 6:04 am
This is easy. It may seem like black magic, but, trust me it works. You need to go to any online website and buy a magic wand, at least 8″ long. Then you need to follow the steps below:
1. Put the kitten in a bathroom full of ribbons
2. Fill the tub up to the top with extremely cold ice water, preferably with salt so that it is VERY cold.
3. Submerge the cat completely making sure that no part of the cat is sticking out.
4. Wave the wand from left to right yelling “Free the Beast, Drink the Water!”
5. Pull the cat out of the water by the tail.
6. Put cat in front of full water bowl.
7. Enjoy the results.
August 5th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
water down milk..slowly reducing the amount of milk mixed with the water
August 6th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Why not try to keep bottle feed them water until they’re older and figure out how to do it normally…
August 7th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Well, if they’re not drinking, you really should still bottle feed them, trying to slowly wean them to just water.
What I’ve found helpful with our shelter/foster kittens is adding a few drops of milk to the water. It really encourages them to drink it.
You can use cow’s milk, but I’d prefer you use KMR or whatever they had been on, so that it’s a familiar taste to them.
But of course, don’t add too much, and don’t let them have it all the time. You want to gradually keep adding less and less milk, until all they have is pure water. If worst comes to worst, you may need to kind of force-feed them with little droppers or medicine-squirters. (sorry for the term..I can’t think of the proper word for it at the moment! haha.)
Just check their mouths, their teeth, their gums, their little noseys, and everything, make sure they’re using the litter box, not constipated or anything, not urinating outside the box, and also make sure they’re not displaying any signs of dehydration, and you should be okay, just slowly start them on the milky-water.
They may just not be thirsty. Depending on what kind of canned food you’re giving them, they may be getting all the hydration that they require from it.
If this continues for awhile, I’d take them back to the vet.
August 9th, 2009 at 8:24 am
What ou do is carefully dip there nose in it. You can do this with any drink. Just carefully and a little bit. Then they lick it off there nose or snout or whatever. I don’t know how it works but it does, so, hope I helped!
Angel