Water is an indispensable thing for us. We cannot survive without water. You can imagine the importance of water to us. Cats drinking water seems to be a very common thing in life, but cats drinking water Too much or too little is unhealthy behavior. So, what should we pay attention to when cats drink water?

1. How to judge the amount of water a cat drinks

1. We usually observe whether cats drink a lot of water. What we mainly look at is the water that they drink freely.

2. The water in food is the total water content in the food eaten every day. For example: the moisture content of cat food is about 8~10%; the moisture content of cat cans is about 75% or more. If a cat eats 100g of cat food with a water content of 10% every day, the water intake from the food will be 100x0.1=10ml. In the same way, if a cat eats 200g of cat cans with a water content of 80% every day, the water intake from the food will be 200x0.8=160ml.

3. Cat’s metabolic water, in layman’s terms, is the water produced by cats during the process of digesting food. Generally speaking, every 100kcal of metabolic energy can produce 10~16ml of metabolic water. If a cat consumes 200kcal of food, 2x10~16ml=20~32ml of metabolic water will be produced during metabolism.

So how much water should cats consume every day? Two calculation methods are introduced. One is the calculation of daily intake of dry matter (DM), that is: the recommended daily water intake (note, not free drinking water) is 2 to 3 times the daily intake of dry matter. For example, if a cat eats 100g of cat food with a water content of 10% every day, then the dry matter content in the cat food is 90g, and the cat's recommended daily water intake is 180~270ml.

2. How to make cats drink more water

1. In addition to providing food with high water content, keeping water fresh and cool can increase water intake for healthy animals.

2. Cats may also like continuous flowing water. Nowadays, many parents will buy mobile water dispensers for their cats. For cats who don’t like to drink water, you may want to try this method. It is said that the effect is not bad!

3. Feeding wet food can effectively increase the cat’s water intake. Of course, you should pay attention to oral hygiene and brush your teeth every day.

4. Place a clean water bowl and clean fresh water in every corner of the home. The location should be high rather than low. Water "looks better" to cats at higher altitudes.

5. Discover the cat’s preferences and cater to them. For example, my cat likes to drink water from people’s cups and toilet water, so you can put some cups filled with water at home., of course the toilet must be flushed in time!

3. Things to note when cats drink water

1. Prepare drinking water for cats at any time (cannot use tap water!) and change it every day.

2. Water is a must-have drink for cats, because after eating high-protein foods, cats need to drink a lot of water to expel body waste. The water prepared for cats should be clean and pollution-free, and the water should be changed frequently. If the water temperature is too low in winter, it can be heated appropriately. A cat weighing half a kilogram generally needs to drink 30ml of water every day.

3. Whether long-term drinking of mineral water will easily lead to an increase in the incidence of urinary stones has not yet been tested by veterinarians. However, boiled water is economical and hygienic and can be used as the first choice.

4. Tip: Boiled water should not be consumed after more than three days. If water is stored for too long, it will be infected by bacteria and produce nitrite. Once a large amount of nitrite enters the human body, it can cause tissue hypoxia, causing nausea, vomiting, headache, palpitation and other symptoms. In severe cases, it can even lead to death from hypoxia. Nitrite can also form nitrosamines in the human body, which can promote liver cancer, gastric cancer, etc. After the boiling water in the thermos bottle becomes warmer, bacteria multiply faster and more nitrite is reduced.

Many owners will use milk, juice, and tap water as their cats’ daily drinking water. This is very wrong. Although it is also water, the energy contained in it cannot be absorbed by the cat. On the contrary, it will increase the cat’s energy consumption. Burden, owners must remember not to feed cats drinks.