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The Water Requirements and Drinking Habits of Cats
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Water is one of the most basic molecules in the universe, and essential for life as we know it; dehydration is not compatible with health. It may therefore seem odd to have an article on water intake, but even the simplest of actions can have hidden depths, as revealed by Stefanie Handl and Julia Fritz.
Julia Fritz
Dr. med. vet., Dipl. ECVCN
Dr. Fritz graduated in 2003 from the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich and received her doctorate in 2007 at the local Department of Animal Nutrition and Dietetics. Here she also specialized as a veterinarian and completed her residency before she received her national diploma in 2010 and the diploma of the European College of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition in 2011. A recognized veterinary specialist for animal nutrition and dietetics, she has run “Napfcheck“, an independent private practice offering nutritional advice for companion animals since 2011.
Stefanie Handl
Dr. med. vet., Dipl. ECVCN
Dr. Handl studied at the University for Veterinary Medicine in Vienna and completed her doctorate in 2005 before working as a research associate at the university’s Institute for Animal Nutrition. After a period doing research in the Gastrointestinal Laboratory at Texas A&M University, she gained her ECVCN diploma in 2011. In 2013 she opened “the Futterambulanz Clinic“ in Vienna, a consulting practice offering nutrition and diet advice for pets.
Key Points
- There are very few studies on the drinking behavior and preferences of domestic cats.
- It is well recognized that cats are predisposed to urinary tract disease, and that a lack of fluid intake can be a predisposing cause.
- The authors’ survey showed that cats apparently like to use different drinking options, and should therefore be offered several possibilities.
- Cats seem to prefer their water to be provided in a small bowl located away for their food bowl.
Introduction
We all need to drink water to survive, but it is well recognized that certain species have evolved specific mechanisms to deal with water intake and homeostasis. The domestic cat is known to have certain physiological characteristics that can help with fluid balance; for example, cats can tolerate acute fluid losses – up to 20% of their body weight – comparatively well ( 1 ). On the other hand, they have the ability to produce highly concentrated urine ( 2 ) in order to conserve body fluid if necessary. It has been suggested that these abilities are because the domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus) is a descendant of the African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica), an alleged “desert dweller” ( Figure 1 ). However, the domestication of the cat most probably began 9,000-10,000 years ago, coinciding with man settling in the so-called “fertile crescent” – the area around the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, now Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan – which was by no means a desert at that time.
It is unclear whether these characteristics actually mean that cats are predisposed to certain diseases – for example, can chronic dehydration or the production of concentrated urine lead, in time, to permanent damage of the kidneys and urinary tract? This may not be relevant for a wildcat with a relatively short life expectancy, but could certainly be important for the domestic cat, which can have a life expectancy exceeding 20 years. On the other hand, domestic cats live under very different conditions (often living indoors, with a distinct lack of exercise, and with food provided) to wildcats, and these factors may contribute to, or even cause, urinary tract disorders. Against this background, the fluid intake of the cat should certainly be given special attention, whether that is when considering general advice on how to keep and care for a cat, or in the context of dietary recommendations.
Water requirement and fluid intake
Typical recommendations are that a cat requires about 50 mL of water per kg of bodyweight daily (3) – so this translates into 200-250 mL per day for a cat weighing 4-5 kg. This water requirement can be covered by the intake of “free water” from liquids and food, or from “oxidation water” produced by metabolism. This means that burning 1 g of protein, starch or fat yields just under 0.4 g, 0.6 g and 1.1 g of water respectively (4). The natural food of cats – i.e., prey such as small mammals and birds – contains about 70% moisture (5). Therefore, with 200-250 g of food ingested each day (corresponding to the average energy requirement), 70% of the animal’s fluid requirement is already covered by food intake – without taking the additional “metabolic water” into account. If a cat eats wet food that has an 80% water content (again at an average requirement of 250-300 g), the fluid requirement can be fully covered. Studies conducted more than fifty years ago showed that cats could cover their fluid balance by ingestion of fresh fish or meat alone (6). [...]
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Affiliation of the authors at the time of publication
Napfcheck, MunichPlanegg, Germany. Futterambulanz, Vienna, Austria
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