Our domestic cats are descended from Middle eastern desert cats, which is why they like warmth and drink little. Cats in the wild get most of their moisture from their prey, drinking very little. Canned food has the same percentage of water, about 75%, as living animals, so your cats are getting their water from the canned food. Dry food has a maximum of 10% moisture, so the cats, in order to get the same amount of moisture, need to drink about three times as much as they eat to meet their water needs. They seldom do this, making their urine more concentrated than it should be, causing crystals to form in the urine, irritating the bladder, and allowing bacteria to grow. So if they are on a canned or fresh diet, healthy cats will drink little or no water.

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• water - solaandlunasmom, Tue Oct 21 20:39:50 2008
• RE: water - PHDrTobin, Wed Oct 22 08:43:14 2008