The cat drinks a lot of water and goes to the toilet often: normal and pathological causes of thirst in pets

The causes of increased thirst in a cat can be physiological or pathological, that is, due to one or another disease of the cat.

Physiological reasons why a cat drinks a lot of water may be due to:

Hot weather conditions outside.
Increased physical activity.
Stuffy room, lack of ventilation.
Cat pregnancy (pregnancy in a cat).
Breastfeeding newborn kittens.
Feeding the cat with dry food, as well as food containing a large amount of salt, lack of protein in the diet.
The cat's reaction to medications (diuretics, hormonal drugs, anticonvulsants).

When the above factors are eliminated, the cat stops drinking increased amounts of water.

When determining the amount of water a cat needs during the day, their owners should proceed from the fact that for every kilogram of the animal’s live weight, 30 to 50 ml of liquid is required. It is also necessary to take into account that the younger the cat, the less fluid it needs. Experts in the field of feeding believe that the daily water intake should be twice as much as the food the cat eats.

Water consumption rate for a pet

There are no general water consumption standards for cats. The amount of liquid your pet drinks during the day depends on a number of factors:

Body weight of the cat. Veterinarians believe that cats require 20–40 ml of fluid per day per 1 kg of weight. Liquid means not only water, but also milk, broths, and liquid food. However, if the owner thinks that the cat does not drink such a volume, he should not be forced to drink it. Otherwise, the pet will simply be afraid to drink in the presence of the owner.
Nutrition. An animal that eats a premium food usually drinks less water because the food contains no salt and therefore does not make you thirsty. In addition, owners need to pay attention to the type of food the cat eats. Dry food makes furry pets thirsty, because they literally “pull” fluid from the body. In this case, you will need to set the amount of water you drink and the amount of food you eat in a ratio of 1:3. If the cat eats natural food, you need to reduce the amount of salt added to the food.
Age. Older cats usually drink much more water than kittens. This is due to the fact that with age, pets begin to eat less and, accordingly, receive less liquid from food, and then replenish the loss of moisture.
Physical activity. Of course, games, training and long walks contribute to an increased feeling of thirst. This is why more active cats usually drink a lot of water.
The air temperature in the room where the cat constantly lives. The hot season or prolonged exposure to a room with elevated temperatures always increases the feeling of thirst. This is due to the fact that cats have few sweat glands, so they cannot cool themselves by evaporation of moisture from the surface of the skin. Cats have to lick themselves more often and moisten their fur generously with saliva. As a result of such fluid loss, the pet begins to drink more water than usual.

How and how to help an animal

If a cat refuses food and water, then the first thing to do is take your pet to a veterinarian. It is not possible to make a diagnosis on your own at home, so you need to call a doctor at home or take your pet to the clinic.

If it is impossible to get to the veterinarian in the next 24 hours, then you need to provide the cat with rest. To do this, you should prepare a clean litter; it should not be too soft or too hard. If an animal is hiding, you should not force it out of its hiding place. You can only place a bowl of food and fresh water nearby.

Bowls of water and food should always be available to the animal.

If the doctor has determined the cause, then you should follow the specialist’s recommendations and give medications according to instructions in the required dosages. This must be done calmly; you must not cause pain to the animal. Before giving medication, the cat needs to be stroked, and the tone of voice should be calm. This way, the pet will tolerate the treatment better, will not resist too much and will recover faster.

Additional recommendations:

If the cause is stress, then the cat should be left alone for a while. It is advisable to call her to eat in a gentle tone. A calm and quiet environment, the absence of extraneous noise and periodic stroking will help you recover from stress.
If your pet doesn't like the food, you need to replace it as soon as possible. It is recommended to give preference to balanced foods rather than cheap options containing a lot of harmful additives.
In case of gastrointestinal upset and poisoning, you can give the animal activated charcoal (500 mg per 1 kg of weight). In this case, the tablet must be crushed and dissolved in 1 tsp. water. It is most convenient to give medicine using a syringe without a needle. It is enough to do this procedure once before seeing a doctor.
Ticks and fleas are eliminated using special antiparasitic medications. You should not use them on your own; you should first consult your doctor. However, if this is not possible in the near future, and the animal has fleas or a tick is found, you can purchase Bars or Celandine shampoo.
If the cause is helminthic infestations, then treatment is carried out with the help of anthelmintic drugs. The medication should be given only according to the regimen recommended by the doctor. Otherwise, larvae may remain, which will provoke a relapse.
To alleviate the condition of an animal with gum inflammation, you can use a solution of Miramistin or potassium permanganate. It is necessary to treat the gums using a cotton pad and the selected product. This needs to be done 2 times a day. Do not press on problem areas.

A weak solution of potassium permanganate can be used to treat inflamed gums

What to do if your pet doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink and constantly sleeps

If an animal does not eat or drink, and also sleeps constantly, then this is an alarming signal of serious health problems. However, in extremely rare cases this is associated with stress. In this case, the pet should be left alone and allowed to rest. There is no danger in inactivity after stress. If the animal is lethargic, does not eat or drink for another reason, then postponing a visit to the doctor is dangerous, since with a serious pathology the cat may die.

Some recommendations that will help you hold out until the doctor arrives:

It is necessary to ensure that fresh air enters the room.
Do not disturb the pet. If there are other animals in the house, then for safety reasons it is better to isolate them from contact with the sick cat.
Make sure the water in the bowl is always clean.
If there is a special medicinal herb for cats in the house, which breeders often grow in pots, then you can pick a little and put it next to your pet. If desired, the animal can be treated with such a safe remedy.

How to help a kitten

If the kitten does not eat anything or drink water, then first of all you need to pay attention to the nature of the food. Small pets need special soft food

It is impossible to give a kitten food intended for adult animals, since the gastrointestinal tract of babies is still very weak. Long-term refusal of water is dangerous, so you can give your pet water using a pipette. Every hour you need to give water forcibly. The liquid should be administered in small quantities - one pipette at a time is enough.

Giving your kitten water using a pipette will prevent dehydration

In addition, the kitten should be carefully examined for rashes, sores and fleas.

Particular attention should be paid to the withers and ears. If everything is clear, then most likely the problem lies in the functioning of the internal organs, which can only be determined in a clinical setting

How to find out how much water a cat drinks per day

Inexperienced owners often worry that their kitten or adult pet drinks too little liquid per day. Checking how much water your cat has drunk per day is quite simple. To calculate, you need to pour a little more water into a measuring cup than required by weight, taking into account evaporation, and then pour it into a bowl.

After 24 hours, the remaining liquid must be poured back into the measuring cup and subtracted from the original volume. If the amount of liquid drunk is slightly below normal, the owners have no reason to worry.

Important! It is necessary to carry out such a test for at least 3 days, since for various reasons the need for water at different times may differ.

During the experiment, it is necessary to completely exclude the pet’s access to places where the cat usually drinks water. If there are several cats living in the house, you will have to isolate them from each other while the measurements are being taken.

Prevention of the appearance and development of diseases

The main prevention of the development of any disease is a balanced diet and drink, which should always be freely available to the cat (especially when consuming dry food).

It is important to choose the right water. Tap water contains too many pathogens of dangerous diseases, and boiled water does not contain the microelements a cat needs

The option with purchased bottles is not particularly suitable, since modern manufacturers are not sincere when publishing compositions.

The most suitable option for a cat is a filter that allows you to purify the liquid, but at the same time retain a sufficient amount of microelements in it. Another suitable option is to let the water sit for at least six to eight hours in the refrigerator. It is also necessary to wash bowls regularly (at least once a day, and ideally twice).

Such organization of thirst quenching will help prevent many diseases, including viral infections (coming from the water supply) and urolithiasis (developing mainly against the background of poor nutrition).

Physiological causes of increased thirst

Owners often wonder why their cat drinks a lot of water, and forget about the physiological and completely natural causes of increased thirst:

Intense physical activity.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding. While carrying kittens, as well as during the period of feeding, cats usually become thirsty. During these periods, the body requires a lot of fluid to form amniotic fluid and produce milk.
Elderly age.
Increase in body weight. Cats that are overweight require much more fluid for the normal functioning of the body than their slender relatives.
Features of the diet. Cats that eat exclusively wet food drink very little water and pee less often because their body's fluid reserves are replenished with food. Accordingly, pets who eat only dry food often experience increased thirst. Also, a cat begins to drink a lot of water when it is suddenly switched from wet food or natural food to ready-made dry food. It contains a small percentage of liquid, and the animal thus replenishes moisture loss.
Increased air temperature outside and at home.
Diarrhea. One-time diarrhea in cats does not require medical attention. It can cause increased thirst because diarrhea releases a significant amount of fluid from the body through feces. If a cat's diarrhea recurs more than once a day, the owners should take the animal to the veterinarian.
Taking certain medications. When treating various diseases, side effects from taking certain medications often occur. For example, cats that take corticosteroids, as well as diuretics, painkillers and sedatives, drink more often.

Food poisoning

If the cat is lethargic, has stopped eating, and is constantly vomiting, the reason is obvious - severe food poisoning.

How an animal can be poisoned:

Stale food – be sure to monitor your pets’ diet. After each meal, it is recommended to throw away the remaining portion and leave the bowl clean. In a warm environment, destructive microorganisms quickly develop - the causes of frequent poisoning.
Household chemicals - for example, leftover dishwashing liquid. It is necessary to rinse the bowl thoroughly under running water after each wash.
Medicines - in the instructions for use of each drug, the dosage is clearly calculated in accordance with the weight and age of the animal. Exceeding the permissible limit is very dangerous.
Vapors of paints and other chemicals - during repairs or work with strong-smelling substances, the animal should be kept away. This way you will protect him from poisoning and preserve his sense of smell.

What to do in case of poisoning? Give plenty of fluids and liquid food - weak broths, weak porridges, slightly diluted fermented milk products.

It is quite possible that the cat will not want to eat. Try to feed her at least in very small portions - this way toxic substances will be eliminated faster when going to the toilet.

Diseases accompanied by increased thirst

Increased thirst - polydipsia - often occurs not only for natural reasons, but also as a result of the development of serious diseases. In addition to this symptom, the cat exhibits the following signs of illness:

loss of appetite;
the animal rarely or, conversely, goes to the toilet too often;
the cat becomes weak and inactive.

If your cat begins to drink more water, it is advisable to show it to a doctor to rule out the development of the following diseases:

Diabetes. With this disease, the pancreas stops producing the required amount of insulin, which delivers glucose to the kidney cells. As a result, they cannot fully filter the liquid; it is eliminated from the body faster, so the cat experiences increased thirst.
Hepatitis.
Kidney diseases. In case of chronic renal failure, pyelonephritis, urolithiasis, kidney cells lose their ability to work fully and retain the required amount of moisture in the body, so the cat drinks a lot of water and thus replenishes its reserves.
Dropsy.
Inflammation of the pancreas. One of the most common diseases in endocrinology in cats is hyperthyroidism, which is caused by a benign tumor of the pancreas. In addition to polydipsia, there is a sharp weight loss, the pet often goes to the toilet, it has an increased appetite, and nausea and vomiting appear.
Infectious diseases. If your cat has been diagnosed with any viral infection, you should not limit its drinking. This way the body will cope with the disease faster.
Intoxication of the body. This condition is usually accompanied by diarrhea and vomiting, causing the cat to lose a huge amount of fluid.
Stress. Typically, when cats are highly stressed, they drink more water than usual. This is not due to internal diseases, but to psychological factors. In such a situation, it is advisable to limit the amount of liquid your pet drinks.

Vomiting in a cat - poisoning and more

In addition to the first version that comes to mind, that the cat was poisoned, there are a number of other reasons for the malaise.

The most important thing to note is severe overeating. If an animal has been hungry for a long time and then eats a lot, the stomach does not have time to cope with the load

Excess food is eliminated naturally.

Animals can independently regulate vomiting processes, relieving themselves of the feeling of heaviness and discomfort in the abdomen.

If the food was eaten too quickly, it is possible that the walls of the esophagus were strongly irritated by something, which also led to vomiting.

Be sure to monitor your pet's diet. Feeding foods that are difficult and take a long time to digest creates additional problems with the gastrointestinal tract. If you feed your cat dry food, it may be worth switching to a different one.

Recommendations for improving the condition:

Analyze what the animal has eaten recently. Perhaps the condition was affected by a new product or food that had not been introduced into food before.
For constipation combined with vomiting, give an enema. Toxins accumulated in the body will be eliminated faster.
Cats with long, thick hair require thorough brushing every day. It is very likely that the cause is wool stuck in the stomach.

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It is believed that cats have the most unusual death, because they prefer to die alone, leaving home, and they do it completely unexpectedly. So how do you understand that the time has come and your pet will soon leave you forever and what to do about it? Look further. Typically, cats live for about 16 years. Of course, there are exceptions when they live to 25 or even more, but this happens very rarely. If your furry friend has been living with you for more than 14 years, then it is quite possible that he will soon pass away.

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Diabetes

Cats, like people, have elevated blood sugar levels. This does not occur too often, but such a disease requires increased attention and timely treatment.

Reasons: monotonous, poor nutrition and lack of exercise. Diabetes most often affects animals whose activity is limited to the walls of a city apartment. You should watch neutered cats especially carefully - their pancreas function is often impaired due to excess weight.

Treatment of diabetes is a very complex and painstaking process, so not all owners are ready for it. Some prefer not to torture the animal, but to euthanize it.

If the diagnosis is confirmed by a specialist, then long-term treatment begins. It includes insulin injections and a special diet. You constantly need to measure your sugar level (about once every 2-3 hours). So the doctor prescribes an individual dosage and course of therapy.

If the measures prescribed by the doctor are followed, the cat can fully recover and live a long, fulfilling life.