The more I study a natural feline diet and general cat health care the more I understand how essential a high-quality feline diet is, but how little it’s actually talked about. You really have to do some research to get decent information on what you should feed your cat to keep her healthy and happy.
A natural species-appropriate feline diet is the foundation for your cat’s health. By feeding your cat a good quality cat food you can help to keep her immune system strong and in turn avoid a lot of common cat health problems.
Kitties Need Their Water
An important part of that healthy feline diet includes getting enough water. Cats were meant to get some of their liquids through their diet so they have a lower natural thirst drive. Cats on a dry food only diet may be more likely to have certain cat health problems, like feline urinary tract infections or constipation. Unfortunately some of these cat health problems can be very serious.
What You Can Do
One thing that might help get your cat to drink more regularly is to keep water in different rooms of your home so it’s always convenient for them. Try using different containers too, to see what they prefer. Many cats like glass or ceramic containers.
Our cats were telling us they wanted more water by trying to drink out of our water glasses whenever we were relaxing in the living room. One cat got so persistent she would crawl right in my lap while I was drinking, watching the glass the whole time waiting for it to get low enough for her to reach it. If we tried to move it away, not really wanting to share our water with her, she would just follow it. She became sort of fixated on it.
So we bought a glass drinking bowl for them and put it in the living room. They drink out of it all the time – much more than they ever use the one by their food. We’re also able to watch their drinking habits more regularly now so we know what’s normal and we can tell more easily if something isn’t quite right. Now we can leave the room for short periods without having to worry about them going after our water.
It’s also important to change the water daily. Like us, cats like fresh water.