Bowls & Feeders For Cats

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Cat Food and Water Dispensers, Bowls and Feeders Most people buy a cat food and water dispenser because it looks tidy, and a cat is the one animal it does not suit. Cats will usually not drink next to their food. Put the two together and you often get a cat that eats normally and quietly drinks too little, which matters far more in cats than in dogs. This page covers why that happens, where the water should actually go, which bowls work, and the cheapest thing you can do about it today. Why the Combined Bowl Is the Wrong Shape for a Cat Cats prefer not to drink beside their food. International Cat Care's advice on encouraging cats to drink puts it plainly: keep the water away from the food bowl. A double diner or a combined food and water dispenser holds the two a few centimetres apart, which is the one arrangement a cat is least likely to use. There is a second problem with the gravity type. The water sits in a sealed reservoir, comes out slowly, and by the afternoon it is warm, still and carrying bits of kibble dust. Cats are fussy about water in a way dogs are not. A cat that will not touch a full dispenser will happily drink from a glass on your bedside table, and that is not the cat being difficult, it is the cat telling you the water is stale. What to do instead is simple and free. Keep the food bowl where it is. Put water somewhere else entirely, in more than one place. Why Cat Hydration Matters More Than Dog Hydration Cats come from desert-living ancestors and are built to take most of their water from what they catch. The thirst drive that goes with that is weak. A cat on dry food alone is often running slightly dry all the time and looks completely normal doing it. Water intake is part of managing several of the most common problems cats get: Chronic kidney disease , which is very common in older cats Feline idiopathic cystitis , the stress-linked bladder condition behind a lot of "peeing outside the tray" Urinary stones and crystals Diabetes None of that