There is no one definitive answer to this question. Like all living things, water is essential for cats to maintain vital bodily functions. If they don’t drink enough water, cats can suffer from dehydration and cause kidney problems. Adequate water intake is necessary to remove toxins from the kidneys. Cats can also experience health problems when they drink too much water and develop a condition called polydipsia. In general, cats consume about one glass of water a day. This will increase if they are fed dried food. If your cat is significantly increasing the amount of water she drinks, you should consult a veterinarian for further investigation, especially if your cat has also lost weight recently.

Cats originated as desert animals that obtained most of their water supply from their prey (small rodents and the like). While modern versions of cat food offer a degree of hydration, the comparison is far from fair.

In the past, cats never drank enough on their own because they took so much water from their prey. This leaves the modern house cat exposed to a serious risk of dehydration and other health problems caused by a lack of water necessary for their system to function as it should.

Importance of hydration:

Dehydration of cats can be caused by many different factors, from a lack of available drinking water to diseases. Keeping a cat hydrated is extremely important, especially for cats affected by diabetes or kidney failure, as these two diseases cause increased urination in particular, which increases the risk of dehydration. Symptoms of dehydration include constipation, drowsiness, dry mouth, sunken eyes, increased heart rate, poor skin elasticity, and poor capillary filling time. There are two tests that an owner can do to check skin elasticity and capillary filling.

To check the elasticity of the skin, grasp some skin from the base of the neck and then release it. If the skin does not immediately bounce back, then the cat is dehydrated.

Press the cats’ gum with one finger to check the capillary filling time. After the finger is removed, there will be a white spot. Measure how long it takes for the white spot to turn pink again. It will only take one to two seconds. If it takes longer than that, the cat will become dehydrated.

Not enough can be said to keep a cat hydrated. A cat stuck in a house or apartment without drinking water that they enjoy 24/7 can easily cause dehydration.
It is extremely important to monitor a cat’s water consumption rate and take measures to improve it if it is low. Dehydration can greatly shorten a cat’s life, but it is a very preventable problem that normally requires little observation and trial and error to correct. Water consumption is linked to diet. In the wild, cats ate prey that contained water. Dried cat food contains only water, while canned or bagged food contains about