How much water does a cat need? The quantity of water required by cats will vary depending on various issues, like diet, weight and environment, for example. But we do know that when felines hunt in the wild, their prey may have anywhere from 45% to 80% water. This is one of the reasons behind recipes for canned food, which usually has between 76% and 80% water content. Even though there is no real formula for feline water intake, we do know that they normally won’t ingest enough water on their own to sustain optimal organ functioning for a healthy life. This is due to the fact that cats evolved as desert animals, so their sense of thirst is not nearly so sensitive as that of other animals. As a matter of fact, cats will only drink an average of 2 milliliters of water for every gram of dry food eaten. This is part of the reason why when some cats eat a diet of only dry food, they can form crystals in the urinary tract. Based on the physiology and evolution of the cat, we suggest that cats be fed canned food to make certain they get enough H2o. Water is not only necessary for a healthy urinary tract – the body requires water to metabolize food and for all other chemical processes occurring on a cellular level.
Cats are very proficient at using the water they consume. According to a study by Wolf in 1959, cats can even re-hydrate by drinking seawater!
The problem with eating canned food by itself is that cats require a great deal of protein and nutrients. Since most canned food can only have about twenty percent dry matter, it takes a number of cans of food for the cat to get all of its nutritional needs met. As a matter of fact, in order to fulfill the nutritional requirement of a 7-9 pound cat, most supermarket canned foods recommend feeding 3 cans a day! As any cat owner knows, very few cats are capable of ingesting that much food on a regular basis. This is the big question in formulating canned cat food – how to balance the nutritional content and the water that is required to fully hydrate the body.
