Hi everyone,
Today’s guest post comes from Tendai Matsika on the topic of exploring the best wate for cats.
Cats – amazing pets that are seemingly always up to some kind of mischief in their quest to get our undying attention. And boy, do we love them for it. Arguably the best pet in the world (the writer has two cats, so this is a biased opinion), they need all the love they can get. So as they live super active lifestyles, when they’re not sleeping, our feline friends need to be kept hydrated.
Just like you, your cat’s health is affected by the quality of water it drinks. It may have nine lives, but still needs good quality H20 to gather all its energy and knock all artefacts it hates off the shelf, and stare at you without a care in the world. Therefore, you need to know the best water for cats, with these tips being the best way to identify it.
Would you drink it?
First and foremost, you should ask yourself if you would drink the water your cat drinks. If not, then you should probably not let your cat drink it either. Although cats have knack for bringing home questionable prey like sewer rats, water can contain bacteria and toxins that are harmful to your feline friend. While it’s impossible to stop your cat from drinking all sorts of water, the water you give it should be substantially better.
Do you trust your local water supply?
The quality of municipal water varies from region to region. Although you should generally trust it, some H20 has been found to contain traces of arsenic, lead, chemicals. These might not cause effects immediately, but they can lower your feline’s immune system, which can result in far deadlier disease affecting him/her. Always assess your water using testing kits, as they can detect any elements that aren’t supposed to be there.
How about distilled water?
There is a huge debate on whether humans should consume distilled water, and undoubtedly some would recommend it for animals. This is because many assume that it is purified, so there is no bacteria present. This is very true; distilled water is one of the highest purity around. However, its super purity also means that it doesn’t contain important minerals such as calcium and ions. So your cat will be hydrated, but still not get the minerals it needs to be healthy. What’s more, purified water can also leach those essential minerals from your cat’s system.
Spring water?
Spring water is good for everyone, including animals. However, it’s also costly, and if you’re not buying spring water for yourself, then dolling out cash for your cat can be costly and nonsensical.
Just filter your water
Water filters are arguably the most affordable and practical solution for safe drinking water. You can install one on your tap or drinking fountain, which means the entire family can enjoy clean H20. This includes your cat, who may be so impressed by the increased quality that it won’t decide to rip your toilet paper and decorate the entire bathroom with it – okay, this is highly unlikely. However, filtered water will have all the minerals needed and also be clean enough for your cat to drink and stay healthy.
Author Bio: Tendai Matsika is a writer for Drinking Water Fountains, and enjoys writing content discussing the benefits of drinking clean water. He believes that the same water humans drink should also be used to feed animals, and has written some articles on the topic.
P.S: Don’t forget you can now sign up to the Katzenworld Newsletter here.
Thanks,
Marc
My cat drinks nice cold bottled water 🙂 I do not drink tap water after reading about contamination issues, so I guess Molly is spoilt
Oh yeah I don’t like tab water anymore either…
Great post. I give my pets the same water I drink…filtered from a pretty pricey system. 🙂
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I give bottled water- to my dear pets – I drink the same !-Am I right ?
Bottled water is perfectly fine :). Nubia likes hers with “bubbles” always tries to steal my sparkling water haha
We use tap water for all – with quality on the decline that may have to stop. Bottled water is often not as pure as what one would get from the tap.
How about receptacles? Like the cat above, ours prefers to drink from a glass (mine!). A bowl isn’t good enough.
It’s quite shocking that water quality of bottled water is declining 😡 this is why we have a filter system xD
I think some form of DIY purification is a far better option!
We are in the midst of a drought, so every drop of water is precious. Unfortunately there have been some mornings when the water running out of the tap is, hm, unclear. (Like, sometimes the color of weak tea.) On those days my cat and I drink spring water: but as the summer wears on, I think I may invest in a filtered pitcher. Even when bought at a discount store, those bottles start to add up, and my cat Sunny would prefer I spend the money on premium cat food anyway. >*! *<
Yep bottle water can quickly become expensive! Even when buying them at discount places like DAISO 😡 I remember when we were in Japan in August time. Too hot! Needed much much water haha xD
I have been giving them mostly spring water but that is expensive. I plan on buying a filter soon that removes chlorine and fluoride. Here in the U.S., most of us are forced to drink fluoride in our water weather we want it or not.
What fluoride?!? Why is that oO. I know it’s good for teeth in toothpaste but apart from that…?
Many people consider fluoride to be toxic. It might be good for teeth but it is bad for the rest of your body, and even the benefit to teeth is in question.
Time to read up on this. 😮 I specifically swapped to fluoride toothpaste because of my dentist… This is making me worry now lol
It wouldn’t hurt to do research. I still use regular toothpaste sometimes because you don’t swallow it but I also make my own with coconut oil, baking soda and peppermint oil.
Yep good idea!
I have well water. I tried one of those fancy water fountains for cats. They drank out of it for a day, then went back to drinking out of the giant water bowl for the dogs (water is changed every day).
Some days I wonder about my cats.
Our cat at home (long deceased) drank out of the rain-water collector … Grandpa put some grill over the opening so the cat would not fall in, she would not have been able to climb out again. Cats DO drink from the most astonishing, urgh-sources …
Yuck! Yes that’s not the best source of water haha o.o
Lol. You sure they don’t think they are dogs? :). We tried a water ball when we first got Oli. He just tipped it over three times before we gave up and bought a fountain xD
The cats go for walks with my husband and the dogs, as if they’re part of the pack. So they probably do think they’re dogs. 🙂
Awwww that is too cute. 🙂
That is hilarious. As my now late cat got older, I had water dishes EVERY WHERE so she would not have to go to her water dish. I brought fresh bowls TO HER. And, upstairs, she has a big water glass. I cannot TELL you how many times I tripped over it and spilled all that water! GREAT GUEST POST!
Thank you Sheryl ^^
I am thankful we have a well. I don’t trust town water and what gets put in it. Excellent post.
Thank you ^^
Purrfect! My human uses A Pur water filtration system – we love it!
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I give my kitties water run thru a filtration system. Their cat food costs as much as my people food. 😉
XD. Yeah our cats food costs the same as our own too haha
“Always assess your water using testing kits, ”
I am pretty sure that is not necessary in water that comes out of most German taps – only very old houses may have lead pipes in, the water coming from the local water company must have drinking quality.
Not so lucky here ;(. I used to have fish that kept dying when I did water changes… Turned out London water is just crap to put it frankly…
Water in most big towns someplace outside Germany is. In Madrid it was soo heavily chlorinated, it was undrinkable.
It’s weird how the big cities get away with it. Because it fails EU water quality regulations in most cases…
Well, they do not have that much choice in the southern countries – with temperatures in that range where bacteria flourish they have to keep the inhabitants from dangerous infections.
Very true. But what excuse has London got for all the medicine and chemicals in the water ;o
Money? Always a big excuse in UK.
Most likely! But hence we don’t drink tab water anymore without filter. 😉
I love the photos on the post, I didn’t know how much cats would do jus to get water. My cat wouldn’t dare to do something like that just for water.
Thank you ^^
Reblogged this on MoéGrrL.
I don’t understand my cats. I drink filter water, they don’t like it and prefer tap water. I used to leave bowls of tap water under radiators in the winter so the air wasn’t so dry. They’d drink out of those bowls, leave the filtered water alone. Different apartment, different water, they still prefer tap water out of an old ceramic pudding 1950’s bowl my mum gave me (it’s the only bowl big enough as they drink a lot of water and won’t get knocked over). After reading this, I’ll try them on filtered water again!
Cats sometimes xD
Spring water is good for everyone ok but costly and nonsensical ? Really? If i don’t think it good for me then it is not good for my cat 🙂
We are what we eat so drinking is no difference to that!
A reblogué ceci sur Rattiesforeverworldpresscom.
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