New here, cats not drinking water anymore

Hi Everyone. So glad I found this board, I've been spending a lot of time researching here!
We have two boys, brothers, 9 this week. One of them, Keaton, has always been a big cat. Over the last year we had been working on getting his weight down, and had made some progress. Then all of a sudden, he started drinking a ton of water. That lasted about a week and stopped just as suddenly, and he dropped a lot of weight. Both kitties went early for their annual checkup and poor Keaton has diabetes. We changed them to wet food right away and that's going well except for 2 things.
1- They aren't drinking any water at all. My other kitty used to love jumping up on the sink and drinking from the faucet. And by love I mean he was always stalking the bathroom hoping someone would turn on the sink. He is not interested at all and their water bowl isn't touched (I freshen it anyway).
2- They're not eating nearly the recommended amount. We put extra food down for them, but together they don't finish 3 cans of Fancy Feast at once. Thankfully they don't seem to be picky, but just don't finish everything.
Long story short, aside from being really worried about Keaton, should I at this point be concerned with the water or food consumption? There is urine in the litterbox, so I'm assuming the full switch to canned food is making up the difference.

Thanks in advance for any advice. We're about a week into this mess and like everyone else, hoping for a remission. Currently he's on 1 unit of insulin 2x/ day. We figured we'd switch his food and do the shots for about a week and then do a full glucose curve. The couple times we've tested at home he's still been high, so we feel ok with giving him the shots along with the diet change.

 

Hey there. I am so sorry to hear that your boy has diabetes. I would be concerned as well but more so concerned if they were eating dry food and drinking no water at all. Where are you located?

 

Hi, welcome to FDMB! You have come to the right place for answers!

Diabetic cats who are unregulated are always thirsty, hungry, too. This will improve as he becomes better-regulated. The reason you are not seeing him drink as much now is because, as well as lowering his blood glucose, you are now feeding canned food.

Cats by nature have a very low thirst drive. In the wild, they get most of their moisture from their kills, and rarely drink. Since our housecats don't have kills to sustain them (we hope, anyway, lol), they don't get that moisture and, unfortunately, STILL have a very low thirst drive! Our pet kitties are almost always at least mildly dehydrated. This is one of the reasons that it's best to feed canned/wet food - they get moisture from it that they don't get from other sources. A lot of us here supplement our kitties' food with a little extra water; I add 1 tbsp. to each of my civvies' (non-diabetic) meals, and 2 tbsps. to Squallie's. Not only does this ensure they get some much-needed hydration, it also helps flush out the kidneys and urinary system.

How much do your cats weigh? Are you feeding one or two large meals a day, or several smaller meals? Most cats seem to do best with several smaller meals throughout the day. All but one of my cats run 12-15 lbs; they all each get one 3 oz can for breakfast, 1/2 3 oz can for lunch, another 3 oz can for dinner, and several snacks, 1/4 can or so, a few times a day. They frequently don't finish their 3 oz feedings all at once, but will come back later and polish them off. (All my cats eat low-carb so Squallie isn't tempted by any contraband!)

Who recommended to you the amount your boys should eat? There is a rough formula for calculating the number of calories you cat needs per day:

(weight of cat x 13.5) + 70 = number of calories needed daily

This can be adjusted to use desired weight rather than current weight, if your cat needs to lose or gain weight. And obviously, since every cat is different -ECID, you'll see that a lot here! - it's meant to be a guide rather than set in stone. For instance, my Squallie is a senior and sometimes pretty lazy; he eats less than the calculated amount for his weight. If he ate the full amount he'd be grossly fat. I have two Bengals who are very high energy and they eat a little bit more that the amount calculated for them. And my fourth cat eats exactly the amount it says he needs, and he is good with it!

Here is a link to a wonderful chart with many different foods and their analyses, if you need help finding foods under 10% carbs. The vet who compiled this labor of love (and who is also a long-time member here ) has loads of information that you may also find helpful at catinfo.org.

I hope this helps you! Feel free to ask as many questions as you need to, someone will always come along with suggestions or answers.

 

Add a little extra water to the wet food.

 

I never see Mia drink water at all since she went on insulin and changed to a wet food diet. There is a lot of water in wet food, plus I add extra water and bone broth. Willow will on rare occasion take a drink, but not often, since she was also switched to wet food. Unless you have reason to think they are dehydrated, I would not worry that you do not see them drink.

My girls would never eat three cans of food between them at once! That seems like a lot of food to me. How much do your cats weigh? Mia is a little under 12 lbs, and Willow is around 6 lbs. I feed them four times a day and split one can (3.2 oz) of Weruva Chicken Frick A Zee between them at each meal with water and bone broth added. I sprinkle a little shredded chicken breast on top along with a few Young Again kibbles (yes, they are spoiled). They usually eat just a little at meal time. I leave the rest out for them to graze on until the next meal time or until two hours before Mia's pre-shot test. It is not uncommon for some to be left when I take up the bowls. Sometimes they wipe it all out, other times, they eat half.. and everything in between.

 

Thank you everyone! I will try adding a little water on top of their food. They don’t seem dehydrated at all.
The cats are both about 12.5 lbs. My diabetic kitty was always heavier (he topped out at 14.75 when we put him on a diet and changed his food), so it seems like 3-3 Oz fans twice a day might be enough. I’m trying to get them to eat twice a day since I don’t work from home and can’t always give them snacks.
We started referencing the food list right away, but I won’t lie I feel like I’m feeding them McDonalds when I give them Fancy Feast. They used to eat a little tuna at night and don’t seem interested in that now.

Do anyone of you find that sometimes the cats mind the shots and sometimes they don’t? I swear I do it the same way everyone but my cat flinched so hard this morning that I had to do it twice ;-(

 

Fancy Feast is decent food, if a little high in phosphorus for kitties with kidney disease. If you can afford the premium low carb wet foods, there are many on Dr. Pierson’s food list to choose from.

 

Do you mean you had to stick him twice with the same syringe, or that you has to administer a second shot?

 

Dusty stopped drinking water once he was switched to Fancy Feast and was regulated/in remission. I never see him drink water at all so I wouldn't worry too much if they're on wet food.

 

Squallisesmom, I had to stick him twice with the same syringe. At this point with the food change, I'm more concerned with giving him too much insulin than not enough.