Why a cat fountain?

Why do cats prefer to drink flowing water from a cat fountain rather than standing water from a bowl?

It is now well known to most people that drinking a lot of water is healthy for humans. Unfortunately, the false assumption still persists that cats do not need any water besides their food. This previously assumed misconception has long been disproven by numerous scientific studies.

An adult cat has a fluid requirement of about 50 milliliters per kilogram of body weight daily, i.e., a 5 kg cat should consume about a quarter liter of water (250 milliliters) daily. That is an incredible amount, even if the cat takes part of it through wet food. If the cat also receives unnatural dry food, the water requirement increases significantly again (about factor 4 - so four times more water than the amount of dry food eaten!).

Cats should therefore drink plenty of water to ensure that the urinary tract and kidneys are sufficiently flushed and that minerals in the urine have no chance to form deposits in the kidneys, as this leads in the long term to problems often seen in cats such as urinary grit, urinary stones, and kidney insufficiencies (CNI). When cats only have standing water available in a bowl, they usually drink too little, often with dramatic long-term health consequences, because cats are genetically "programmed" to prefer flowing water over standing water.

A cat would never drink that much water from a normal bowl.
If you want to know why this is so, please take three minutes for the following brief summary.

Water is the most important nutrient for cats.

Water is the most important food for cats! It enables the normal function of all living cells. Water has many important functions in the body:

regulates body temperature
lubricates the joints
keeps the internal organs working
it is necessary to digest food
breaks down toxins in the body
keeps tissues flexible and
transports minerals and important electrolytes through the body

The fat-free components of mammals contain about 73 percent water. Sufficient water is therefore much more important than food. Cats can survive many weeks with little food – but only a few days without water, and yet everyone talks about the right food but hardly anyone thinks about whether their cat(s) drink enough water, even though water is the most important "food" for your cat! It is therefore extremely important that cats drink plenty of water.

Cats instinctively prefer to drink flowing water.

All today's domestic cats have a common ancestor; the tawny cat or African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica)(HERRE-RÖHRS 1990), which was domesticated around 6,000 BC in Palestine and Mesopotamia. Clean water in the savanna landscape at that time was available exclusively from flowing springs, streams, and rivers – standing bodies of water were always brackish and contaminated due to high evaporation. Cats that drank clean, flowing water had an advantage over those that tried standing, usually brackish and contaminated water – they survived and thus passed on this drinking behavior to this day. Even today, cats' primal instinct tells them that flowing water is clean and safe. Instinctively, every cat therefore still prefers flowing water (Provided the flowing water from the tap is not chlorinated, as in many German cities!) – this behavior is documented in numerous scientific studies – most cat owners can confirm this from experience, for example, when a tap is turned on.

Cats are naturally "bad drinkers".

Cat owners are often surprised that their cat drinks so little – this is because cats prefer to drink running water. Standing water, even if fresh, is not liked by cats and therefore unfortunately drunk far too little – often with negative health consequences. Cats will do almost anything just to get running water – for example from the tap or the toilet; often they meow until the kitchen tap is turned on – however, if a cat signals thirst on its own, it is already severely dehydrated, because unlike dogs or humans, cats develop only a very weak "thirst sensation" when lacking water – a trait inherited from their ancestors living in the savannah. In the wild, cats cover their fluid needs mainly through the water content and blood of their prey and from small streams – with modern industrial and/or dry food, sufficient fluid intake is usually not guaranteed. Therefore, species-appropriate cat care should include offering running water from a cat drinking fountain – especially if cats have no outdoor access or are fed dry food, as the fluid requirement then increases significantly.

Cats will do almost anything for running water. :-)
(Photo of tomcat "Riley" in the shower with kind permission of Greg R. Sapp)

Urinary tract diseases due to insufficient fluid intake.

A fully grown cat needs about 50 milliliters of water per kilogram of body weight daily - significantly more if dry food is also given. Cats that are only offered standing water and dry food usually drink far too little. Urinary tract diseases, cat gravel, kidney stones up to chronic kidney diseases (FLUTD) can be the result. According to a recent scientific study*, one in three (about 35%) of older house cats (from 8 years) dies from the consequences of urinary tract or kidney diseases. If cats additionally receive the actually unnatural dry food and/or as indoor cats do not have the opportunity to find running water in the wild, the water deficiency can become dramatically worse.
(*Prof. Gregory Grauer, Veterinary Institute, University of Kansas)

What exactly happens with water deficiency?

Insufficient fluid intake can lead to a gradual disease of the kidneys and urinary tract. Small "urine crystals" already present are not flushed out sufficiently and can first develop into urinary gravel and then into larger urinary stones (e.g., in the form of "struvite" or "calcium oxalate"). Urinary stones or gravel usually result from overly concentrated urine – i.e., lack of water. In the worst case, a urinary stone can completely block the urethra, so urine and thus the body's own toxins can no longer be excreted. In this case, a life-threatening blockage and backflow into the kidneys occur. Once it has come to this, only a quick emergency operation can help.

Fig. Struvite stones removed from the urinary tract.

Adequate water intake can save lives.

Increased fluid intake through continuously offered flowing water increases urine volume. This effect can be very helpful in preventing urinary tract diseases, as the urine then contains a lower concentration of mineral components that can cause urinary tract diseases. And a larger urine volume leads to more frequent bladder emptying, which shortens the time minerals have in the body to form urinary stones and allows the body's own toxins to be well excreted through the urine. Of course, providing the right food is also very important – wet food is always preferable to unnatural dry food.

At first glance funny, the cat's behavior shows that it absolutely needs flowing water
should be available - since cats are nocturnal, best around the clock!
(Photo courtesy of Dave Dugdale, http://www.learningDSLRVideo.com/)

So how do you get the cat to drink enough?

Simply offer your cat flowing water around the clock, as is natural for them and recommended by veterinarians – preferably from the Lucky-Kitty ceramic cat fountain – this encourages your cat(s) to drink enough and thus contributes to the long-term maintenance of your cat(s)' well-being and health.