Kitten won't drink water?

misslt

I got a kitten the other day, she's 6 weeks old (I know she's a bit young to be taken away from her mother but I had to due to circumstances outside my control)

Anyway, she's eating fine and drinking cat milk but she won't touch water.

Tried tap water, bottled water (spoilt bitch ) and boiled-then-cooled water but she won't go near it, and I worry about her getting thirsty.

She's an indoor cat and is at home while I'm at work.

I would prefer her to drink water than the cat milk all the time, I want to keep that as her treat.

Any suggestions?

Heroditas

We had the same issue with our two terrors. Don't worry, they're picky little things when they want to be.

Start mixing bottled water with the kitten milk and over a period of a couple of weeks, gradually dilute the % of kitten milk until they are just drinking water.

She might also not like the fact that the bottled water is cold so try keeping it at room temperature if at all possible.


Also, don't worry - they'll eventually drink water when they REALLY need to!

Ours sometimes turn their noses up at their water bowl but instead try and drink the drips from the taps. :rolleyes:

The Sweeper

The kitten milk is good for the very smallies who are separated early from mum. As long as it's not giving her diarrhoea, then the calcium is a help, and it keeps her hydrated. Keep a bowl of clean water beside it all of the time. Once she hits 8 weeks, start turning the milk into half and half milk/water. After 16 weeks, leave only the water and use the milk as a treat. Phase it out after six months - you can keep giving it as a very occasional treat, but they don't need it.

blondie7

i had the same problem i was feeding my cats proper milk until i found out it was so bad for them (six months later like) they refused to drink water, so i decided they needed to be weened off it like a baby, basically add a little water to the milk every day this week, then next week add a little more, increase the water milk ratio every week and after a few weeks she will be drinking just

misslt

Thanks guys. I'll try that!!

Another thing, one of the pads on one of her front paws is a funny colour.

Her 'thumb' is a bruise--ish colour and theres no claw on it, where there is on the other paw.

Is it hurt and she won't take the claw out or is it under-developed?

Plan is to take her to a vet in a few weeks anyway, want to see if it just hasn't developed yet or what, but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas?

Heroditas

misslt wrote: »

Her 'thumb' is a bruise--ish colour and theres no claw on it, where there is on the other paw.

Is it hurt and she won't take the claw out or is it under-developed?

Plan is to take her to a vet in a few weeks anyway, want to see if it just hasn't developed yet or what, but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas?

Is she limping at all? Keep an eye on it and maybe bring her to the vet in a few days if it still looks weird.

Oh and have you complied with Rulio Unio yet, i.e. post a pic or two of kitteh! :P

misslt

She's not limping and it doesn't hurt her, she lets me touch it when I'm playing with her. Not sure what it is!

I'll post a pic in the thread now

dan_d

Hey ours didn't want to know about water for the first year or so. Mind you she wasn't mad into milk either. We mixed the 2 for months and she'd take a bit, then turn her nose up. She's gradually got better, she drinks the water now, but she's a bit odd in her eating habits, and tends to only have tiny amounts every so often during the week.
Having said that, I've caught her a couple of times (this will sound weird) with her head down a toilet, trying to drink water from the bowl even though there's a fresh dish of water there for her all the time. This is a relatively new habit. Go figure!!

boomerang

If you are feeding her pouched or canned food, don't worry too much as the moisture content in the wet food will compensate. It might also explain why she's not so thirsty. Also, she's such a small baba that she could well be dabbling in the water dish when you're not there, and the amount she'd drink is so minute, you mightn't notice the difference in the dish!

Good on you for rescuing her. I know she has to wait a few weeks for her first vaccination, but I'd get her started on a worming programme if you haven't already.

tk123

Try moving the bowl away from the food? Our cat always preferred to drink water from the bowl upstairs in my room - he'd eat in the downstairs in the kitchen and then go upstairs for a drink!! Also he preferred a metal bowl

glanman

cats instinctively dont drink water near their food source as in the wild water near a food source may be contaminated... as said in previous post, move water away from the food location!!

muppet_man

My lad, about 2 years old, would never drink water and would drink milk very rearly. I was worried he would get dehydrated so I got one off these http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/cats/cat_bowls_feeders/cat_fountains/146307
Now he drinks water at least 4 times a day, maybe more. I couldn't recommend one of these highly enough.

When I asked a vet before about him not drinking much he said not to worry cos if he was really thirsty he would drink from a puddle.

Sigma Force

Not sure if someone mentioned this already but you could water down the cat milk a bit. Those water fountains can work wonders too