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How much water to sneak into kittys canned food?

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Jeckel- [12/5/98 - 3/27/12] Feed me! Now!     Purred: Wed Feb 29, '12 12:16pm PST  In addition to his fresh water, I want to sneak some water into their canned food when I feed them. I just don't how much water I should put in their food. I was thinking it would be best if I mixed up with the gravy. But I am new to canned food and I just recently switched after seeing the error of my ways. My cat's NEVER ate cannned food, just dry food only. But now I realise that was a mistake. Anyways, I am trying mend my ways and feed them canned. I did REALLY think about going to a raw diet, but my husband and I got into a disagreement over that and the only middle ground in our conversion was canned. I think he's just being silly by the way, but they are his cats too. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Ramsey Ramsey - The Bedroom Cat- Burglar     Purred: Wed Feb 29, '12 12:47pm PST  Does your cat drink plenty of water out of the water bowl? If so, you may not need to add any water to the wet food. The kittys here get a sprinkling of wet to their wet meals. Not measured, just sprinkle some in. They also get dry food. Regardless of what people say, there is nutritional and dental benefits to dry food. Waltham Center for Pet Nutrition advises a diet consisting of 80% wet to 20% dry diet daily for the felines. A completely dry diet is okay for a cat if the cat is drinking enough water. However, a dry diet is calorie/carb heavy and can cause obesity and a variety of other problems. Especially if the cat is not drinking enough water to hydrate themselves. Being carnivores, a cat on an all dry diet may not get enough hydration. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Shadow Education is the- Key     Purred: Wed Feb 29, '12 2:46pm PST  Hi Jeckel that is great that you are able to feed an all wet diet You really dont have to add alot of water, just a little to make it soupy. You will find that your cat probably will not drink alot of water now that he is on a wet diet, as he is getting it from the food. Try to use filtered water too. Also you do not need dry food to clean its teeth, this is a falacy. Most cats do not chew the kibble they swallow it whole. If they do crunch it, it just gets up into the gumline where gingivitis occurs. Kibble has carbs=sugar,gets into the gumline not good. Obligate carnivores teeth are meant for shredding and tearing their food. As long as you are brushing your kitties teeth, or taking him to the vet for check ups all is good. You can also use chicken hearts of gizzards too, they are natures toothbrush. Edited by author Wed Feb 29, '12 2:48pm PST my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Cowboy The Battle Of- Texas 2010- Winner!     Purred: Wed Feb 29, '12 2:51pm PST  I have a crystal kitty. It is imperative, he be fed wet food only, and it be mixed with water, so its real soupy, twice a day. I almost lost him, because, I was "told" to feed him "that prescription diet", which the crystals came back. And when he was fed a grain free feed, he had bladder issues, his urine was too concentrated, and it burned his bladder walls. Little boy kitties are prone to crystals and bladder issues. He gets wet, twice a day, he has to. The others get fed wet in the morn, mixed with water, and dry at night, only because I can't afford to feed wet twice a day. One will only eat dry, period. He is kept flushed out, by mixing baby food, with water, so its like a broth, twice a day. I understand, if one cannot afford to feed wet, but there are other ways, to keep them flushed out. In my overly pickey opinion, if one is feeding dry only, and not finding a way to keep them flushed out, they may run into crystal and bladder issues, especially, with little boy kitties. You want to mix the wet food, with water, so its real soupy, twice a day, or once a day, if you can only do that. Raw is not for everybody, I already know, there is no way in heckola, that one is going to eat it. And bringing in little mouseys, kittens will think they are toys, that move by theirselfs. [notify]

Merlin - An Angel- Forever *Poof*     Purred: Thu Mar 1, '12 9:24am PST  Catinfo.org suggests adding 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to the meal. Personally, I'd just add enough water to the food to make it a little soupy. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Tigger Knead softly &- carry a big purr     Purred: Thu Mar 1, '12 10:09am PST  I noticed that if I add too much water, mine will not eat it. I add just enough to loosen it up. This helps especially with certain foods that harden up in the fridge - like Nature's Variety. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Pandora go getter kitter     Purred: Sat Mar 17, '12 9:05am PST  Do bear in mind that canned food is already 70% or more water anyway, so adding too much more doesn't make sense. If you are sure he isn't getting enough fluids, you mnight try a water fountain; we love ours and use it often even with eating mostly wet foods. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Mocha 1138114     Purred: Mon Mar 19, '12 3:31pm PST  I add enough water to all of our wet foods to make them soupy. I have one cat who is having early issues with her kidneys (under control now w/out meds or special 'prescription' foods), and I also have a new young male kitten. The extra water helps both of them, one with the kidneys, the other with potential crystals (trying to avoid them at al costs). Cats don't have a thirst reflex like us or dogs, so by the time they're actually drinking water they're really quite dehydrated. With my kidney kitty I keep an eye on her water intake. If I find that she's drinking more water than usual, I start adding more water to her food. Cats are designed to get the majority of their 'water' from the moisture in their food so my thought is that they'll have a better absorption rate if the water is included in their food. With Corbin, our new boy kitten, I try to feed primarily raw and when I'm able to do that, he doesn't drink out of the water bowl at all. I noticed this also with one of our other cats as well as the dog. The only time anyone really would drink out of the water bowl would be on exceptionally hot days. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]