My cat appears to be drinking more water on your food. What is the proper amount of water a cat should drink?

Within reason the more water a cat drinks the more dilute their urine will be and the less likely they will be to develop stones or crystals. Cats with diabetes or kidney disease will drink water constantly and produce a wet or saturated litter.

Saturated litter is a clear indication you need to see your vet. Normal urine amounts on our food would be 2-4 urine balls per cat every 24 hours. More than 5 urine balls in 24 hours for a week would be unusual and should be checked out by a vet. Size of the urine ball can range from golf ball to tennis ball size for the average cat.

Sometimes cats will pee in the exact same spot and you will get what looks like a pee ball the size of a grapefruit. Usually these massive pee balls are lobed and it is easy to tell that it grew this large from multiple visits. If your cat produces these massive multi balls and it is difficult to tell how many visits the ball represents, then scoop the litter as many times as necessary to record the individual pee balls within the 24 hour time span.

Each cat has their own schedule and they are usually very consistent in their litter box use. Some cats will only use the litter box 2 times a day and the urine ball will be the size of an orange. Other cats of the same weight will pee 3-4 times a day and the pee ball will be the size of an egg. There is no right or wrong it just depends on the cat.

As long as you are counting pee balls you might as well count poop. Generally most cats poop every 24-36 hours. However, there are a significant number of cats who poop once every 48 hours. A few cats will poop every 3 days and no cat should go past 4 days. If your cat has not pooped in over 3 days we suggest calling your vet. If you are using a water fountain or planning on using one please read our article below.

Is your pet’s drinking water safe?