A Cat's Water Needs- Spark's Notes for May

Spark’s Notes- May

 

Sometimes it takes a spark to inspire! In this case, it is Spark the cat who is the inspiration.

For Zoom meetings and online training sessions, Spark is a constant presence, meowing until I pick him up so he can be “a part”. If he’s not around, people ask for him. Others ask for photos of him to make their day better. Now, Spark can make every month better with his once-a-month blog and word of the month! Let’s hear what Spark’s Notes are for the month of May!

 

Meow!- it’s the fluffy ginger superstar back, back, back again- that’s right the meowtastic prancing kitty is here again!

 

Many of you on Welfare For Animal’s social media have probably seen that I like to drink water from a mug instead of a bowl. If you’ve not seen my Hollywood movie-ready reel- check it out at WFA’s social media listed below or in the video below..

@welfareforanimaltraining (Instagram)

@WelfareForAnimals (Facebook)

 In the video above, you can see how my mum and constant slave, Ruby, provides me with options to drink. She noticed that I always tried to drink water from her mugs! Instead of shouting at me, which teaches me nothing, she managed the environment and gave me choices- by giving me my own mug of water at my water station.

 

Did you know that shouting at your cat or dog teaches them nothing but to fear you? They might stop in the moment (scolding and shouting no is punishment), but they will continue the behaviour as you’ve not taught them an alternative behaviour- which is why positive reinforcement training rocks! Ruby has taught me the cue leave it, but instead of saying it over and over and over- she provided me with choices, listened to my actions and gave me my very own water mug! Every cat is different, has their own individual preferences and needs choices!

 

According to Wild Welfare (a charity helping improve welfare for captive animals across the world), enrichment should help:

1.     Choice- providing choices to help the animal feel more control over their environment

2.     Change – provide a species-specific environment to reduce boredom, frustration and stress

3.     Create – enrichment according to the animal’s behavioural needs

 

Us cats, we need environmental enrichment to reduce stress and potential behavioural issues like resource guarding (see Spark’s notes for April here) or aggression- especially if we are in a multi-cat household. Cats, even the fluffiest, cutest, cats like me, are genetically hardwired to have our key resources like food, water, play areas, sleeping areas and litter boxes in different locations! Doing this will decrease our stress and improve our mental and physical states.

 

WHY??

 

Let’s give an example. Ruby always has water next to her food when she eats, and she knows many other hoo-mans who think it’s ok to put water bowls next to their cat’s food bowls. This is called anthropomorphizing (placing human emotions and behaviours onto objects or other animals), where hoo-mans design their cat spaces like how they eat- placing water and food dishes side by side or worse- have a double feeder bowl- for cats. This is wrong, so wrong for cats! I’ve listed the do’s and don’ts of cats water bowls below!

 

Do’s of cat water bowls

-       water fountains

-       water glasses/mugs

-       big wide, stainless steel shallow water bowls - imagine buying a bowl that looks like a puddle! We love puddles!

-       taps

-       wide-open spaces so we can see around us

 

Don’ts of cat water bowls

  • plastic water bowls- plastic harbours more bacteria- so avoid that!

  • double feeder bowls unless it is two bowls of water AWAY from the two bowls of food

  • water and food bowls close together

  • water bowls in a tight area

  • water and food bowls near the litter box- this is a HUGE NO- cats want their water to be as far away from their toileting areas as possible

 If you’ve not given us water bowls that are big enough or are located in its own station away from food and toileting areas, with choices depending on our own individual water preferences, we might take matters into our own paws and start drinking from the toilet or even worse the dog’s bowl…..

 

Source: http://www.felidaefund.org/?q=species-african-asian-wildcat

Source: http://www.felidaefund.org/?q=species-african-asian-wildcat

See- us cats have our very own species-specific behaviours which haven’t changed much from that of our wild ancestor, Felis lybica the African wildcat. So, in the over 3,600 years since we domesticated ourselves (check out the iCat Care link on cat’s origins here ), we still think we’re mini-panthers and often act like it!

 

That’s why we prefer to have multiple water sources to be in various locations because we are hardwired to not drink water next to our food! If we caught a rodent or rabbit in the wild (Ruby’s learned in her iCatCare course that mammals are a cat’s main food source not birds!), any water source nearby our prey would have been their toilet…… making it contaminated! If a cat drank it, it would make us sick. Also, we want to see around us to protect us from potential predators (again it’s all in our genetics!), which is why we prefer shallow wide bowls (imagine a puddle which is what wild cats would drink from!!), a glass/mug or free-flowing tap water. Check out Cat the Vet post on this topic here!

Other cats, like me, prefer a mug/glass than a bowl- and wide shallow bowls, simply because we don’t like getting our whiskers wet! You can’t ruin perfection! I also like to drink straight from the tap! Cats love free-flowing, clean water!

Choices and multiple resources in different areas reduce cats like me feeling that our resources are being challenged/threatened by the other cats in our home, or even worse- a dog (ewww)! If we feel that our resources like food, water, play, rest areas and access to the litter box are being threatened by other cats or dogs in the home this can cause us a lot of stress. Such stress can manifest and lead to many physical and behavioural issues in cats like:

-       feline idiopathic cystitis

-       upper respiratory tract infections

-       obesity

-       aggression

-       overgrooming or compulsive behaviours

Check out more on this topic by the American Association of Feline Practitioners & iCatCare here

Although I live with two other cats, some cats live on their own, are a bit older and have arthritis. So having multiple water glasses or bowls (whatever they prefer) in easy-to-access locations, really improves their quality of life and makes sure they get their daily water amount! If cats don’t get enough water this can lead to dehydration, kidney disease or bladder stones (go to iCat Care for more information here and here).

It’s not just about a water bowl, it’s about giving cats like me choices and understanding that every cat has their own individual preferences for all of our needs- including water. By giving us choices, we have environmental enrichment, less stress, and a better life.

A cat’s behavioural preference for water and need for multiple water sources is in our genetics and is also a key part of a cat’s environment enrichment- our word of the month!

 

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Ruby Leslie