How Much Water Should Your Dog or Cat Drink?

Water is essential for pet health. It helps metabolic processes go smoothly, flushes toxins, and regulates body temperature. However, you need to know how much water your dog or cat should drink. Often, pets don't take enough water. That leads to dehydration and other health problems. Kidney stones, urinary tract diseases, or metabolic disorders may appear when your dog or cat drink less than optimal. When you are not sure how much water your dog or cat needs, you may want to consult veterinarians from Eastshore Vets, the best veterinarian agency from Madison. Veterinarians think the optimal amount of water for your pet depends on their age, weight, diet, exercise, and weather. As an average, they recommend an ounce of water per pound of weight for your dog. If he is active then you should give him more water, depending on the training intensity. However, don't encourage him drinking it all at once. Let your dog take a rest, cool down, and then offer more.

Another important element determines how much water your dog should drink. It is a type of food. If you feed your dog wet food, he will get almost 80% of water by eating. On the other hand, dogs who eat dry food need all water supply from other sources.

To decide how much water your cat needs, you should examine the same factors as in dogs. However, you should keep in minds that cats are significantly smaller and will need less water than dogs. According to feline experts, the daily amount of water they need in ml equals kcal of food. In other words, your cat weighing 10 pounds will need 250 kcal of food and 250 ml water a day.

Cat diet represents the essential factor when you decide how much water your cat needs. If she eats wet food, she will need from 20 to 40 percent of water. When her diet consists of dry food or is a combination of the two, your cat will need more than 60% water extra.

A note of caution: cats are more prone to dehydration than dogs. They drink less than they should. To help them stay hydrated, keep their bowls clean and water fresh.