Maintaining adequate hydration is a concern for cat owners and veterinarians, given that many cats are fed low-moisture dry diets and that dietary moisture contributes to their hydration. In this study, we recorded the water intake and drinking behavior of healthy colony and client-owned cats fed three diets with different moisture contents (100% dry, 50% dry and 50% wet, and 100% wet). Cats voluntarily drank the most water when fed the dry diet and the least when fed the wet diet. However, because wet food contains substantially more moisture, cats consumed more total water when eating the wet diet and less total water when eating the dry diet. In general, privately-owned cats drank more voluntary water across all diets than colony cats. However, groups of cats were most likely to drink water immediately after eating, regardless of dietary moisture content. Overall, the patterns observed under controlled colony conditions were consistent in home environments.

Read the full article in the Journal of Animal Science.