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Health & Fitness

My Cat Won't Drink Water Anymore

My cat won't drink water. I need your suggestions to get her drinking again.

My wife had a wonderful Siamese cat, Simba, for many years who passed away a few years ago.  Like any good husband I suggested she get another cat.  So we went to the shelter and looked.  They had many cats to choose from but we saw one that had beautiful markings.  She was the one we decided to get and took her home.  I was hoping she would be a lap cat for my wife who dearly missed her old Simba.

So we had a new cat at home (Stella) and she was nothing like Simba.  She did not want to sit in my wife's lap.  She actually seemed to take to me.  We were both disappointed.  I am actually allergic to cats but am the suffering husband who wants his wife to be happy.  Yes, I am still waiting for the perfect husband award to arrive.  I understand it has been in the mail for many years now.  Maybe someday it will finally arrive.  When it does I will wear it proudly.  I hope I don't do anything dopey and lose it like Lance Armstrong did.  What a dope and a major disappointment he turned out to be.  Are there no real heroes any more?  Okay, I digress, back to the cat.

As you may know I was in Utah for 17 days recently.  We made arrangements to have a neighbor, a cat owner, to take care of Stella.  We had never been gone that long at got back late at night.  We just wanted to hit the sack.  That was not to be.  We found that in our rush to leave we had left our bedroom door open as well as the door to our guest bathroom.  I was expecting to see cat fur on our bed but my wife discovered that the cat had urinated a number of times on the sheets.  We were totally freaked since we had just bought a new mattress and box spring.  Luckily, the mattress pad saved the bed.  We noticed she had also marked the inside of the tub and corners around the living room, den and kitchen.  We thought she was "pissed off" we had left her for so long.

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The next day my wife noticed her squatting in a corner of our den and she thought it might be a urinary infection.  So, we gathered up the cat and took her to the vet.  They thought Stella might have this problem because she was stressed with our being gone so long.  Since I am home more she has latched on to me and wants to be near me.  If she is awake, she follows me like a dog.  Anyway, $190 later we had a bag full of stuff to take home to treat a bladder infection.  We treated her and noticed she still wanted to head toward a corner every so often.  It was obvious that her malady was painful and she might relate the pain to her box and wanted to go elsewhere.  It was not fun but things got better over the two weeks.

Then we went out of town for three days and when we got back found that the infection either did not go away or she had a new one so we did the whole vet thing again, another $160.   

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So, after you have suffered thought the preceding paragraphs, I will get to the point.  I have noticed that Stella is not drinking water. 

Recently, I went by the pet store and bought her a fountain.  We had heard that some cats prefer moving water.  I took it home and got it running.  Nope, I still don't notice her drinking from it.  I keep adding water to it but I think that it is just evaporated.  I even went to the grocery store and bought some sodium free chicken bullion in the hope that she would drink it.  That did not work.

We have just finished giving her the medicine and she appears to be okay.  We talked to the vet about it and we have been giving her canned food so she gets some moisture in her diet.  We even add a bit of water to her food to help her get more water.  The vet suggested that we have to buy a veterinary prescription food for her to help reduce the crystals in her bladder.  It has a bit of salt in it and we are hoping that will get her drinking again.  I am going to the vet today to buy the special food.

I need your help.  Please forward me your suggestions on what I might try to get her to drink water. Please, serious suggestions only.

Michael Kaynard is a local photographer who lives in West Ashley.  His photos can be seen at http://kaynardphotography.webs.com.  He can be reached at 412-2299 or mkaynard@gmail.com.

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