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My cat drinks a lot of water. Is it a sign of kidney problems?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Russian Blue | Female | 13 years and 5 months old | 27 lbs

How much water would a cat have to be drinking to have me concerned for kidney problems? Whenever she found my glass of water on the ground she would drink it, so I left a small juice cup with water out every day along with her normal water dish and I am filling up the glass 1-2 times a day and the water dish 1 every 2 days.

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Andrea M. Brodie, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on December 23rd, 2016

The daily water requirement for cats and dogs ranges from 5 to 10 fluid ounces per day (or an average of 60 ml/kg/day). If your cat eats canned food, then the cat can get a lot of that fluid from the canned food as this has about 70-80% humidity. So, if ella drinks a lot more than 60cc(ml) of water per 2.2lbs body weight then you should take her to a veterinarian for blood tests. This could be caused by diabetes, kidney failure, a simple infection (also severe tooth infections/gingivitis) and other endocrine problems.

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Rebecca, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on July 5th, 2018

    Thanks for using PetCoach. Normal water consumption is about 60ml/kg/day. Which for an average 10lb cat would be about 10 ounces per day. Or slightly over 1 cup of water per day. Cats that eat canned food consume some water with their food. Some disease processed may cause increased water consumption (diabetes, kidney disease). For many cats it is advisable to try to increase their water intake to provide a healthy urinary tract. This is most easily done by feeding canned food. Here's some more info http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/why-cats-need-canned-food-2/ http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/is-my-pet-drinking-enough-water I hope this helps!

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