My cat is recovering from dehydration. Does wet food hydrate her?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Cat | Domestic Longhair | Female | spayed | 2 years old
My cat Lilly isn't drinking enough water. She went to the vet for severe dehydration. She is on doxycycline, Amoxi Clav K+ Suspension, Mirtazapine, PancrePlus, and is getting Lactated Ringers subdermal. She absorbs the LR in a couple hours and she is eating voraciously (wet food) but I don't see her consuming very much water. The antibiotics are for a persistent URI. Could this be due to a chronic condition? Im worried that when her meds run out that she will get ill again. Suggestions?
4 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on January 2nd, 2020
I'm sorry Lilly has been sick! Wet food has a higher moisture content than dry food, so she is getting some water in her by eating that. Also she is getting fluids, so she is getting water there too. If she wasn't getting fluids, I would be worried about her not drinking water, but in this case, I'm not. When the fluids run out, feed her wet food and add water to it.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on February 20th, 2020
Hello. The trend now is to feed cats primarily a wet/canned diet as cats will obtain more than 80% of their liquid requirements this way. This is because domestic cats are actually closer to their wild, desert born ancestors. Cats originally came from the desert so free, fresh water was very rare. So they depended on their "wet" prey to stay hydrated. Most veterinary nutritionist do recommend a totally wet diet to their feline patients now. If you can not switch Lila over to a completely wet diet, then offering her chicken & beef stocks or broths & occasionally tuna water may keep her drinking more. Pet fountains are also an excellent idea as it is proven that cats will drink more water if it is moving. Hope this helps thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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Published on February 16th, 2020
If you have canned/tinned cat food that would be the best to feed her. Tinned food is high in water content so you don't have to be so worried about if she is drinking or not if she will eat this food. You could also put a bowl of chicken broth out for her to drink. Sometimes they like the taste of that better. Always have a bowl of plain water out for her too. Unfortunately, you cannot force her to drink.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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Published on January 7th, 2019
Helen is adorable! I would make sure she is eating wet food and if she is don't worry to much about drinking water. There is a lot of water in wet food and if she is eating that she shouldn't get dehydrated. If she is eating dry food and not drinking then I would recommend adding some water to her dry food. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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