Mike Clinton
Introduction: The curious case of cats and water
It’s no secret that cats are notorious for their picky drinking habits. While dogs will lap up water at any given opportunity, cats seem to be much more discerning about how and when they hydrate themselves. In some cases, cats will even go out of their way to avoid drinking water altogether, which can be a cause for concern for their owners. So why is it that cats seem to have such a complicated relationship with water?
An evolutionary history of feline hydration
To understand why cats don’t drink water like other animals, it’s important to take a closer look at their evolutionary history. Unlike dogs and other domesticated animals, cats are descendants of desert-dwelling wildcats, who evolved to survive in arid environments where water was scarce. This meant that they had to adapt to getting most of their hydration from the food they ate, rather than from drinking water directly.
Over time, cats developed a number of physiological adaptations that allowed them to conserve water and survive in the wild. For example, they have highly efficient kidneys that are able to extract as much moisture as possible from their urine, and their feces are typically much dryer than other animals. They also have a unique way of drinking water that allows them to limit the amount of water they consume at any given time.