Pets

Hydration Hacks: How to Encourage Your Pets to Drink More Water

by Kevyn Gohu
April 18, 2024

We’re not the only ones fighting the heatwave—our furbabies are too! Here are ways to encourage our pets to drink more water.

With the heat index hitting the 40s, we’re always bringing a flask or jug around filled with water. But that’s if we’re constantly on the go, our pets are the ones that stay at home and sometimes—unattended. While certain pet breeds are not too keen on drinking water, it’s a must especially if we want to prevent them from dehydrating and getting kidney problems.

Here are ways to encourage our furbabies to drink water!

1. Add wet food to their diet.

Some pets, most especially cats, don’t like drinking water because it stresses their whiskers out. And while some cats do love to drink water, it’s because they’ve been drinking since they were kittens. Either that or they just genuinely like the flavor of the water.

So instead of leaving out a water bowl that can collect flies and dirt, alternate between wet and dry food to make sure our pet cats stay hydrated.

2. Give your pets ice cubes!

While some love drinking water as is, other pets may prefer ice cubes. Besides it being a cold and lickable treat, the ice cube can melt over time and eventually turn into water. Keep the ice cubes big so they can’t just swallow the thing whole and accidentally choke on it!

Pro tip: You can add ice to water to make it cool, too!

3. Use the broth from their cooked food as their “water.”

Some owners parboil or lightly cook their pets’ food. Instead of throwing out the broth, pour a bit of it into our pets’ food, so they also get some of the nutrients that mix in the water. But if you’re using commercial wet food for pets, add around three teaspoons of water just to encourage them.

But remember: drowning the food in water may only work if they genuinely like drinking water or the food smells (and tastes!) that good.

4. Avoid mixing vitamins and the like in their food.

Although some pets don’t mind the vitamins being mixed in their food, doing so increases the chances of food aversion—they’ll starve themselves until it goes away! Some vitamins like Taurine can have an unpleasant smell for our pets, making some of them think that it’s dangerous when in reality, it’s for their health.

If our pets truly need the vitamins then, find treats that have the vitamins in them. Some of those treats can be found in Pet Express or Bow and Wow.

When we increase their wet food, make sure to brush their teeth too!

Because we’re increasing our pets’ wet food to make sure they drink water, they also have a higher tendency to build up plaque and dirt. Dry food, according to vets, creates “friction” to remove the film that covers their teeth. However, too much dry food can expose them to urinary tract infections.

Being mindful and meticulous in balancing our pets’ diet and making sure they drink water is a must since they can’t tell us if they’re sick or not!