Should You Add Water To Wet Cat Food?

However, this simple trick isn’t risk-free. Cats are very sensitive to changes in their diet and might refuse to eat their food if the texture or flavor differs from usual or have gastroenteric upset.

Furthermore, water promotes bacteria growth. The lifespan of wet cat food is already short, so consider whether you want to risk the freshness.

When deciding whether to add water to your cat’s food, consider your pet’s health, food preferences, and hydration level. Most healthy adult cats don’t need extra hydration, so the risks outweigh the benefits.

Water Helps Cats with Constipation & Dehydration

The primary reason for adding water to wet cat food is to provide the cat with more hydration. If your cat doesn’t drink water but eats wet food, it isn’t sick.

Often, cats eating wet food drink very little or stop drinking entirely because they already receive hydration from food.

However, the water from food isn’t enough, which leads to dehydration and related health issues. If the dehydration is mild, owners might not notice the problem, but it still affects the cat’s well-being.

The symptoms of dehydration in cats include lethargy, loss of appetite, weakness, dry mucous membranes, and, sometimes, eyes sunken in the sockets.

To determine that a cat is dehydrated, try a simple skin tenting test: gently pull a bit of your cat’s skin and let go. If the skin snaps back to place instantly, your cat is hydrated enough.

If the skin falls slowly, a cat is mildly dehydrated, but the condition isn’t life-threatening. The cat is severely dehydrated if the skin remains up and does not back down.

A cat may also refuse to drink because of stress, medical conditions, or not liking the material or location of the water bowl. Some cats refuse to drink stagnant water or tap water.

Dehydration is often accompanied by loss of appetite, but if the cat continues to eat like usual, adding water to its food is an excellent way to resolve the problem. Still, owners should seek the root of the issue.

Dehydration often causes constipation, although the symptom can also result from other conditions and stress. Regardless of the cause, extra hydration improves digestion and helps fecal masses to pass through the gastroenteric tract.

Furthermore, hydration is crucial for the correct functioning of a cat’s metabolism. If a cat’s metabolism is slow, its body cannot properly digest food and distribute water to vital organs.

Another consequence of dehydration in cats is urinary tract infections and kidney stones. Preventing these conditions is easier than treating them, so sufficient hydration is essential.

Water Makes Food Softer

Another benefit of adding water to wet cat food is that it makes the texture softer. Hard food can irritate a cat’s stomach and cause digestion issues, particularly if the cat cannot chew it properly.

Soft food is much easier to digest, which benefits cats with sensitive gastroenteric tract, kittens that only started eating solid food, and felines with dental issues.

For example, cats with gingivitis and stomatitis often have difficulty chewing food because of severe gum inflammation.

Sometimes, cats with these conditions refrain from eating entirely. Soft food doesn’t require chewing, so a cat doesn’t feel pain eating.

Kittens during teething can experience extreme itchiness that worsens from hard food. Senior cats that have lost some of their teeth might have difficulty chewing and will also appreciate a softer texture.

Sometimes, soft food administered via a syringe is prescribed by a vet. Owners can make their pet’s food softer by adding water and mashing it with a fork.

Some cats refuse to eat kibble or hard canned food simply because they don’t like it. Adding water can also help in this scenario.

Canned cat food loses some of its moisture in the fridge. If you buy cat food in large cans and your cat cannot finish it in one go, you can revive the texture by adding a bit of water.

It’s important to note that often, owners can achieve a softer texture by pureeing the food with a fork and not adding extra liquid.

Water Can Affect the Food Smell & Taste

Although adding water to wet food has health benefits for cats, it also has drawbacks. Cats are notoriously picky with food and can be very sensitive to any changes in their diet.

Water can affect the smell, flavor, and texture of wet cat food, making it appear blander and thus less appealing to your cat.

However, warm water can increase food flavor – many owners add warm water to dry cat food to make it more appealing to their pets.

Water added to a cat’s food can encourage it to eat and help deal with anorexia. If your cat refuses to eat and you want to stimulate its appetite, remember that the water should be warm.

Plus, many cats are sensitive to mineral content in water and might refuse to eat their food because they can taste particular elements.

One could say that water doesn’t have a distinct taste and won’t cause harm to food flavor. Furthermore, cats have fewer taste buds than humans. But the feline sense of smell is significantly stronger than ours.

The texture also matters because cats don’t like changes. Imagine adding water to your lasagna – would you still enjoy it to the same extent? Likely not, although it would taste and smell the same.

Water Makes Food More Filling

Water causes cat food to expand, making it more filling, which can be both a pro and a con. On the one hand, many cats are gluttons, which is especially problematic with breeds prone to obesity, such as Burmese and British Shorthair.

Dealing with extra weight in cats can be challenging. Adding water to wet food is a simple trick to make a cat feel full quicker and eat less, promoting weight loss.

Furthermore, extra moisture improves digestion, reducing water retention and other gastroenteric problems related to weight loss.

On the other hand, some cats don’t need to lose weight. They might need to eat more because of pregnancy, young age, insufficient weight, or medical conditions.

Water Can Slow Down Your Cat’s Eating

Some cats eat too fast, which causes digestion issues, weight gain, and increases the risk of choking. But a cat cannot drink as fast as it gulps canned food. Adding water to canned food can help slow down a cat’s eating.

Of course, there are other ways to make a cat eat slower, such as puzzle feeders and automatic feeders. But adding water is significantly easier and cheaper.

Will Wet Food Go Bad Faster with Water?

Wet cat food lasts only several hours outside the fridge until it spoils. As soon as wet cat food comes in contact with air, it becomes susceptible to bacteria and mold growth.

Moisture also contributes to spoilage – for this reason, wet cat food goes bad faster than kibble. When the humidity is over 75%, wet cat food lasts only 15 minutes.

Does this mean adding more water to wet cat food will cause it to go bad even faster? More likely yes than no. Sometimes, water in cat food does not affect how fast it spoils, provided the water is clean.

However, tap water can be contaminated with bacteria that can speed up the deterioration process and increase the risk of food poisoning.

If you want to add water to your cat’s food, choose bottled water to be sure the food won’t get contaminated.

How Much Water to Add

After evaluating the pros and cons of adding water to cat food, you may wonder about the amount. How much water to add to canned cat food depends on the food’s initial texture, the cat’s dehydration degree, and your goal.

Cat food in pouches already consists of about 80% water, so you should only add a little bit, if any. Cat food in cans usually has a harder texture, so you can add about five teaspoons without drastically affecting the flavor.

If your cat is severely dehydrated, constipated, or obese, add as much water as you deem reasonable.

But if you only need to make the food easier to chew, don’t add too much because there are better ways to make cat food softer. For example, you can add tuna broth to enhance the flavor or heat the food.

You can also try the trial-and-error method to determine the optimal amount of water in your cat’s food. Some cats prefer soupy food with plenty of moisture, whereas others choose kibble over anything else.

If your cat doesn’t suffer from dehydration, constipation, or dental issues, there’s no need to add water to wet food because it’s already very moist.

Too much water in a cat’s food can cause diarrhea because stool cannot form properly. You want to ensure that your cat gets adequate hydration rather than excessive. Adding water makes more sense for kibble because it’s dry.

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