Can Cats Drink Distilled Water?

by Jayley
Can Cats Drink Distilled Water

Drinking water, not just for humans but also for pets like cats, is important and must be set up as soon as possible. When you move into a new place, the first thing to check is whether the water from the faucet is safe to drink or not.

And to ensure you and your family’s safety, you can resort to having distilled water so that everyone can drink clean water. Pet owners always let their furry friends drink whatever kind of water they are getting just to be safe. However, can cats drink distilled water? Or are there other kinds of water that cats can only drink?

cats drinking distilled water

Is It Safe For Cats To Drink Distilled Water?

Cats should not drink distilled water. The acidic state of distilled water can harm your feline friend and may cause their urine to transform into stones or crystals. This will hurt them especially when they want to urinate and disperse the excess liquid from their body. Your furry friends may also feel nauseous after drinking a lot of distilled water because of the sudden imbalance of the liquid they drank.

Distilled water is the result when you boil tap water and capture the steam. As clean as it sounds, it removes the impurities of the faucet water as well as its minerals and electrolytes. In other words, the distilling process changes the pH level of the tap water and makes it lean towards the acidic side of the meter. There are various ways to achieve this state of water pH but the most convenient way is to have machinery at home to do it for you. The other way is to boil the water in a pot over the stove before drinking it.

Your feline friends need electrolytes to keep their bodies up and running. Minerals from water are also necessary to make sure that they can do the daily activities that they usually do. So when you boil them away from the tap water, you prevent your cats from maximizing the benefits from the water.


How Distilled Water Can Be Harmful To My Cat?

How Distilled Water Can Be Harmful To My Cat

Distilled water, when ingested by cats, is harmful to them in a lot of ways. One of the most prominent reasons is that it will make your cat sick because of its alkaline level of 6 which is considered acidic.

The bodies of cats are very sacred and sensitive when it comes to food and water. You need to make sure that everything is alkaline or balanced. If you don’t do this, they will suffer consequences and may lead to plenty of further medical aftermath. In addition, your cat may experience or get diagnosed with Urinary Tract Infection that will make them uncomfortable day and night.

Another thing to take note of is that when cats drink distilled water, it erases certain nutrients that are inside their bodies. For example, when they drink this kind of water, it will eliminate all the potassium and sodium that will be on the way.

Cats need all the nutrients that they can ingest to live a long, happy life so stripping the said nutrients from their body will increase the risk of medical conditions. Do not take the risk of harming your feline friends just because you did not do your research as to what is best for them.


What Should I Do if My Cat Drink Distilled Water?

Experts suggest that cats only drink unfiltered tap water because of the minerals and electrolytes that are available there. As the cat owner, what you can do is just fill your furry friend’s water container then let them drink the same throughout the day to stay hydrated.

However, what should you do if your cat accidentally drinks distilled water from the sink or on the counter? There are two factors to consider first before taking action in this kind of situation.

If your cat only licked the distilled water that was spilled on top of the counter, there is nothing to worry about. First, remove the water spillage by wiping it using a paper towel or reusable cloth towel. Make sure that no distilled water will be left for your cat to drink. Then let the cat drink faucet water to quickly flush down the small amount of distilled water. Be careful with the liquids hanging around the house to avoid this kind of situation.

However, if your cat drank a lot of water from an open container filled with distilled water or when you accidentally fed him the same kind of water, you don’t need to panic. The first thing that you should do is to observe how their body will react to the acidic water they just ingested.

Then, if your cat looked fine after more than 24 hours, you can go on with life. But, if they became nauseous and are always vomiting, bring them to the nearest veterinary clinic for an emergency check-up.


Is Cat Water Similar to Distilled Water?

Cat water and distilled water are somehow similar yet different in a variety of ways.

When it comes to their similarities, the most obvious one is that they underwent the same process of distilling tap water to remove the minerals from the latter. You can see from the market that cat water is basically distilled water but with key differences (will be discussed below).

Another similarity between cat water and distilled water is that they are manufactured and sold in water bottles. There are a lot of brands that sell them as well so pick the one that works best for your cat.

As to the differences between cat water and distilled water, the most important one is the alkaline level or pH level. The former, even if it underwent the same process, is not acidic or is not measured at 6 in the alkaline meter. This only means that your furry friends at home can drink cat water without any worries of having any future sickness or medical conditions.

On the other hand, distilled water is a very acidic kind of water that is safe for humans but not for cats, or animals in general. Distilled water will not hydrate them but rather harm them due to its side effects.


What Kind of Water Should a Cat Drink?

The best drinking water that a cat should drink is freshwater or tap water. This is the unfiltered kind and the minerals are not yet stripped through any kinds of methods like distilling or boiling. Cats are animals and mother nature created them to ingest all things natural and one of them is water. Do not mess with what your furry friends drink and let them soak up all the nutrients and electrolytes tap water has.

A variety of other commercialized drinking water is created for cats like cat water, a pH level-balanced liquid that pets can drink safely. This is good for your cats but it’s very expensive to maintain so relying on clean tap water is the best choice for you to pick right now.

You can contact your landlady (if you rent) or the water repair services (if you own the house) to make sure that the pipes are not clogged at your home.


Conclusion

Cats are very adorable yet sensitive creatures that we should take care of. Starting from the food they eat and water they drink, up to the housing and all other things that need to be arranged and maintained.

About their drinking water, one’s main question is “Is distilled water good for cats?”. One should be aware that cats need to intake an alkaline-balanced one to make sure that future medical conditions should not ensue.

You Might Also Like