old self. Switched to canned food, Iams, and he is eating well. My question
is since going off dry food he drinks less water than before.

That's normal. He is getting more water in his food.

[snip]

Some of it. He still needs nice fresh water every day, though.

as there is as much there as usual. Just doesn't seem like he is drinking
enough tho to me and as I said he has been doing quite well and is looking

Maybe. As long as he looks good and acts happy, he is probably okay. For
reference: I fill Cheeky's bowl (probably a 12-oz bowl) every morning and
about 1/3 of it is gone when I refill it at night. She also drinks from the
bowl on the middle level, but I'm not sure how much. Buddha also drinks from
that one and from her own bowl on the first floor so it is hard to tell.

In the fine newsgroup "rec.pets.cats.health+behav", "Paul O."
<oplholik@hotmail.com> artfully composed this message within
<news:04FHc.89445$n73.67993@newssvr29.news.prodigy.com> on 09 Jul
2004:

Absolutely. When Shamrock went on an all-canned food diet, he could
go a whole day without drinking water. He ate about 8 oz of canned
food per day.  Now he nibbles a little dry now and then and drink
*some* water, but not much.

When I clean

That's the big clue right there. Canned food is ~75% water and a much
more efficient way for them to get their needs met. :)

Yds, when you eat mainlly wet food there will be less water drinking. Wet
food is 70 percent water.

Your calculations are the most accurate I've ever seen in this newsgroup -
except of course, for mine! :)  Your dedication is equally impressive.

Generally, a cat's daily water needs (in milliliters) are usually
"guesstimated" as about equal to the cat's metabolizable energy requirement
in kilocalories (me/kcal) or about 60 ml/kg (about 1 oz/lb).  The cat's
actual water needs depends on several other factors, e.g., environmental
temperature, illness, solute load of the diet, etc.), but 60 ml/kg is a good
guide.

A 4 kg cat consuming a 240 kcal canned diet with 78% moisture will consume
about 237 ml or 98% of her daily water needs directly from the diet. Once
the diet is consumed, oxidation of nutrients produces an additional 10 to 13
ml of water for each 100 kcal of metabolizable energy.  Thus the cat needs
to drink less than *1 oz.* of additional water per day.

OTOH, a cat consuming a 240 kcal dry diet needs to drink over 7 oz. of water
per day.  In fact (and I mean *fact* literally), the total free water intake
(from food and drinking water) decreases when cats are fed dry food only.
The water to dry matter intake ratio when fed commercial dry foods varies
from 2.0 to 2.8: 1 whereas on canned foods it varies from 3. 0 to 5.7: 1.
Thus for any given dry matter intake cats have a higher water turnover on
canned food than on dry foods.

Remember, the cat evolved to obtain her water requirements almost entirely
from the moisture content in her food - a trait inherited from her
desert-dwelling ancestors.  Feeding a canned diet containing 78% moisture
virtually guarantees homeostatic control of water balance in the cat.

I think you'll enjoy my site:

http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm

http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm#Dry Food vs Canned Food.  Which is
really better?

Best of luck,

Phil

"Cats are the most graceful, sinuous, sexy, truly sensuous
           creatures in the world." -- Carol Lawrence
           Feline healthcare  http://maxshouse.com