# My cat is drinking more water, should I be concerned?



## BrewCityBuckeye (Dec 1, 2009)

I have a 11 year old cat. She never used to drink all that much water but over the past 3 weeks she has been drinking a lot of water and urinating more often. She isn't obese and her appetite hasn't changed over this time, but I know excessive thirst is a symptom of diabetes.

About a month ago (before she was drinking this much water) I took her in for her annual shots and they also did a routine blood test (which came back negative). They noticed that some of her teeth were in very bad shape (one tooth had a hole in it) and some needed to be pulled. 

They removed three teeth a about three weeks ago, one tooth was so bad it pretty much came out on it's own. Since the surgery she seems to have more energy and be pain free (we knew her teeth weren't in great condition before the surgery but didn't know they were that bad).

My question is since she started drinking so much more water after the surgery, is it just possible that she wasn't drinking as much water as she should have before the surgery cause her mouth hurt too much?


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

I doubt if the degree of pain in her mouth (or lack thereof) has much to do with her water consumption. However, anesthesia can cause a cat's blood pressure to drop, and that can put substantial strain on the kidneys. Excessive thirst is a common symptom of all of the Big Three diseases of elderly cats (diabetes, hyperthyroidism, and renal failure). I recommend you take your girl back to the vet for another full blood chemistry, as well as a CBC and Total T4 to check her current health status.

Make sure you obtain copies of ALL of her lab work, including the tests run a month ago and any tests you have run again now. I can't tell you how many times vets have told me that bloodwork was "fine" or "normal", just to find out that it was neither "fine" nor "normal" when I saw the lab results for myself. You should ALWAYS request copies of lab work so that you can keep a file at home and compare results to identify any changes or abnormalities. From your description, my guess is that you'll see relevant changes in the bloodwork now compared to a month ago.

Laurie


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## BrewCityBuckeye (Dec 1, 2009)

Thanks for the reply. She was on antibiotics for two weeks after the surgery so I was hoping that might have had something to do with it, but she had the surgery three weeks ago and been off meds for one week and she's still drinking a lot so I was starting to get a little concerned.

Before the surgery we used one of those automatic water dispensers so it was tough to tell how much she was actually drinking. We didn't actually see her drinking that much and since it was a large water bottle it was hard to tell how much she actually drank whenever we switched the water out.

Since the surgery we have used a regular bowl, so even though we have seen her drinking more often, it may not be a significant amount more. She has been urinating more, I now have to change out all of her litter once a week instead of every two weeks.

I would like to try and avoid taking her back to the vet for another blood test because she does not handle the car ride and vet well at all. If I don't drug her before going she has a panic attack and always has an accident in her carrier. If I do use even half the dose of the relaxing medicine from the vet she can hardly even stand. Plus they had an extremely hard time drawing blood last time she was there.

I think for now I'm just going to closely monitor her drinking/urinating habbits. Are there any other symptoms I should be on the lookout for?


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

BrewCityBuckeye said:


> I would like to try and avoid taking her back to the vet for another blood test because she does not handle the car ride and vet well at all.


Several decades ago, I, too, had a cat who was severely stressed by car rides and vet visits. I felt the same way you do about sparing her the fear of taking her to the vet. It was one of the worst mistakes I ever made, and it haunts me to this day. My beloved girl died a prolonged, horrible, sickly death because I was trying to "spare" her. I will never make that mistake again, and I am hoping to talk you out of making that mistake now.

If your girl does have a medical concern that is causing excessive thirst, the sooner you have it diagnosed, the more successfully you will be able to treat and/or manage whatever is going on. The temporary fear and stress that another vet visit will cause your girl is well worth the ability to protect, restore, or preserve her health. Please believe me on this. 



> Are there any other symptoms I should be on the lookout for?


By the time other symptoms show up, it may be too late for you to stabilize her condition, if she has something going on like renal failure, hyperthyroidism, or diabetes. Don't wait for her to get so sick that you can no longer justify keeping her away from the vet before you address your concerns. Take her now.

Laurie


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Or find a vet that will come to your house, there are quite of few of them out there for just this reason. But as Laurie says, delaying will likely only make things worse, get it taken care of before it can become unmanageable.


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## BrewCityBuckeye (Dec 1, 2009)

You guys are right, if I don't take her to the vet now I could really end up regretting it in the future. Even if I take her and they don't find anything wrong with her at least I would have the peace of mind that she isn't sick. Thank you.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

I'm relieved that you'll be taking her back to the vet for follow-up testing. I realize I'm indulging my own history here, but I'm glad to do anything I can to prevent my history from repeating at the expense of someone else's cat.

When you get all of your cat's lab results from a month ago and from this upcoming round of tests, feel free to post them here so that we can take a look and see if anything jumps out at us that might be important to discuss with your vet.

Laurie


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

I didn't have time to post this earlier, but want to tell you about my experience with Maggie...

When she was 9 or 10 I started having yearly senior blood tests done on her. This continued until she was 12. Then I was laid off for a year, started my own business and had no income coming in so things like yearly vet checks and blood tests didn't get done. Fast forward to this past December, I wake up to Maggie in crisis mode...vomiting, hyperventilating, not really responsive, trying to hide etc. Got her to the vet and it turned out she was hyperthyroid.

When she had her last blood test at age 12 I was told it was perfect. At the time I didn't realize that I should get copies and make sure I understand each parameter. This time I asked for the results, it also referenced her previous test results. That's when I found out that her thyroid levels had been .1 below the upper limit for T4 levels. So her test wasn't really perfect. I should have been told that her test was OK, but that we need to monitor her thyroid going forward. Had I known that I never would have let the time between blood tests go as long as I did.


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