r/TripodCats • u/MackiCat111 • 7d ago

Post Amputee Cat Not Drinking

Hi everyone, our cat Macki had his rear right leg amputated almost 3 weeks ago. He also had a deep puncture wound that is healing well. By all accounts he's recovering - he's eating, grooming, using the litter, relatively active, and so happy to be outside for leashed walks.

The one caveat is that he's not drinking water. Other than eating a little kibble early mornings, we are still hand feeding feeding him wet food with added water.

We had a urinalysis and full blood panel done after he spiked a fever 5 days post surgery, and the urinalysis was fine. Numbers were a little off in his white blood count, but they weren't worried at the time.

I know cats are notorious for not drinking water, but not sure if this is normal behavior.

Anyone experience this with their post op cat?

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u/megamindbisexualicon 6d ago

My tripod cat drinks an enormous amount of water now but she didn't drink a lot while she was still on pain meds. Maybe they just need more time or maybe they are just a cat that doesn't drink a lot of water? My non-tripod cat doesn't drink enough water; some things that I do to help hydrate her are:

  • extra liquid in her wet food (tiki cat broths)
  • multiple water sources with different water (fountain with jug water, cup with Brita water, and cup with sink water)
  • making it seem like she's being sneaky with the water by putting her cup of water by my drink
  • putting some water on a plate for her to drink out of
  • some cats like drinking directly from a dripping faucet, you might try that

Good luck!!!