Mineral water
There has been a rumor about cats drinking mineral water before: that cats drinking mineral water will cause urinary calculi. However, this issue has been refuted by many parties. The main causes of urinary calculi in cats are pH value and urine specific gravity. The minerals contained in mineral water have little impact on this. Moreover, the amount of minerals in the water that a cat drinks in a day may be even less than that in a mouthful of cat food. So, mineral water can be used as the long-term drinking water for cats.
Tap water
In theory, tap water can be directly given to cats to drink, but it is not highly recommended. Although the tap water in some areas may have a relatively high content of calcium and magnesium ions, as mentioned before, calcium and magnesium ions have little impact on cats’ urinary tract diseases. The main reason why it is not recommended to drink it directly is that the tap water needs to pass through long pipelines from the water treatment plant to users’ homes, and it is very likely to cause secondary pollution during the transportation process.
Cooled boiled water
During the process of boiling tap water, excessive minerals can be precipitated, and various microorganisms produced during the transportation process can also be killed. Therefore, cooled boiled water can also be used as the long-term drinking water for cats.
Purified water
Compared with mineral water, purified water has a lower mineral content. There was previous research claiming that humans might lack minerals and increase the risk of getting sick if they drink overly pure water for a long time. Many people took this as a basis and thought that cats couldn’t drink purified water for a long time either. But actually, this statement is incorrect. As mentioned in the first point, the amount of minerals in water is negligible. The amount of minerals in the water that a cat drinks in a day may be even less than that in a mouthful of cat food. So, purified water can also be used as the long-term drinking water for cats.
Summary
That’s all about the drinking water for cats. Except for tap water, the other three types of water can all be used as the long-term drinking water for cats. Actually, instead of paying too much attention to what kind of water cats drink, it’s better to think more about how to make cats drink more water (cats still prefer the water in their owners’ cups the most). Many urinary tract diseases of cats are caused by their insufficient water intake. Of course, besides taking care of cats, all parents should also pay attention to drinking more water in daily life.