Hydration help for a sedentary British Shorthair

A 7-year-old British Shorthair who's a bit sedentary and not drinking enough — that's actually a really common combination, and your vet is right to flag it early. Cats evolved in arid environments and have a naturally low thirst drive to begin with, so a cat who moves less tends to drink even less. Most cats on dry food are chronically underhydrated, and over time that puts serious strain on the kidneys — kidney disease is the leading cause of death in older cats. The two most effective fixes are a water fountain and wet food. Quick questions to help me point you in the right direction: is your cat currently on dry food, wet food, or a mix? Has your vet mentioned any kidney or urinary issues yet, or is this still at the prevention stage? And has your cat ever had a water fountain?

Good — you're ahead of the problem, which makes this much easier to fix. The fact that she'll eat wet food already is a great sign; increasing that to daily would make a real difference on its own. But for a sedentary cat, a fountain is particularly useful because the movement and sound of the water actually prompts drinking even when she hasn't sought it out herself. Can I ask — whereabouts does she tend to spend most of her time during the day? I want to make sure we think about placement, because with a less active cat, if the fountain isn't in her usual spot, she simply won't make the trip.

That explains a lot — the kitchen bowl is probably too far out of her orbit. My recommendation is the Catit Flower Fountain. It's one of the best-selling cat fountains in the UK for good reason: it has a large 3-litre capacity so you're not refilling constantly, the flower-head design produces a gentle stream that cats find naturally appealing, and it's quiet enough to sit in a living room without being annoying. Put it within a metre or two of where she already rests, and most cats like her start investigating within a day or two just out of curiosity. The filter also removes impurities, which matters because cats can be put off by tap water taste. Pair it with switching her wet food to daily — even one pouch a day adds significant moisture — and you'll have covered both hydration routes her vet would want to see.

It's a fair concern — some fountains are genuinely annoying to clean. The Catit Flower is one of the better ones: the parts separate easily, most of them are dishwasher safe, and Catit recommends a full clean once a week, which takes about ten minutes. The filter needs replacing roughly every month, and replacement packs are cheap and easy to find. It's not zero effort, but it's much less involved than some of the more complex designs. Given that your cat isn't drinking enough right now, even a small maintenance commitment is well worth it for the kidney protection you're getting.

Keep the bowl for now, at least for the first few weeks. Some cats take a little time to trust a new fountain, and you don't want to remove their backup while they're still getting used to it. Once you're confident she's drinking regularly from the fountain, you can quietly retire the bowl — or keep both, which is never a bad thing. The main thing is getting the fountain into her living space as soon as possible so she starts associating it with her normal routine.