Why does my cat drink so much water?
Original Question: Our 15-year-old cat is on Tapazole and a recent blood test indicated that his thyroid level was in the normal range and his kidneys were okay. He's not diabetic, however, he drinks a lot of water( 2-3 times per day) and has big pees twice per day. Is this symptomatic of anything?" Thanks! - Ron and Jeremy
Mar 5, 2018
Hi Ron and Jeremy,
I would recommend that you have a full panel of blood work and a urinalysis performed as well as a culture and sensitivity on the urine. This will look for almost all the possible causes behind excessive drinking and urinating.
If that all comes back normal, next I take some radiographs to rule out cancers that can cause these symptoms.
I have never had a cat younger than seventeen so I make sure to perform this round of testing at least once a year as a preventative measure. I of course, get a nice discount so I know that this is expensive but it’s the only way to be sure there isn’t a disease causing these symptoms.
I’ve never seen an older cat start drinking and urinating excessively for behavioral reasons and so it’s almost always an illness causing this and unfortunately, there are no short cuts to evaluating these things.
I hope it works out. Good luck.
Dr. Clayton Greenway
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