DOES YOUR CAT DRINK WATER NEAR HIS FOOD?

Many, if not most, domestic cats will not drink from a water bowl next to the food dish. Purportedly, this is instinctual behavior inherited from their ancestors in the wild who learned not to partake of water which could have been tainted by a nearby rotting dead animal upon which the cat had earlier fed. Consequently, if you have one of those combo cat dishes which has the food right next to the water, your feline companion may not be getting as much liquid as he should.

I was unaware of this fact until recently, but it is consistent with the behavior of our orange cat, Murray. For the first eighteen years of his existence, he had a water bowl right by his food dish downstairs where he spent the night and as well as a separate water bowl upstairs. He almost never used the downstairs bowl, and he would scurry upstairs each morning to take a long drink before starting his day. I had just thought that he was weird, but when I learned of the food connection, I moved his downstairs water bowl ten feet away from his victuals. He thereafter guzzled from it enthusiastically.

After a very long and contented life, Murray passed on a few days ago. We miss him.