http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018168044Oh my.
Man, it is s-o-o-o-o-o boring on Skins's island this morning.
Justice wanted (2,363 posts)
Is it bad to put ice cubes in a cat's water bowl?
just wondering. I can dump it out but it is hot tonight and it might help my babies.
cyberswede (5,419 posts)
1. I put them in our cats' bowl.
I don't think they'll choke on them or anything.
OffWithTheirHeads (8,121 posts)
5. I allways put ice cubes in my dogs waterbowl. Here in Tucson, they insist on it.
Whenever I run the ice machine they run up and look pleadingly. Please put ice in our bowl. I do.
onehandle (30,422 posts)
6. It's fine.
ohnoyoudidnt (271 posts)
8. I would observe to see if he avoid the bowl with the cubes in it or while it's cold.
Otherwise, I don't see how it would hurt.
eShirl (10,724 posts)
9. We used to set out a large Colpack from the freezer for our Maine Coon cat.
It's one of those gel-filled things for cold therapy to keep swelling down after an injury. Anyway, we'd set in on the floor covered with a towel, and he'd lay on that for hours at a time. When he finally got up, back into the freezer it would go until he asked for it again. (I thought of it the first summer we had him, when he got so hot in his long fur that he started panting.)
pinboy3niner (20,790 posts)
10. It's up to you, but remember...
...they don't taste the same when you take them out, and you may have hairballs for a while.
mykpart (3,514 posts)
11. I used to put ice in my kitty's water all the time.
She loved it. And she loved it when I dropped an ice cube on the kitchen floor, because she would play with it and lick it at the same time!
You know, because of the Great Barack Drought of '12, accompanied with extremely high temperatures, franksolich, kind soul that he is, put out twenty-three bowls (glass bowls only; smallest one holds about three-quarters of a gallon, largest one about three, all purchased at the thrift store) on the front porch, the back porch, in the meadow, in the grove of walnut trees, so that not only my cats would have ample liquid refreshment, but also any wildlife.
It's been a chore, going around filling those bowls every evening.
<<pats self on back as if were a primitive.
It's all good, though.
I've never considered using ice cubes, but with these temperatures, they'd have a life-span of five minutes.
As most are aware, cats are notorious for not drinking enough liquids, thus resulting in kidney, bladder, and urinary problems, as time goes on.
Early on in cat ownership, I learned a trick.
Grapefruit seed extract; about a drop per gallon.
It's as expensive as Hell, but it's worth it, when compared with veterinary bills and a cat's misery.
The cats suck up water like there's no tomorrow, and after all these years of cat ownership, franksolich has yet to have one that developed kidney, bladder, or urinary problems (knock on wood).
