Q My Siamese cat is a year old and eats 1 1/2 cans of a premium food twice a day. I always have water out for him, but I never see him drinking, not even from one of those drinking fountains that you put on the floor. My vet says he's fine. Am I obsessing over this unnecessarily?
A Cats evolved from a desert animal that got just about all of its water from the liquids in the prey it caught and consumed. When the water content of a food is high, some small cats that are not exposed to high temperatures can maintain a normal internal water balance with no additional drinking water.
Some canned cat foods are more than half water. If a cat is eating canned food as a sole diet, it could meet most of its water needs from the food. This seems to be the case with your cat. As long as your vet says the cat is fine, I would not worry about it. Even so, be sure that he has access to fresh, clean drinking water.
Guinea pig food Q My daughter was given a guinea pig. We have always had rabbits as pets, and it seems that the guinea pig's care is pretty much the same. Can we feed it rabbit pellets?
A No. Guinea pig pellets have ascorbic acid added. This is vitamin C, which guinea pigs need in their diet. So there is no way that the guinea pig could be safely fed the rabbit pellets, which have different ingredients. Guinea pigs also need lots of grass hay -- just like rabbits -- and a variety of vegetables and fruits that are high in vitamin C. For a list of good guinea pig foods, go to www.guinealynx.com.
Send questions to pet expert Marc Morrone at petxperts2@aol.com.
