Dear Sinéad, Siouxsie and Thomas:
I bought some bottled litters of water and when I got home I noticed I'd accidentally
bought the kind that has fluoride in it. Is it OK to give my cats this water?
Will it make them sick? I usually give them bottled normal water, but I just
grabbed the wrong jugs by mistake.
Thanks,
--Kitty mommie of 3 tabby boys
Sinéad: Well, Kitty Mommie, I don't think you have to worry too much about giving your cats a little bit of fluoridated water. But it's definitely not a good idea to give them fluoridated water regularly over the long term.
Siouxsie: That's right. We've found a lot of information about the possible long-term health consequences of ingesting lots of fluoride -- both on humans and on animals -- but we don't think a little bit is going to be deadly.
Thomas: That having been said, though, we do suggest that you return any unused jugs of fluoridated water and exchange them for the non-fluoridated kind.
Sinéad: We don't want to get into any big debates about the merits or harm of fluoride, because we know there are very strong opinions on both sides of the issue. But from the point of view of cats, we can say that our bodies are very sensitive to any foreign chemicals. And most of the fluoride that is used in fluoridated water is not naturally occurring calcium fluoride, but a different variation of the fluoride chemical that is not as easily dealt with by the body.
Siouxsie: Also, the amount of fluoride in some drinking water can be quite high. Higher, in fact, than is good for long-term health and safety. You humans might also be surprised to learn that a lot of tea -- even herbal tea -- is very high in fluoride!
Thomas: And even though fluoride is generally thought to be good for the teeth if applied topically (like with toothpaste or rinse or a fluoride treatment at the dentist's office), many studies conducted by reputable scientists have shown that it can have just the opposite effect if ingested and processed through the body.
Sinéad: Long-term ingestion of large amounts of fluoride has been linked to hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid gland), as well as behavior changes and bone and tooth problems in humans. Anecdotal evidence shows that this is true for animals too.
Siouxsie: We do think it's best for your cats' overall health to keep the amount of chemicals they consume to an absolute minimum. So we do suggest that you use non-fluoridated, and non-chlorinated, water for them whenever possible.
Thomas: Veterinarians will often suggest that owners of cats who have frequent urinary tract infections feed them only water filtered through a pitcher filter. The pitcher filter will eliminate the chlorine and a number of other chemicals from the water, thereby making the water's pH (acidity or alkalinity) more neutral.
Sinéad: The trouble is, pitcher filters don't filter out fluoride. So if you live in a city which fluoridates its drinking water -- and many American cities do -- you may need to either invest in a reverse osmosis filter (which will filter out the fluoride) or buy bottled water for you and your animal companions to drink.
Siouxsie: And how do you find out whether your city water is fluoridated? Good question. We suggest you start with visiting your city's website and finding a link to the city water district. The water district's website should have information about what chemicals are used in the water and results of recent water tests (for bacteria and other contaminants). If this information is not at the website, the next step would be to call your local water district and ask, politely, if they add fluoride to the city water supply. Hopefully the person who answers your call will either forward you to someone who can answer it or tell you how to go about getting that information.
Thomas: We found some interesting websites with material about fluoride and fluoridated water. We'll provide links to them for your information, but we are not advocating for or against any position. Our general position is, as we've said, to keep all foreign chemical ingestion to an absolute minimum.
Sinéad: We hope we've put your mind at ease a bit, Kitty Mommie. A little fluoride probably won't harm your beautiful tabby boys, but we do think you'd be well advised to continue using non-fluoridated water in the long term.
Got a question? Need some advice? E-mail us at advice@paws-and-effect.com. None of the material in this column is meant to be a substitute for regular veterinary care.
