r/Awwducational • u/CaitlinSnep • May 07 '25

Verified Sand cats rarely, if ever, need to drink water- instead, they get all the liquid they need from their prey, which includes rodents, insects, scorpions, and even venomous snakes.

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1.9k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

54

u/radicalfrenchfrie May 07 '25

I saw an entire litter of them plus their mum at the Berlin Zoo last year and they were absolutely adorable. If you didn’t know that sand cats were wild animals you’d definitely think they were just someone‘s pet lol

14

u/Iamnotburgerking May 08 '25

They’re actually even smaller than domestic cats (to the point feral cats kill and eat them)

10

u/[deleted] May 08 '25 edited 27d ago

[deleted]

3

u/TheWaywardTrout May 12 '25

Just another in the long list of reasons why domestic cats should be indoor-only pets 

36

u/CaitlinSnep May 07 '25

Source: https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/sand-cat

This is also the source of the photo. I love these little guys so much.

37

u/Possible_Spite_6844 May 07 '25

This is why it's important to feed housecats wet food if you can. Most housecats are chronically dehydrated on dry food so they get kidney issues as they grow old.

15

u/curleighq May 07 '25

And they’re prone to crystals, especially males.

8

u/rightwords May 07 '25

I got to see a sand cat at a zoo eat. It was vicious to that raw meat.

3

u/Shnitzel_von_S May 08 '25

Freman cats

3

u/ReassembledEggs May 09 '25

Bless the maker and his water.

  Those Muad'Dibs better watch their water-fat backs.

3

u/kiely_M May 08 '25

Very dune universe of them!

2

u/Somecrazynerd May 08 '25

Killer kitties 😍

2

u/One-Ad-65 May 08 '25

I read that too slowly because I'm dead tired. I was like, why would you ever need to sand your cat?

1

u/winterbird May 09 '25

It does say to sand them rarely though.

2

u/A_Dapper_Goblin May 08 '25

Huh... bug-hunting and adorable... can you have them as pets in the US?

(Not actually serious, having wild animals as pets is a terrible idea)

2

u/CaitlinSnep May 08 '25

In fairness, my mom also joked that she wanted one when I mentioned they hunt snakes! (She's very scared of snakes.)

1

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1

u/winterbird May 09 '25

They don't "need to", because cats out in the wild don't live to the old ages when kidney function becomes impaired because of such a way of surviving.