Water scarcity affects animal welfare across all categories — wild, farmed, and companion — in ways that are worsening as climate change intensifies drought frequency and severity.
Water scarcity welfare impacts are particularly severe for working animals in low-income regions: when water is scarce for human households, animals are often the first to have their allocation cut. Dehydration causes rapid welfare deterioration — reduced milk production, weight loss, increased disease susceptibility, and behavioral changes indicating distress. Veterinary field programs that diagnose and treat dehydration in working animals alongside owner education on water management are high-impact interventions.