OK guys- you may need your dictionary for this but here is the response I received from a Wildlife Scientist friend of mine referencing the water needs of bobcats:
I did my master’s thesis field work in the Carrizo plain working with the endangered giant kangaroo rat and to my knowledge, this clade of desert-adapted rodents (Family- Heteromyidae, including genus Dipodomys and Chaetodipus) are the only mammals in the world that can truly, technically survive (their whole life) without ever drinking liquid water. They get water from green vegetation and seeds…
That said, mammals have an amazing range of renal function that allows for survival in a spectrum of habitats from very wet (dolphins, manatees) to very dry (kangaroo rats, some bobcats). The bobcat has pretty sophisticated kidneys that can continue to remove salt from its blood serum even when the salinity of the blood becomes very high. This allows the bobcat to survive for long periods of time taking in only fluids from prey items that it consumes even though the blood of prey is more saline than water.
So your observation is accurate but not absolute. The cats in the Mojave must be aware of a local water source (although potentially far away) that they visit periodically to drink and renew the osmotic balance of their body fluids yet they are likely capable of maintaining very long intervals between these drinks. How long on the upper end of the range, I am not sure- You might be able to wager a better estimate than me based on your knowledge of the landscape and your observations of the behavior of cats but I’m sure that for bobcats in general, the Mojave represents the most extreme arid environment that they operate in and therefore, those cats are probably existing at the limits of what they are capable of with respect to minimal visits to water sources.
I think you’re right that most people have a poor understanding of the extreme conditions that exist in the desert and unfortunately, the Mojave and the desert southwest is the greatest hotspot in all of north America (and probably high on a world-wide level) for risk of species extinction in the coming years due to climate-induced effects. In this case, extremely high maximum daily temperatures which are expected to climb disproportionately higher with respect to the average than anywhere else.
Bobcats are highly adaptable though and I’m not surprised that they exist in areas that seem devoid of liquid water but I am fascinated by it!