She's odd in this. She isn't trying to tip over the bowl like as in the other question.
What she does, is goes to the drinking bowl, and sticks in her paw and slashes it out! One of our water bowls for the cats is quite large, and she makes a horrendous mess of it all over the floor. I tried filling it to the top (as it's about two inches deep), in case she didn't like the feeling of her whiskers brushing the side of the bowl. Apparently not the issue. She's still doing it.
The bowl upstairs is a tiny one about 1/2 an inch tall, and about three inches wide. And she does the exact same thing with this one.
Anyone have any ideas? I have two other cats, so need keep out the water.
Thanks ahead of time
2007-01-11 04:42:31 · 22 answers · asked by parisbennett 1 in Pets ➔ Cats
Don't panic - The answer to simple, speaking from previous experience, theres nothing wrong with you cat, its because some cats do not like drinking from still water. Cats like many other animals prefer drinking & eating from fresh and running water it very appealing to them (as they link to it being clean & fresh). Running water a seen as a postive to cats when drinking as it appeals to their senses of sight & hearing. Many cats - like yours - will even put their paws into their water bowl and 'swirl' it around & around !, so that they can drink from a 'running' water.
Of course you need to make sure that the water is replaced with fresh water throughout the day, and deeper bowls are always better.
Although as you said your cat does make a mess when slashing about in the water, try not to discourage your cat from drinking the water.
You can get from some of the larger pet shops - a cat water fountain, that circulates the water - if desperate, it costs about £25-30 but does work and your cat will love it !!
2007-01-11 05:07:12 · answer #1 · answered by ak1 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We have cats that do that.....for some, it's perfectly normal. We call it "dipping and sipping".
Try putting a plastic pan underneath the water bowls....large enough to hold any water that gets spilled over, but not so large that it makes the bowls inaccessible. We used the lid of a storage box - it had a little lip to keep water from running in the floor, but it didn't interfere with their drinking.
2007-01-11 04:58:37 · answer #2 · answered by CassandraM 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
She might be playing? We have one of those water bottle water dishes where the water dispenses and sometimes our two cats get the water bottle out of there and get water everywhere, they do that when they are playing I think, they do it about once or twice a month, we just clean it up and put it back. Maybe put the water in the bathtub?? then at least the mess is contained and put the food in there too, they will know to go in there to get food then if the one cat tips the water well its in the tub...
2007-01-11 06:05:00 · answer #3 · answered by WINGS 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My old cat started to push the water bowl around on the tray before she would take a drink. I just used old tea towels under the water bowl to sop up some of the mess. Troublesome and that was my "solution".
2007-01-11 04:50:30 · answer #4 · answered by old cat lady 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My American Bulldog pushes her dog food around with her nose. I have no clue why she does this but she does. She has been doing this since we bought her from the humane society 4 years ago. She also tips it over, but we changed her bowl in for a horse bowl. Lol. If you get one of those bowls that are elevated and sit in that food dish holder at walmart or petsmart she wont be able to tip it over, it holds the food and the water.
2007-01-11 05:10:13 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's pretty cute you have to admit. Not a lot you can do. Cats are kind of a free spirit. You probably will have to continue to keep the water mess cleaned up. Go to a Pet Smart or a Place where they sell pet supplies and see if they have different types of watering systems for pets.
2007-01-11 04:51:32 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Miracle does this too - she is my 5-month old that I recently saved from under my deck. She LOVES to play in water and makes messes as well. Here's what we've done:
Get a plastic TV tray and put each water dish in the centre of it. We have several TV trays from my old college days when we'd take them from the cafeteria to go "sledding" in winter ~lol~ Now I'm not saying steal - but places like a buffet restaurant can probably give you one or two or charge you a small price. These work perfect!
Then we just let Miracle do what she wants because if you discourage the behavior of drinking - your cat won't drink. I've talked to several vets that have heard of this and they all say the cat will eventually outgrow it. In the meantime - just put them on a plastic tray and be ready to clean up the mess. That's what we do as parents - we clean up the messes of our kids ... even the 4-legged ones ;-)
2007-01-11 04:48:37 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
My cat does that every so often. I think he is playing!!! I know they like to test were the water is before they put their face in it or something. i figure that is better than what my moms cat doesn. Hobbs jumps on the counter when you are brushing your teeth and the water is running and he sits and lays in the sink so that the water runs all over him. Yeah strange I know. But he was a rescue cat found in the sewer systems so he loves water!
2007-01-11 04:47:52 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's apparently one of your cat's quirks.
You could try getting a large bowl, such as what is used to hold food for large dogs. That's what we ended up doing to stop our kitties from making a huge mess.
Good luck!
2007-01-11 05:02:20 · answer #9 · answered by Tigger 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋