Cat upsetting water

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mahlon - 22 Dec 2003 06:33 GMT

My one year old male cat is normal in all other ways except that he regulary upsets water out of his water bowl. When drinking he places a paw in the water and then "paddles" the water out of the bowl onto the floor. Why does he do this? How do I stop it? Any help would be appreciated.

mahlon

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MaryL - 22 Dec 2003 06:41 GMT

> My one year old male cat is normal in all other ways except that he regulary upsets water out of his water bowl. When drinking he places a paw

in the water and then "paddles" the water out of the bowl onto the floor.
Why does he do this? How do I stop it? Any help would be appreciated.

> mahlon

Holly does that, too. She doesn't tip the bowl, but she can completely
empty a bowl very quickly by playing with it in the way you describe. My
solution has been to put her water bowl in a vegetable bin. It is one of
those plastic bins with one low side. They are actually designed to stack
one on top of the other, and the low side enables a person to reach in for
vegetables. Be sure to get the solid type, not the type with slots for air
circulation. I place a heavy ceramic water bowl in the bin, and Holly
happily drinks by reaching over the low side. If she dips into the bowl,
the water will be caught in the bottom of the bin and will not splash onto
the floor -- but, oddly, she seldom does this as long as I keep it in the
container I just described.

MaryL

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Suzie-Q - 22 Dec 2003 08:32 GMT

> My one year old male cat is normal in all other ways except that he regulary upsets water out of his water bowl. When drinking he places a paw in the water and then "paddles" the water out of the bowl onto the floor. Why does he do this? How do I stop it? Any help would be appreciated.
>
> mahlon

I guess a lot of cats do this sort of thing. Mac likes to push his
water dish so that some water gets up on the lip of the dish, then
he drinks that water (from the lip). Unfortunately, a lot of the
water ends up on the floor!

Putting the dish inside another container, as MaryL suggested, is
probably the best way to deal with it.

8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
~~~~~~

"I reserve the absolute right to be smarter
today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson
*************************************************
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GovtLawyer - 22 Dec 2003 16:01 GMT

>My one year old male cat is normal in all other ways except that he regulary
>upsets water out of his water bowl. When drinking he places a paw in the
>water and then "paddles" the water out of the bowl onto the floor. Why does
>he do this? How do I stop it? Any help would be appreciated.

Your cat, and others, do that because they prefer running water. The still
water somehow bothers them and when they put their paws in the bowl it causes
ripples which is something they find comforting. I had several cats who did
the same thing. I do not think you can stop this behaviour.

This, I think, is the primary reason they sell some cat water bowls which are
weighted at the bottom, it prevents them from being tossed around. A possible
solution is to buy a watering type gadget (often a bit pricey) which not only
gives them an almost endless supply of fresh water, but also mimics a fountain
and the water seems as if it is running.

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MaryL - 22 Dec 2003 17:08 GMT

> >My one year old male cat is normal in all other ways except that he regulary
> >upsets water out of his water bowl. When drinking he places a paw in the
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> gives them an almost endless supply of fresh water, but also mimics a fountain
> and the water seems as if it is running.

The problem with this solution for *some* cats is that many cats really want
to play in the water. Holly is one of them. I will sometimes turn the
faucet on very low *just for her.* She sticks her head under it, splashes
and throws it with her paws, etc. But she still needs a permanent bowl of
drinking water that she won't throw all over the place (and that leads back
to my previous message where I described how I solved that problem...).

MaryL

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m. L. Briggs - 22 Dec 2003 17:04 GMT

>My one year old male cat is normal in all other ways except that he regulary upsets water out of his water bowl. When drinking he places a paw in the water and then "paddles" the water out of the bowl onto the floor. Why does he do this? How do I stop it? Any help would be appreciated.
>
>mahlon

FYI Cats cannot see water. They put the paw in to determine where it
is. Your best bet is a flowing fountain (Petco or Petsmart). Other
than that a heavy stainless steel bowl or china -- plastic doesn't
seem to work as well. Then -- put a small piece of colored something
that will float so he can see the water level. Good luck.

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TCS - 22 Dec 2003 17:27 GMT

>>My one year old male cat is normal in all other ways except that he regulary upsets water out of his water bowl. When drinking he places a paw in the water and then "paddles" the water out of the bowl onto the floor. Why does he do this? How do I stop it? Any help would be appreciated.
>>
>>mahlon

>FYI Cats cannot see water.

where did you hear that? AFAIK, cats can see water just as well
as humans.

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Alan Sandoval - 23 Dec 2003 08:02 GMT

> >>My one year old male cat is normal in all other ways except that he regulary upsets water out of his water bowl. When drinking he places a paw

in the water and then "paddles" the water out of the bowl onto the floor.
Why does he do this? How do I stop it? Any help would be appreciated.

> >>mahlon
>
> >FYI Cats cannot see water.
> where did you hear that? AFAIK, cats can see water just as well
> as humans.

The best explanaition I've heard is that water in the wild is always
better/fresher when it's running, and cats, even domesticated cats, have
that ingrained. Still water equals stale water. It does vary from cat to
cat, even in the same environment. My present cat, Willow, could care less,
but the cat that came before, Spot, LOVED drinking from the faucet or any
source of running water. But then Spot was the rare 'water cat'. She once
fell into a full bathtub and didn't mind at all.

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Judy - 23 Dec 2003 23:14 GMT

> My one year old male cat is normal in all other ways except that he regulary upsets water out of his water bowl. When drinking he places a paw

in the water and then "paddles" the water out of the bowl onto the floor.
Why does he do this? How do I stop it? Any help would be appreciated.

> mahlon

He could be doing this because he can't see where the water line is. Cat's
cant see the water line. When Matilda started paddling around in her bowl, I
floated a top from a bottle of orange juice in the bowl. She can see the
cap - bright green - problem solved.

Hope this helps.

Judy and Matilda.

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Melissa Powell - 24 Dec 2003 04:50 GMT

> > My one year old male cat is normal in all other ways except that he
> regulary upsets water out of his water bowl. When drinking he places a paw
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Judy and Matilda.

I've had three cats do this. Its a play thing. There's not really anything
you can do to 'stop' it - just fix a bowl so that there's not so much mess.
I've found that runniong water in sinks works - because then they splash,
but there's little mess. But then I have one male, Dylan, who is
fascinated with running water...and another male, Spike, who likes to drink
all the water he can out of the cat 'water cooler' because it gulps (air
bubbles). He spends quite a bit of time drinking water and watching it.
The vegetable bin idea is a good one; or one of those cheap cookie sheets
with sides...just something to catch the water. And make sure to get a
water bowl that doesn't tip - one of my cats, TC, learned to tip the water
bowl over - water everywhere.

As for the site thing: cats like most predators are slightly farsighted.
They have great vision for hunting and seeing distances - but not so good
close up. You'll find cats (and dogs) often don't like taking things, food
or drink, if its just shoved under their nose. They sometimes back away a
little to get a look. And I've seen all my cats 'nose' for water - sniff,
sniff, sniff, until they get the water on or up their nose - and then they
know where it is.

Bottom line: Most of the water behaviour either goes away or doesn't -
there's no real way to make them stop.

Melissa (+ Dylan, the sink drinker; Marlowe, a fellow paddler; Baghera,
fresh water only please; Isabelle, a queen of sophisticated taste - glass
only; TC, water splasher in spirit; and Felecia, queen of dribble)

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