cats and drinking water

ztoical

this might seem like an odd question but was wondering if this has happened to anyone else. I leave freash water out for my cat in a bowl by her food bowl. I chanage it pretty much ever time I wander into the kitchen but my cat will not drink from it. She only drinks directly from the tap. I've read about some dogs refusing to drink from a bowl and only from a tap and their owners got those doggie drinking fountain things. Anyone else have this happen with a cat? wondering if its worth investing in the fountain thing.

kerrysgold

I have heard of cats doing that before! It's strange lol. Is she allowed outside? Maybe she is getting her water from other sources? puddles etc.....

pow wow

Neither of my parents' two cats would touch water from a bowl. Now one of them is old and delirious and will, but only from a plastic pudding bowl in the living room next to the radiator that's supposed to stop the air becoming too dry lol. We change it a couple of times a day for him, but if we leave a bowl out with his food he won't go near it.

luckat

Maybe try changing the type of bowl, and also leaving a container out for rainwater and offering that water in a fresh bowl inside?

My cat likes fresh water from one of those metal pet bowls. I fill a big jug from the kitchen tap overnight and let it stand, and wash the bowl in the morning and put water in it. I think letting the water stand makes it less chloriney by some magical method.

triona1

I heard somewhere that cats/dogs wont drink from the bowl as they can see their reflection .in the water.And they seem to think its another cat/dog.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

luckat wrote: »

I think letting the water stand makes it less chloriney by some magical method.

Well exposure to UV light (read sunlight/incandescent bulb or whatever) would certainly cause the Chlorine to be slowly removed from the water.

Ruu_Old

One of mine dips her paw into it to get the water and licks it off, kind of like we would scoop water from a stream.

Catz83

try boiling water and letting it cool down. some cats dont like the extra additives that are put in our water. also try changin the bowl and see what happens. My tom cat is always drinkin from the tap but it seemes to work after i changed the bowl.water should be changed once a day and should be room temp accordin to some of my animal care teachers.

My dog will only drink water out of a cup and not a bowl

My cats are Milkaholics, they won't touch water.

Intothesea

Moggies can be very fussy about hairs and other
stuff that is invisible to us in their water supply.
A filtering bowl is probably your best bet, other
than that, religiously scrubbing the bottom
of the bowls everyday will probably do the trick.
This has been my experience anyway

FunkyMissMonkey

Ever since my two were kittens they've always tapped at the side of their water bowl, I assumed to see how much was left in it! :rolleyes: But this meant we often had water all over the floor where it would slosh, so we bought them a drinking fountain, and they both took to it instantly.

The fountain needs replacing, and they're back to the bowl temporarily, and one of them will currently only drink from the tap. I read that they prefer their water to be moving, which is why a lot of cats drink from taps and so on, and I've certainly found they prefer the fountain to the bowl.

NarkyBoots

Cats have a very good sense of smell as we all know. If you leave their water in a bowl beside their food they won't drink it as quickly as if you leave it about 8 feet away. We tried this with our pair with huge success. We also changed from plastic to ceramic bowls as plastic can retain odours and they think the water is contaminated.

Cats also usually prefer water that is "in motion" which is why they can be particularly fond of dripping taps.

Bagheera

My cat will only drink from a glass, preferably mine. The reflection thing sounds plausible.

LuckyStar

Our cats will not drink nice clean tap water from a bowl but will drink from mucky puddles!!! I think it's the chlorine, plus they might be chancing their arms to see if we'll give them milk instead...

Alfasudcrazy

Our cats never drink milk - just don't like it.

hadook

My cats all drink from a water fountain - they used to drive me mental licking the taps so I gave them running water of their own

They have this one now but only because the cat version was running dry very fast with all 9 of them drinking from it all day :rolleyes:

arybvtcw0eolkf

I've read and been told by our vet that cat's get the majority of they're fluids from they're food and require very little in the way of water in a bowl.

The Vets also told me that a cat won't drink from a bowl used by a dog.

galah

Move the bowl away from the food, at least 6 foot or so, that *should* solve the problem.

mags16

NarkyBoots wrote: »

Cats also usually prefer water that is "in motion" which is why they can be particularly fond of dripping taps.

My dog prefers moving water too. If I put fresh water from the tap out and it is still rippling, she'll drink it. It makes sense cos in the wild, moving water is more likely to be fresh and still water might be stagnant.

hadook

Mairt wrote: »

I've read and been told by our vet that cat's get the majority of they're fluids from they're food and require very little in the way of water in a bowl.

That might be true for wet food, but obviously if you're feeding a dry food diet to your cat you provide a constant water supply

Mairt wrote: »

The Vets also told me that a cat won't drink from a bowl used by a dog.

The kitty horde respectfully call your vet a liar. They say that not only will they drink from a bowl used by a dog but they'll do it while they dog is busy drinking. Unless it's the Dane, because she drools something terrible... The kitty horde will also eat from the same bowl as the dog but only if what the dog has looks more interesting than their food or if they're bored. :rolleyes:

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Ive a plastic bowl on the floor which my cat will occasionally drink from whens its freshly filled.

She loves licking the dripping kitchen tap and if you've left a glass of water around she'll quickly have her paw in there and then lick that.

I dont give her milk very often cos ive heard it can give them the runs. People seem to have this idea anyway that cans live on milk, however like 99% of mammals they actually drink water!

She will happily eat from the dogs bowl too but only if he has something tasty in there. He in turn loves to stand on his hind legs and eat from her food bowl resting on a stool.

Ive caught her also drinking from the puddle in the shower/bath.

I think cats just like to drink from somewhere where they know they shouldnt.