must play in the water before drinking

[george111]

I have a cat that HAS to play in the water bowl BEFORE drinking...It's like she has to see the water moving before she will drink...Needless to say--her paw is always wet and that ends up leaving the floor wet too. Any ideas on WHY she has this behavior and what I can do to correct it?

[RedHedd]

First welcome to PT. Second, aren't our cats amazing in what they find interesting to play with? Many cats like moving water. and many here on PT have those "drinkwell" fountains for their cats - an electric gurgling fountain. I know it would scare my two, but it might be worth looking into for your cat. Try putting a mat down under the water bowl. Most pet supply stores (Petco, etc.) have a variety of fountains and kitty mats.

Once you get settled here on PT, we'd also like to see pictures of your kitties!

[Denyce]

I have 2 that love to play in the water. I would put a water bowl down and within minutes the floor would be soaked and the water bowl empty.

So I purchased one of the Fresh Flow waterers. I was scared at first that I would find a lake in the kitchen but it was quite the opposite. They seem to be content with just touching the ramp that the water flows down instead of sloshing it out and all over the floor. Now the Drinkwell it good but it doesn't have a ramp..it just comes out and drops the water into the bowl portion. So it makes gurgling water noise. The Fresh Flow has a little ramp the water runs down so it is virtually noiseless and it is this ramp they like to run their paws down. You can usually find them at Petco.

Denyce

[anjayrose]

My 3 kitties and all of my fosters have LOVED the fresh flow. They think it is the most fun thing to watch. I do have a problem with my Bill burying it with newspaper though. I think he thinks he is saving it for later......either that or he is into paper mache.

[george111]

Here are my two Halloween cats....Pepper is the one who plays in the water---WHAT AN ATTITUDE STARE---don't you think????
Morris, the man of the house,,,,just sits back and watchs the world go by---hardly ever hear from him unless it's time to eat and then all he has to do is touch you LIGHTLY and let you know he is UP and ready to eat. After that---it's back to napping...he will always turn over for a BELLY rub from ANYBODY...
Pepper on the other hand wants attention all the time, and if you don't give it to her when she TELLS you---she will sit and CRY until you do. She will scratch on the door until you open it toooooo, thank goodness she is declawed or by now there would be a hole in the door---she has been doing this for 6 years.
thanks for your tips---I'll give the water fall a try.

[AvaJoy]

Your cats are gorgeous!

Only my orange boy Meeshe shows any tactile interest in water. Before he drinks, he will ever-so-lightly touch his paw pads to the surface of his water dish . . . maybe he wants to be sure there actually IS some water in the bowl, or could be he is checking the temperature of it??!

I'd like to buy one of the fountains but wonder if any run on batteries instead of electric since I don't have an outlet nearby where the water would be.

[RedHedd]

Another orangie boy named Meeshe/Mishi? WOW! It's an odd name (he's also an odd cat ) - what are the chances? Both of them on PT too! My Mishi is also a water lover, but he keeps it in the bowl. I'd like to get them a fountain too, but all of them are electrical and I have no outlets near their watering areas.

[AvaJoy]

Originally posted by RedHedd
Another orangie boy named Meeshe/Mishi? WOW! It's an odd name (he's also an odd cat ) - what are the chances? Both of them on PT too! My Mishi is also a water lover, but he keeps it in the bowl. I'd like to get them a fountain too, but all of them are electrical and I have no outlets near their watering areas.

Neat that we have the same and unusual name for our 2 orange boys! How do you pronounce Mishi? My guy's name is just like it is spelled, MEE-she. I'm not responsible for coming up with it, exactly . . . he was a stray that a Russian woman was feeding, and she called him Mischa (pronounced MISH-kah), which she said is short for Mickail (sp.) as in Bariznikoff (sp.) the famous male ballet dancer, but it sounded too feminine to me. So I altered it . . AND him, too! . One might argue that the "she" part is just as feminine-sounding, I suppose. Oh well . . . we pretty much just call him Meesh, most of the time.

[Canis Amicus]

Bessie always puts her right paw in the water bowl and licks her paw before drinking from the bows, as if tasting the water before drinking. Only her uses do do it, the other 6 never did.

[Lilith Cherry]

One of my cats also plays in her water by patting it with her paws. She also enjoys catching the water flowing from the kitchen tap if it is not on too forcefully! I am sure she would enjoy a flowing waterbowl but I have never seen one in China where I live right now.

[RedHedd]

Originally posted by AvaJoy
Neat that we have the same and unusual name for our 2 orange boys! How do you pronounce Mishi? My guy's name is just like it is spelled, MEE-she. I'm not responsible for coming up with it, exactly . . . he was a stray that a Russian woman was feeding, and she called him Mischa (pronounced MISH-kah), which she said is short for Mickail (sp.) as in Bariznikoff (sp.) the famous male ballet dancer, but it sounded too feminine to me. So I altered it . . AND him, too! . One might argue that the "she" part is just as feminine-sounding, I suppose. Oh well . . . we pretty much just call him Meesh, most of the time.

Yes, My Mishi (pronounced exactly the same as yours) is of Russian descent through his adoption - I'm Russian. Misha is Russian for Michael; Mishka is the diminutive or endearing term for a Russian Michael. Mishi is a made-up word that my sister and I created when we were little as we thought the Meesh words sounded funny (we were bilingual English & Russian). She named her plush toy teddy bear Misha and as he was soft and fluffy, we proclaimed him Mishi. Ever since then, anything soft and fluffy was said to be Mishi (mee-shee).

My Mishi was named Mishigaas (sp?) by his Jewish foster mom as he was definitely Mishugenah, the Yiddish word for insane kitty My Yiddish spelling and hers are not the best. When I saw him up for adoption and saw his name I knew I had to have him! We officially shortened his name to Mishi (my sister approved; his foster mom had already been calling him that), but I do call him Mishugenah when he's being exceptionally nutty (which is often). At other times I call the big goon (he's a Maine Coon) Mishka, Misha, Mishinkie, Mishi-Goon, the Big Meesh, etc.

Now I need to see a bigger picture of your Meeshe than your avatar!

[nibblets]

My friend says her cat, Sassifrass, is 'fishing' when she plays in her water dish.
My kitty likes to play with elastic ponytail holders and I tend to find them at the bottom of the water bowl quite often.

[Mkitty]

You are right. Cats are very independent, and U never own them; they own you. My cat Jack plays with the water bowl and gets the floor all wet, and my cat Coco plays with the safety seals that come off of our juice and milk bottles. My cat Cubby will run up and down the stairs, apparently chasing nothing, and he'll also skulk the stairs. My last cat, Nikka, is having troubole adjusting, since she was born a feral cat, and she is afraid of just about everything.

[Mkitty]

I'm not exactly sure if this will help, but maybe she would rather drink out of a cat fountain. The water is always running in a small waterfall, and the water that the cat doesn't drink goes through a filter and continues. Cats usually like running water, so this might help. You can find ads for these fountains in various cat magazines and some pet stores.
I hope this helps!