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Hi All

Yet another strange thing my baby does that I'm not sure if anyone else has come across.

When we got him I bought these amazing clear hard plastic bowls with little plastic blue fish bones as a border (not sure if anyone has seen them, but anyway) what we noticed after about a month is that whenever he goes near the water bowl, either in passing ir for a drink, he stops......dips a paw in...splashes about a bit, has a drink and then does the same again.

It's a nightmare because he is soaking the floor, I also have one of those mats to put the bowls on which has an edge to it so it contains the water beautifully , anyway I thought maybe its the bowl's fault as it is see through and he may have been trying to get the fishes, so I bought a nice ceramic heavy duty brown one so he can clearly see the water level and no fishes anywhere...guess what he still does it !!

I'm not sure what else to try really, it's not too much of a prob at the moment but I'm concerned he will make more mess when he's big. I'm hoping it's NOT because initially with the clear bowl he did used to dip his face in for a couple of days til he got the idea of where the water level might be.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
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Kind Regards
Pepsi and Cola's human Janis
MAX - Earned his wings April 2006 - Sleep tight Pussy Cat

"Like those great sphinxes lounging through eternity in noble attitudes upon the desert sand, they gaze in curiosity at nothing, calm and wise"
Charles Baudelaire

Sounds like a depth perception problem. I understand it is fairly common in cats. Stanley has it. I've tried many bowls thru the past 15 years... What I find with Stanley is, if it isn't filled to the very tippy-top, he will drag his paw and either lick it to get water or find the level with his paws before dipping his head and drinking. He also tentatively dips his mouth before settling in on the right level to drink at -- whereas Pookey walks right up and drops his head and drinks immediately. In the morning, he waits for me to fill the bowl to drink so he doesn't have to drag his paw.

Your cat appears to have the same habits Stanley does... Recommend keeping the dish full as often as you can (if it seems to help him) and putting a placemat under the water bowl...
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

Hey Tammy and Elizabeth

Thanks for the responses. Hopefully he might outgrow it, it's kinda nice to know he's not the only one to be a bit weird. I'm just gonna be happy that he's generally happy with his life and in a playful mood all the time.
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Kind Regards
Pepsi and Cola's human Janis
MAX - Earned his wings April 2006 - Sleep tight Pussy Cat

"Like those great sphinxes lounging through eternity in noble attitudes upon the desert sand, they gaze in curiosity at nothing, calm and wise"
Charles Baudelaire

Hopefully he might outgrow it

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Sigh. I've said that for about 15 years. LOL. The upshot is like Elizabeth said. Stanley is very well hydrated when he visits the vet, your boy should be, too... I originally thought Stanley was playing, as well. But as the years passed, it is the way he drinks and it seems to have to do with depth perception. When I fill the dish to the very tippy-top, he'll make only one swipe with his paw to check level before drinking. If it isn't full, he'll make a mess dipping his paws over and over again...
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

since you say he does it even when just passing the bowl, it may be a playtime thing in which case it may be outgrown eventually.

Romes was a water player; I use to ask him if he was checking the vintage before he drank. The upside is if you ever go through a heatwave, getting him to drink will be no problem - just drop an ice cube or three in the bowl. You'll have a well hydrated cat by the time he is done investigating.

Of course as well as your baby is growing, maybe he's not too sure where his face stops and the water starts on a daily basis!

Purrs,
Elizabeth

Sounds like you mihgt have a Junior Tucker on your hands. Oh man was Tucker ever horrible. As a tiny kitten he used to sit on top of the water jug. We have one of those
jugs that you put upside down on the bowl. So he would sit on that and splash in the bowl. He loved to see the bubbles go up into the jug.
As he got to big he started tipping the jug over. He finally stopped doing that. Next he moved to Crash's bowl in the bathroom sink. He started playing in it. Than would flip the bowl so water was all over the sink, and bathroom floor. He did this for about 6 months. Other times he would lay in the sink that someone left running slightly for Crash to drink. We would end up with a wet cat and wet sink. He isn't the brightest kitty.
When he finally out grow this stage, he moved into the cutting his feet or nose and than scratching or biting it back open.
Who knows what will be next!
(BTW Tucker is now 5 yrs old)Here is his baby picture.

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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Gabby and Tucker

Doesn't Tucker look like he owns the world!

I use to have one of those water jugs - Romeo didn't like it because he couldn't make that lovely 'drag-thump' sound that a glass or cermic bowl makes.

Part of our morning routine included him sitting on the edge of the bathroom sink while I got ready for work. He'd help me brush my teeth, playing in the water. The last year or so of his life, he could no longer easily make the jump to the counter so he'd make this pathetic front-end only hop like he was trying to jump and give me his best movie picture perfect meow. I'd pick him up so he could have his water play. He passed away three years ago today.

Elizabeth --

Sorry to hear you have sadness associated with this day -- it must be a bittersweet holiday... Sending a hug to you as you remember Romeo today...
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

I do miss him. Thanks for your kind thoughts.

It could be a depth perception problem, however, I hate to tell you, some cats just like to play in the water..
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PHTessie

Amen - first thought that came to mind after this was Boris and the swimming pool!
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Boris's Human, Pam

You give us a lead in like that and don't follow it up with the full story?! What's up with that?

Sorry- I guess you were not around when I first got Boris. There are quite a few tales about that little stinker in the archives somewhere. He has always liked water and when we first got him, my intention was that he would be an outdoor kitty (needless to say, he is inside now). We have an outdoor pool and the pool itself became quite a tempation for him. One day we were swimming and all of a sudden, here comes Boris, walking down the steps up to his belly in the water, soaking wet, splashing the water with his paws, and having a grand old time.

On another note since he has become an inside kitty, we cannot leave our commode lids up either. He figured out how to flush the commodes and he would sit there in the middle of the night flushing the commodes, watching the water run and splashing it with his paws. When the fun was over, he would flush over and over again to keep the water running. If he cannot see the water run, he doesn't bother flushing - which my water bill likes much better.
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Boris's Human, Pam

My Ashley LOVES to play in water. She often comes running when I turn on the shower and splashes water out of the bowls. Sometimes she will even splash ALL the water out of a large bowl.

This may be related to the fact that Ashley survived a house fire in which she was badly burned. I was told she didn't do this previous to the fire.

PHKitkat

I have two boys that must play in the water bowl. I too tried everything. Different bowls, full to the top, half full, the automatic watering thing. They destroyed and ate the automatic thingy and the others they just spilled the water everywhere and then had the nerve to cry at their door for water and complain that they were sooooooo thirsty. Now mind you, if they left it alone they would have water or perhaps they could suck on the carpet. To make things worse they are in my spare bedrooms cause the brothers don't like other cats...at all. And the carpet was NOT enjoying the daily soaking at all. I finally solved the problem, I got one of those big wash basins, like they use in the hospital and put their water bowl inside the basin. I have the basin wedged (rather tightly) under a bedside table and they can't get it out. Now they play to their hearts content and the water just splashes into the basin where they can still drink it if they want and my carpet is happy again. Here are the two devil brothers, Buddy and Tuxie.

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PHWildCat/Tessa and 21 cats, 1 dog and even a hamster
Tabitha, in my heart forever.... earned her wings 6/26/05, Samantha, the bestest whineameezer...earned her wings 4/7/06.
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