Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i rescued a kitten and had him neutered soon after. all has been well until recently. hes scratching the areas around his food and water dishes, and he wont drink water from any bowl i can buy.... i understood from a book at my local pet store that his doing this with his food, is a sign he dislikes the food itself. ive changed the food several times, and he only seems to like soft pouch food, and gobbles it down in minutes. im feeding him once a day, and occasionally he will eat the new dry, but still sometimes he buries the foodbowl.

with the waterdish, im at my wits end!! i cant put more than a cup or so in the dish, without him pawing at the water, and eventually emptying it all over the kitchen floor. ive tried stainless bowls, plastic bowls with straight sides, small bowls, larger bowls, ceramic, even glass vases i used to keep betta fish in..... nothing will do for him. im literally at my end with this. ive resorted to leaving one of the bowls in the kitchen sink with fresh water in it.... he wont stay off my kitchen counters either, so i finally just gave in to that issue.... this seems to be the only way he will drink the water...

any help is much appreciated!!

donna

but still sometimes he buries the foodbowl.

..............................
Donna that is just normal.Try putting something that floats in his water dish so he can see were the water line is.
As far as try to bury his food dish that is normal to.They will do this when theres food left in it to then come back and continue to eat.
Just like a dog burying a bone i guess.LOL I guess all i can say is let him be a cat.He won't do this all the time.

Lou

i find one of his toys in the waterdish sometimes, and wondered if that was what it was.... hmmmm interesting...

thank you very much!
donna

Posted by: theresdessie at Fri Apr 7 05:03:59 2006 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

i find one of his toys in the waterdish sometimes, and wondered if that was what it was.... hmmmm interesting...

thank you very much!
donna

................................
Donna cats avery intelligent and it sounds like you got a college graduate.LOL
The other reason why you will see toys in there dishes is there feeding them and giving them something to drink.
Babba will do this everyday.After he gets fed he will feed his favorite toys.Hes got them as spoiled as he is.
This seams strange but believe me it is true.
Lou

if i may say so, he does seem pretty smart... and yes, usually his favorite toy, a fabric covered pingpong ball with a noisemaker inside, is what is usually in the water.... wow!!

i got other balls, of the pingpong variety, but he took them out of the water, and played with them... oh well, guess its the fab covered one that gets his attention... so be it!

thanks a bunch for your help....
donna

Hi!

Lou is right about some cats needing to see the water line. Some cats have depth perception problems. One of my cats, Stanley, does. If I keep the bowl filled to the very top, and I mean very top, he does OK. If it goes lower than that, he can't "find" the water and paws at it and licks the water off his paws. Or, he'll paw at it to get a sense where the water line is... You also may not necessarily see him drink often, but he is. Some cats are private drinkers and their owners think they don't drink, but they do.

I do caution you against switching foods a lot. It can be rough on a cat's digestive system to switch foods around a lot -- any switches should be gradual. If he is under a year old, the best dry food for him is a Kitten Chow. They recommend that for kittens up to a year old. Whatever dry you go with, I recommend leaving it out during the day for him to eat whenever he is hungry. Cats nibble several small meals several times a day. You can leave dry food out for him whenever he is hungry and you can feed him wet food whenever you decide works best (before work, after work, whatever...). Once you set a feeding routine, he will get used to it. If he knows he will only get wet certain times a day, he will probably nibble on the dry during the day. If he gets wet constantly during the day, he will probably show no interest in the dry.
-----
Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

Some cats prefer "tall" water - water served in a mug or short wide glass. My CV is that way. You might try serving it in a mug and seeing if that cuts down on the water play.

Of course, your cat just might enjoy playing in the water. My Bridge Kitty, Daisy loved to drop items into water and watch them sink. You can imagine what happened to my wedding ring once when I left it on the sink and the toilet seat was up. Yuppers, kersplash! Right into the commode. Luckily it was clean.
-----
Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

Cats are funny little animals sometimes. My oldest cat, ever since he was a baby, has refused to drink the water in the bowl, instead he paws at it and plays in it. i figured out that he's a brat and he likes to drink only running water. so everytime he is thirsty he jumps up on the sink in the bathroom (or the kitchen, whichever he feels like) and meows until i turn the water on to a gentle stream of water and he lets it run onto his paws and then he licks it off of his paw. he is now 1.5 years old and still does this. he's even taught his little brother to do it as well. try that...since he likes being up on the counters anyway...might as well give it a shot! good luck and keep me posted!

Also, my cat preten-buries his kitty litter box...strange things these animals do.
-----
Laura Edwards
Mouse -- 4/11/2005
Cubby -- 9/16/2005
the baby with no name yet -- 07/10/2006