Why does my cat.....

Colivet

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 August 2008
Messages
237
Location
Ireland
Visit site
ignore the clean bowl with the fresh water in it which is permanently on the floor for her but every time I produce a glass of water for myself, she sticks her paw in it and laps water off her paw?
 

TrasaM

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 May 2012
Messages
4,742
Location
Midlands
Visit site
What Faracat said :-D I used to have a cat who'd dip his paws in my tea ..usually when I wasn't looking so unaware at first that he was doing it! Yeurgh!
 

Colivet

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 August 2008
Messages
237
Location
Ireland
Visit site
Because she can. :D The joys of cats. ;)

If that's the only reason then I can live with it, despite many unsuspecting slurps after the fact - like TrasaM - but I keep thinking I must be a bad mother and not providing her with "proper" water or some such thing - she does make me laugh a lot, so this must be just one of her stunts !
 

meandmyself

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 February 2006
Messages
13,184
Visit site
One of mine sits in the sink and wails until you turn the tap on, despite there being at least three bowls of water available.
 

Doris68

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 December 2008
Messages
1,762
Visit site
Despite having a bowl of fresh water in the kitchen, one of our cats always drinks out of my mare's bucket, his sister drinks out of puddles and they both drink out of the pond!! Dontcha just loooove 'em.
 

FubsyMog

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 February 2013
Messages
1,283
Visit site
Cats often don't really like fresh water - the chlorine etc is offputting for them, hence they like dirty old puddle water. The also tend to like moving water better than atnding water. We keep a glass bottle of 'cat water' to top up the cat's bowl - ie, tap water that's just left to sit in the bottle so the chemical smell evaporates. She still insists on trying to drink from one's teacup though - or, indeed, dip a paw into one's unattended glass of rum...!
 

Colivet

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 August 2008
Messages
237
Location
Ireland
Visit site
I wondered about that FubsyMog as if I fill the bowl from the bathroom, where the water comes from the storage tank in the attic, she is not too thrilled. Whereas if I use the kitchen tap which is straight from our own well, which is what I also use for drinking without any additives or filtering, she is still the same with her bowl, but takes if from my glass ! Cats !!
 

luckyoldme

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 October 2010
Messages
7,089
Visit site
I reckon cats get humans in the way no other animal does. They can make you do mad things for them and you forgive them anything. Its not surprising the ancient egyptians worshipped them.
 

madmav

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 August 2007
Messages
2,267
Visit site
Stable cat drinks out of the loo bowl...here's hoping there's no cleaning fluid down there. Personally, I always put the lid down, just in case.
 

FinnishLapphund

There's no cow on the ice
Joined
28 June 2008
Messages
11,770
Location
w(b)est coast of Sweden
Visit site
Ditto what have already been said, they either do it because they can, or because some cats prefer water that isn't "fresh" from the tap, or because some cats prefers running water...

I have one cat who likes to drink by fishing up the water on her paw, but she does it from their water bowl. She tried to develop a habit of drinking from taps in the bathroom, but I'm a bad owner, and became very vigilant about shooing her away from the bathroom.
 

chestnut cob

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 November 2004
Messages
14,992
Location
Shropshire
community.webshots.com
BF's cat is obsessed with drinking from taps or full bowls of water. She sits by the kitchen sink and pads the tap (hard!) to make drops of water fall out then tries to catch and drink them. She also puts her head into glasses of water, then nearly gets stuck. This is despite the fact she has several bowls of water all over the house.

The other thing I don't get is why they are so finicky about food? She loves her dry food (biscuit things which are supposed to be a complete food) but is tremendously picky about wet food. She will only eat stuff in jelly, and what she likes today, you can guarantee she will turn her nose up at tomorrow. One day she likes Whiskas so BF buys a big box, then she decides she cannot possibly eat that and will die unless you give her Sheba. She will walk to her feed bowl (with fresh food in), sniff it, walk away in disgust then fall down dramatically a few metres from said feed bowl as if to say "how can you possibly expect me to live like this, look at me, I could die at any moment, all because today you gave me Whiskas with RABBIT in, instead of CHICKEN, argh you people".

Give me dogs any day, they eat anything and drink what you tell them to!!
 

MotherOfChickens

MotherDucker
Joined
3 May 2007
Messages
16,639
Location
Weathertop
Visit site
The other thing I don't get is why they are so finicky about food? She loves her dry food (biscuit things which are supposed to be a complete food) but is tremendously picky about wet food. She will only eat stuff in jelly, and what she likes today, you can guarantee she will turn her nose up at tomorrow. One day she likes Whiskas so BF buys a big box, then she decides she cannot possibly eat that and will die unless you give her Sheba. She will walk to her feed bowl (with fresh food in), sniff it, walk away in disgust then fall down dramatically a few metres from said feed bowl as if to say "how can you possibly expect me to live like this, look at me, I could die at any moment, all because today you gave me Whiskas with RABBIT in, instead of CHICKEN, argh you people".

they aren't all like that-my cat will eat anything (I don't feed dry food at all). Aldi, Asda, Sheba, Lily's Kitchen, Whiskas, raw chicken -in fact the only thing he didnt like was some Beef Nature Diet and I don't blame him, looked and smelled like corn beef. All washed down with tap/puddle water and whatever he catches outside (and I see him with at least one vole/mouse per day).

My dog however, is getting more finickity the older he gets-he'll now only eat Lily's Kitchen (at over £5 a day, I think not) or Nature's Harvest.
 

chestnut cob

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 November 2004
Messages
14,992
Location
Shropshire
community.webshots.com
they aren't all like that-my cat will eat anything (I don't feed dry food at all). Aldi, Asda, Sheba, Lily's Kitchen, Whiskas, raw chicken -in fact the only thing he didnt like was some Beef Nature Diet and I don't blame him, looked and smelled like corn beef. All washed down with tap/puddle water and whatever he catches outside (and I see him with at least one vole/mouse per day).

Yard cat is the same, eats anything. Biscuits, meat, and live things she catches (then proceeds to torment for some time, usually, before swallowing them whole). BF's cat is an oriental long haired type and I am sure she just likes to make a point of being difficult and highly strung. She just licks the jelly off the Whiskas stuff and that's about it, and won't go near anything else most of the time. She did once eat an entire Sheba terrine thing but that's the only other thing she's really been tempted by.

My dog however, is getting more finickity the older he gets-he'll now only eat Lily's Kitchen (at over £5 a day, I think not) or Nature's Harvest.

How old is he now? Ours did get quite picky as they got older too.
 

MotherOfChickens

MotherDucker
Joined
3 May 2007
Messages
16,639
Location
Weathertop
Visit site
How old is he now? Ours did get quite picky as they got older too.

he's 9. he's always been a bit precious and its made more tricky by having to be grain free. He either likes the sort of trashy, horrible tinned food I feel guilty for feeding or Lily's Kitchen. He's convinced the cat is getting something much nicer.

The only thing with the cat is if he perceives I am late in feeding him (ie anytime after 6.15pm) he will go find something to eat and proceed to chomp it down in front of me-usually when I'm mucking out. He has been known to then instantly vomit it up in front of me, charming animal.
 
Top