I need some advice on how to handle some difficulties I’m having with my cat. He managed to flip his first two water dishes fairly regularly, so I bought him one of the gravity ones with the reservoir above it. That’s worked well for a couple months (he’s pushed it around a bit, but nothing major).
So when I get home from work today, it’s about a third of the way across his room and his food dish is full of water. It was about time to refill it anyways, so I figured that maybe it got too light. But this time when I refilled it, I put it down in the kitchen and before the bottom part had even filled up, he started pushing it around and sloshing water onto the floor. There’s no room to put a brick in it or anything like that, so do you guys have any ideas for how I can either make it so he can’t push it around or train him not to?
EDIT: Oh, I forgot to mention that he’s scratching at the bottom of the dish and the floor it’s on like he’s trying to dig under it.
Do you have a cat carrier/kennel? If so, I’d put the water dish in there so there’s not much area he can move it around in. I’m guessing he like to play with the water here…
I’m not clear on what you’re working with. Did you get one of those cat food dishes that are wider on the outside? (They’re pretty much standard, to prevent just this kind of behavior. (And it works with water as well.))
Cats like moving water. Outside they would paw at their water source to get cleaner water. Feral cats and my folk’s farm cats do this. I think it just stirs up the mud and muck, but hey I’m not a cat!
They also don’t like their wiskers touching the side of bowls. I had a bowl too small and one of my cats would splash the water out and drink off the floor.
My Cat used to knock his food bowel off the table, jump down on the floor and look at me like he was saying “clean it up”. Note: he would not eat the food after he knocked the bowel over BUT he would if he could pull it out of a full bowel piece by piece
one of our cats was also into pushing the metal bowls around so we got the heavy clay food and water bowls and it was not been a problem. both bowls barely fit on a plastic pet mat.
This could be it. I did notice him drinking off the floor, but it looked to me like the dish should be big enough. Don’t think that would have worked on the carpet though. I was already considering one of those cat fountains, and I saw one that should fit the bill.
On an unrelated note, Rodney just jumped off my shoulder to get to his perch on top of the cabinet above my computer desk. :D:D
If you can, put him up on the sink and run a trickle of water out of the faucet. See what he does. We have one that would do the same thing, he stop once he could get a drink out the faucet.
Cats is weird. One of ours rakes the ground around her bowl before drinking. One insists on drinking out of the sink whenever we’re in the bathroom. The last will drink out of anything.
I had to buy a boot mat to put the cat’s food and water dishes in because he was soaking the carpeting on a regular basis. Also, I keep his water dish just full enough for one day, and even though I have to fill it every morning before I leave for work, the shallowness of the water seems to deter him from ‘going fishing.’ But of course he still has plenty to drink.
Several people have offered great advice, but I do have several cats’ perspectives to share.
CAPRICA: My fat kitty likes to move the water dishes across the floor. The sloshing onto the ground is accidental–he hates getting his paws wet! He just likes to put the bowl in a better spot than I chose. He will not drink if the water is the least dirty, so I change daily. The dishes are aluminum and have rubber feet for non-slipping, but this prevents nothing.
GEMANON: My XS kitty likes to try to bury her food and her water when she is done eating/drinking. She also is sensitive about her dish being dirty and wants me to scrub the water dish with soap and hot water at least twice a week.
PHILBY: My mom’s cat. He prefers to drink out of the hose/bird bath/empty flower pots. Or your glass of ice water.
HAMLET: My mom’s cat. Will only drink out of the cat fountain.
NELLY: My mom’s cat. Will only drink out of a running faucet.
BOTTOM LINE: Cats are weird. But as long as your cat is actually drinking plenty of water, in addition to sloshing, don’t worry too much about it.
