Dog bowl, pond, puddle, you name it, they'll drink from it.

it tastes nicer

You're really bored tonight, aren't you luv? ;)

yep, my fella is working a night shift and I'm all alone :-(

Oh, sorry Jen, we posted at the same time. I meant Howie! But I'm sorry if you're bored too.

hahaha sorry, yep I think Howie is bored too, but it certainly is a riviting thread! hahahaha

I have given up, my cats drink out of a jug in the bathroom. They never used their bowl and took to drinking toilet water, so I put the jug up there and they love it, it is mighty strange.

I have a water feature in the garden, and most of the cats in the street are prepared to queue to get a drink from that, but ignore the large stainless steel bowl of clean water by the side of it. I used to have one who liked toilet water too- til we started closing the lid on her.

One of my friends has a cat that likes to drink her water from a glass or cup on top of the wardrobe in the bedroom. Strangely I've never thought to ask my friend how she worked out that the cat wanted things this way.

We've found that our cat will not drink fresh and clean looking water. So, we started putting a drop of food colouring in (any colour will do) so it looks less clean, and sure enough, the cat will drink it. Strange creatures!

Mine has always preferred drinking out of the green murky pond to the clean water bowl...

I can remember when I was little we used to put water in all the cups waiting to be washed up, and she would jump on the worktop and drink out of them!

I have recently been told by a cat expert that, cats get most of their moisture from their food. And if they start drinking lots of water then they might have a kidney problem, which is common in cats. so you shouldn't worry about your cat not drinking much as they don't.

"Why?"

because they can!!!

It's in a cat's nature to be contrary...

"whichever side of the door a cat is on, it's always the wrong side!"

PT

I had a cat that used to sit in the kitchen sink and catch the drops from the tap! :loopy:

I had a cat that used to sit in the kitchen sink and catch the drops from the tap! :loopy:
Both of mine do the same thing.

Thats why you dont get guide cats - "I was out all night, I cant be bothered"

I found this posted on the web by a zoologist and, it corresponds to other works on the net.. & my gut instincts from what my cat does.. She's quite willing TO drink from my tall cups & glasses & rarely resorts to her bowl. I will try a tad of natural food dye.. :) Also, interesting to note that one post insight suggests that with a good diet cats receive most of their fluids from the food they eat~! aLL THE bEST.

THIS IS INTERESTING!: Cats are not color blind - they have the ability to distinguish between blues and greens, but lack the ability to pick out shades of red. The Natural History Museum of L.A. has online images demonstrating how cats view the world.

As a general rule, cats won't drink tapwater if they can avoid it, because it *isn't* clean. It tastes so to us, but not to cats. They can taste all the traces of stuff used to filter it and make it drinkable to us, and that makes it pretty foul to them. They'd rather go with natural water (puddles, gutters etc.) because their noses would tell them if there was anything dangerous in it. Merely tasting of dirt doesn't bother them in the slightest. Dirt's harmless.

One of my nans cats will only drink out of a cup full of fresh water in the sink. He climbs in the sink when he wants a drink, meows until someone comes, that person fills up the cup and he drinks a little tiny bit, then goes back to sleep. :rolleyes: :hihi:

I've got one totally daft moggy who will drink drips from any tap, toilet water, the babies bath water, my bath water but only if I'm still in it (bizarre), puddles and a plastic beaker we keep in the bathroom for rinsing hair (she likes us to fill it and leave it in the bath for her). And she will tour the house looking for any of those before considering the steel bowl we have especailly for her.
But then water which has stood for a while tastes less of chlorine and metals. Our local water tastes bad and we had to buy a filter to make it taste half decent so maybe the cats are just fussier. They like the chemicals to dissipate a little first. Of course rainwater is more natural and maybe toilet water too because it isn't held in metal pipes?

My cat will only drink water from a rusty puddle in a drain cover in the garden. I decided he must need iron or something... :suspect:

I have recently been told by a cat expert that, cats get most of their moisture from their food. And if they start drinking lots of water then they might have a kidney problem, which is common in cats. so you shouldn't worry about your cat not drinking much as they don't.

Thats quite true with tinned food, but if the cat eats a dry diet ie biscuits/complete, then they will drink more water. Both my cats are on a complete/dry diet, and both prefer to drink from a dripping tap as opposed to a bowl. They que up in the (empty) bath waiting for a drink!

My cats drink out of the floating candle bowls, they love it! It must be horrible though, and all waxy :gag:

I keep our cats drinking bowl outside (it kept getting kicked over in the house) - and the other day, I found him taking a drink from the bowl - and there was a dead mouse floating in it!!!!

And why do they lick their arses, then turn their noses up at anything cheaper than Felix?:confused:

My cat used to drink out if the sink, bath puddles, bird bath (even the toilet the ruddy minger!) but she never seemed sated. Turned our the poor cow had something wrong with her kidneys and had to be put down :(

It took me forever to get her into the cat box to get her to the vets, when he told me it was the kindest thing to do to put her down the little beggar waltzed out of the box, sat there as bold as brass almost saying "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough".

The poor receptionist lady looked so distressed when we settled up as she had a big lad crying like a little girl as soon as he handed over the money.

One of my more embarrassing moments :|