Thread: End of our rope.

I can’t really help you with the behavioral thing… though Tatja did go through a phase when she insisted on digging the water out of the bowl. So I put down a large shallow heavy ceramic dish with a towel underneath. It didn’t stop her from digging but at least she couldn’t topple the bowl.



As for them getting sick all the time... I sincerely doubt it's stuff in the water that makes them sick. My three often drink from a bowl in the garden, it’s filled with rain water and has all kinds of dubious things in it – leaves, twigs, dead bugs, soil, bird feathers. Never did them any harm. And look at outdoor cats who drink from puddles…
So perhaps it’s wise to have the vomiting (if that’s what you mean by being sick) checked out by the vet, and not put it down to stuff that gets in the water.
Good luck!

Hi Neural, have you tried a 'Road Refresher' they are the best things since sliced bread for a coonie and only cost about £12 for a large one on ebay. we switched over 18 months ago and have never looked back, they can't spill the water due to a detachable rim lip and a central float only allows a small amount of water for drinking at any one time, seriously, they are the bees knees . Snoozy

I appreciate all the advice. Antonia: They aren't really throwing up. They just get Diarrhea.

Snoozy: We went to the pet store today to get some food and litter, and those exact bowls were right there in plain sight. The price was decent so we decided to give that a go.

I like that the don't hold a whole lot of water. Less to be spilled.

I'm not claiming it to be a success immediately, but so far so good.

Is it wrong that I got a giggle out of watching James try his hardest to get water out of the bowl, but fail completely at it?

We laughed at ours too to be honest and they weren't impressed by our fits of giggles but it was a kind of revenge is sweet moment for us if you know what I mean lol...as for the diarrhoea, it's only a suggestion but T.Foetus could be a strong possibility, it's a parasite that gives recurring diarrhoea and is mistaken for Giardia in nearly 90 % of all cases. Wormers etc don't cure it unless it was Giardia in which case liquid panacur does, but if it is T.Foetus, a vet will sort you out with Metronidazole/Ronidazole for a few weeks which would pretty much cure it. Hope it helps. Snoozy

I would be really worried if I had a MC that didn't treat their water sources as a paddling pool that is also great fun to push around the room & cause as much mess as possible be it from their feet or putting their head full under the cold water tap & proceed to shake it all over you & anything else close by,MC's are recognised for their luv of water & part of the joy for us is knowing full well that we will forever be their mopper uppers,hence no carpets now in our household & six furries doing their best to keep me on my knees clearing up........

Update:

The Road Refresher has met it's match. They can't turn it over, but James quickly learned that more water shows up if he pushes the thing in the center down, and has managed to empty probably half of it on occasion. The water gets dirty pretty quick still, as they are now finding it "fun" to drop food kibble into it.

Need a little more advice if anyone is willing to share.

James & Penny seem to be putting their paws in the water dish because they don't like to put their heads down into the dish to drink (we got the dog-sized one). Also, due to their paws and playing with the food, we are changing the water out around twice a day.

Is there a way to tell if they are getting enough water? I'm worried they aren't drinking because they don't want to put their faces into the dish, and then also because of the stuff they put into the water.

Originally Posted by jckkerrison

I would be really worried if I had a MC that didn't treat their water sources as a paddling pool

Weve got one. Darcie-lu waves her paw across the pond or water bowl(depending on what takes her fancy at the time) & then just drinks normally.Shes never emptied the bowl & its enormous as we have three other pusses. Is there a problem then?