End of our rope.

My wife and I have been working for over a *year* now to get our two 'coons to stop playing in their water dish.
This is not the usual "it's cute when they play" sort of stuff. They will take any size bowl and simply empty it out. We've gone through hundreds of dollars worth of special fountains trying to give them reasons to not cause trouble. Still they persist. It's not just the water everywhere problem. They keep getting sick. They get junk on their feet then they drag it in the water, and no amount of filtering or other stuff will keep the water clean.
Tonight James knocked over a DogIt watering dish. 1 gallon of water all over the carpet, soaked. This is the *second* time. He's figured out he can do it, now it's been two nights in a row.

We've spent so much time and done so many stupid things to try and get our cats to learn that the water is for drinking. Personally I don't care if they play in it, but they end up getting sick!

We are truly at the end of our rope on this. The cats are 2 and half years old, and even after a year of constant daily work, they will not learn to respect their water source.

It is impossible for us to even leave the house for an hour with a water dish out, because they will simply empty it out.

We need a solution for this problem that *works*. The playing in water thing is cute, but it's a major health problem, and that is where I'm simply losing it. We knew that Maine Coons played with water going into it all, but I never expected them to be so outright retarded.

Has anyone had any success in solving this sort of issue?:sad2:

A wall mounted watering station such as this NEW! Maow Wall-mounted Cat Feeder from Vurv DesignÂ*|Â*moderncat :: cat products, cat toys, cat furniture, and more…all with modern style ?

Sorry I did giggle, I know you are at the end of your tether but it just sounds so familiar to coonies all over the world. Our boy actually lies down to drink so gets his whole chin and ruff in the water, he then sits and flicks it out but we use a huge dog bowl that he cant move. They all drink out of cups if left around so they get knocked over, and they all think its fun to sit in the sink and play with whatever water is there. Its a nightmare after they have been bathed for a show!!

How to stop it, I would personally use the smallest bowl possible when out of the house, I am guessing they arent left for that long, so if they tip it out its not much water. Then I would supervise drinking times when in the house, put a big bowl down, watch them drink, when they start to play, take it up and replace with the tiny one. This way they will drink when thirsty and only play with a small amount of water which will soon get boring.

Good luck.
x

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.

Attachment 6219

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.

Cats are not big drinkers by nature. They evolved as desert predators who get most of their moisture from prey (which is 70% water).
They don't take in fluids so much by lapping up water, but by eating meat. So, if you feed a predominantly wet food diet, or raw, it is perfectly normal that they drink very little water. As long as you find nice big pees in the litter tray it's OK. It means they get sufficient fluids from their food. That's why it is so important to feed wet food... much more effective than buying fancy fountains.

Also, "stuff in the water" should not be harmful. If it was, there wouldn't be anymore cats around. :)

Do they use a litter tray still? If they are soiling that then the chances are they are getting enough water. Less in = less out (by and large)

mine always drinks off his paw ... the fur seems to hold sooo much water he paddles and splashes and then basically licks the water off his paw. He very very rarely laps in fact when he does he has a coughing fit

MC s and water :nod::nod::nod:

One of my MCs Floyd washes in water if he can

If the bowl is normal size he turns it over
I tried a much larger bowl with the same result so I sunk it in a large wooden box so even I struggled to tip it over - He approved of this and just sat in the water bowl and washed himself . Had to stop this it was just to messy.

We have now "agreed " that he uses a large very heavy cut crystal vase which he "discovered" while I was throwing away some flowers . he cant actually get in it so puts his front legs in completely and wash them seperately..

forntunately the two kittens have not copied him.

wow i would love to see a self bathing cat ... would make showing so much easier

i will try to get a picture but he doesnt take showwers

Couldnt get a pic of floyd with his paw completely submerged but........

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...Untitled-2.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r.../Photo2881.jpg
he has outside a little spring where he drinks

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r.../Photo2359.jpg
yes I can

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r.../Photo2360.jpg
yes I can I think

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Neural

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.

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There is a simple test to see if they are dehydrated or not. Lift the loose skin at the back of the neck (The scruff, where vets usually give cats injections). Gently lift it up as far as it will go then let go, if it quickly springs back down to normal position they are fine, if it's quite slow it means they are dehydrated. The amount of time depends upon the severity of dehydration.
Hope this helps,
Mick

Pina also drinks from her paw. She will lap from her bowl but like to dip her foot under the faucet and lick the water off. She does the same when "sampling" whatever we are drinking. :koolkat:

Quote:

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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

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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?