Herding Cats at Home - March 2006

Q: We have a 10-year old male neutered cat - very affectionate and people-oriented cat - and is entirely indoors. The past two months have seen him sloshing water out of his water bowl significantly. Does this mean or suggest anything? He has always liked to play with water dripping from the faucets, for instance, but this new playing with water is messy. Do we need to worry?

A: There are two possibilities. First, the more troublesome one: At your cat's age (10), he's considered a senior cat. Seniors often develop kidney problems as their kidneys naturally become less efficient with age. One of the early signs of developing kidney problems is consumption of more water, along with more frequent and copious urination. Your cat's focus on his water bowl MAY mean he has been trying to drink more water and that he is paying more attention to the water's condition and availability.

You should be taking your cat to his vet for twice yearly check-ups at his age. Schedule an appointment to check out whether your cat's kidney function has deteriorated. (Various blood tests can give clues to this.) Kidney conditions can be managed very successfully with change of diet, medications, etc. And of course, as with any illness, it's better to catch it as early as possible.

On a more optimistic note, your cat may just be expressing his preference for moving water.

In the wild, cats know instinctively that moving water (a small stream, or spring, say) is almost always fresher and safer to drink than still, standing water (which can easily be contaminated by fungi, bacteria from animal wastes, etc.) Since our domestic cats are so closely related to their smaller wild cousins, they, too tend to be fussy about how their water supply looks, smells, tastes and feels. Many cats will reject chlorinated water from public water supplies until it has been left out in the open long enough for the chemical odor to disperse. And many cats really prefer moving water, as their wild cousins do - hence the feline preference for faucets and paw-dipping to stir up the water in their bowls.

For such cats, I suggest a cat fountain. I have two, and my 11 cats adore them. I have the "Drinkwell" brand (www.petfountain.com) and a "Cat It" dome-style fountain, but there are others as well, all available widely at pet supply retailers (PetCo, PetSmart, etc.) and online pet supply outlets. I think your cat would really appreciate one of these.

Another benefit of the fountains is that, as a cat gets older (generally much older than your cat), they can sometimes "forget" to drink and eat as often as they should. The gentle bubbling sound of the fountain helps remind them.

Q: My cat, Angel, keeps eating my spider plants. Is it harmful for him? He just won't leave them alone. I bought some grass for him, and he loves it. But if I forget to plant his grass, he goes right for the spider plants! Is this OK or not? If not, I'll give the spider plants away.

A: "Spider plant" is the common name for Chlorophytum comosum, a member of the family Liliaceae. They're very common, easy-to-grow houseplants. They're also very good at cleaning the air in your house. NASA did a study to determine whether plants would be good health-enhancers in space (like in the Space Station), and discovered that spider plants are by far the best at helping maintain clean air. They absorb toxics from the air, so if your air is really bad, the leaves could end up containing some toxic materials. But I think this would be an extremely unusual case.

Spider plants, by themselves, are not toxic or harmful to cats. In fact, during the summer. I put a few of my spider plants out on my screen porch and let my cats at them. The plants get pretty raggedy and bitten-up, but the cats seem to have fun. When the plants get too raggedy, I swap them out and let the chewed-up ones "recover" for awhile, away from the cats.

My cats don't really consume much plant material; instead they bite and nibble and play with the leaves, dig at the dirt, pull and shred the leaves, etc. If a cat eats a large amount of leaves, he may get a tummy-ache, possibly vomit, and feel sick and lethargic for awhile. (The same thing will happen if he eats too much kitty grass.) So if the cat is eating a LOT of the plant material, it's probably better to be on the safe side and keep the cat away from the plants. If your cat is not consuming a large amount of spider plant material, I wouldn't worry about it.

Spider plants are reputed to contain a hallucinogenic chemical that affects cats much like catnip does, which helps explain the great attraction many cats have for these plants.

I also plant kitty grass for my kitties, and they love it. I use "Cosmic Kitty Grass" seeds.