He is Obsessed with Water!

alleygirl

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Ever since I got Riley he has been obsessed with water, but lately it seems to be getting worse


Anytime you turn on a faucet he is right there playing in the water. In the mornings when I'm getting ready for work, I turn the tub faucet on a small stream, so that he will leave the sink alone for me!


He will sit there for 15 or 20 minutes, just slapping at the water with his paws and splashing it around, sticking his face in it, etc.

Now he has started splashing the water out of his petmate fountain and water bowls. I watched him yesterday after I picked him up and his belly was all wet
He just stands there splashing the water out of the bowl with his paws. Then he drinks the water off his paw and splashes again. In 5 minutes he had the water bowl nearly empty and a huge mess of water spread all over the floor, and all over him.

How on earth do I get him to stop that?
I don't want to discourage him from drinking, thats for sure. Maybe I should just get used to cleaning up after him?


He is starting to enjoy his baths, so getting wet is definitely not deterrent to him!
 

bab-ush-niik

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No idea. We just dedicated a towel to Bunny. She's gotten into the habit of jumping in the tub right after someone takes a shower. When she comes out an hour later, her paws, tail, and belly are soaked. She also sticks her head in while we shower, so her head is usually wet too.

We just chase her down with a towel. I thought about getting a pet fountain, but she already knocks over her water bowls, so I figured that's just asking for trouble.
 
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alleygirl

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I do keep a towel under the water dishes, but its getting to be a chore changing out a wet towel 2 or 3 times a day.

Any suggestions to keep him from playing in his water bowls so much?
 

werebear

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If a cat loves water, the only thing you can do is roll with it.

One of my cats got the nickname of Brewmaster, since he loved putting stuff in his water dish and seeing it puff up. You can't stop a dedicated scientist.

As so often with cats, what you need to do is find a way both of you can be happy. Get a mat with a ridge so the water will be contained, have a bunch of old towels handy, or just announce Water Park Time, and put a basin with some water in it in the tub.
 

bnwalker2

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Taco is the same way. He loves to splash around in his water bowl, and make a huge mess. He will even sit on the edge of the dog's water bowl and move around so much that he tips the entire bowl over. I'm so glad that we don't have carpet!
 

goonie

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i have an 8 month old kitten that also empties the water bowl a couple times a day. he loves playing in a waterpuddle in the backyard and he paws at the bubbles he creates
 

littleraven7726

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I used to use a mat like this one under our pet bowls. It has a rim for stopping spills.

I discovered that Stimpy was poking and pulling the water because he couldn't tell where the water level is. As long as I have a bowl with a picture he's pretty happy now. We haven't had a dumped bowl in years now.
 
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alleygirl

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Originally Posted by Pami

@ Riley.
Ok, you are coming over to clean up after him!


I think it has become a new "toy" to him, because he is now knocking his dry food out of the bowl with his paw. Sometimes he eats whats on the floor, sometimes he just scoots it around. Sometimes he dumps it in the water bowl, then plays with it in there.

I give up
Hopefully he will get bored with this new game soon
 

littleraven7726

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Originally Posted by AlleyGirl

I think it has become a new "toy" to him, because he is now knocking his dry food out of the bowl with his paw. Sometimes he eats whats on the floor, sometimes he just scoots it around. Sometimes he dumps it in the water bowl, then plays with it in there.
OMG!
It's like you adopted a Stimpy clone.
I bought a dustbuster to clean up his kitty kibble crumb field.
 
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alleygirl

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Originally Posted by littleraven7726

OMG!
It's like you adopted a Stimpy clone.
I bought a dustbuster to clean up his kitty kibble crumb field.
I don't mind the kibble crumb field so much, but when its combined with his slip'n'slide water park.......



That's my boy
 

noey 4

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I used to have the same problem. My cat Scotch has always been a huge water drinker. So I got him the kind of bowl that has the reserve on the top. Well he loved to play in the water when he was a kitten, and would sometimes end up dumping the whole thing over (huge problem when that much water goes throught the slats on the wood floor into my roomates room below!) I ended up just leaving his bowl in the bath tub. He could drink or play to his hearts content, but wouldn't destroy anything. And he has grown out of his splashing stage, and it's safe now to keep his water anywhere. He does still like when the level gets low and bubbles come up into the reserve, but he doesn't splash it out just to watch. He just stares at it when it happens.
 
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alleygirl

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Originally Posted by Noey 4

I used to have the same problem. My cat Scotch has always been a huge water drinker. So I got him the kind of bowl that has the reserve on the top. Well he loved to play in the water when he was a kitten, and would sometimes end up dumping the whole thing over (huge problem when that much water goes throught the slats on the wood floor into my roomates room below!) I ended up just leaving his bowl in the bath tub. He could drink or play to his hearts content, but wouldn't destroy anything. And he has grown out of his splashing stage, and it's safe now to keep his water anywhere. He does still like when the level gets low and bubbles come up into the reserve, but he doesn't splash it out just to watch. He just stares at it when it happens.
That's a good idea, but he spends enough time playing in the tub as it is. If I put his water in there, we'd never get him out!


His new thing is scooping his dry food out with his paw and playing with it
 

pami

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Originally Posted by AlleyGirl

His new thing is scooping his dry food out with his paw and playing with it
Awwwww I love Riley
He sounds like a silly boy like my Ducky
(who likes to play in water, too).
 

goldenkitty45

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Charlie's the same way - he loves when I'm refilling water jugs/bottles for our own use (filtered water). He will get up there and play with and drink the pouring water.

At first I thought it was cute


He doesn't mind baths now. But I'm worried cause he likes water and now we may have a problem with squirting water at him to leave the Christmas tree alone!

The squirting water trick worked well with Ling.
 

aileen06

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My cat Rebby always loved to play in the water. He loved to splash in the water the lick the water out of his fur. He was a long hair white Persian. When he got sick I noticed that when he was having bad days he would splash more (he had polycystic kidney). I guess it was kind of a stress reliever for him. Rebby always loved water though. He was more possessive of his water dish then his food dish.
 

leesestyle

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lol, murphy does it too... every morning i line up his food and water nice and neat against the wall and within an hour the water bowl is half way across the room in the middle of the floor
we finally got smart and got a much bigger bowl for the water than his food bowl (i hated breaking up the cute set but it was getting ridiculous
lol) he was knocking it over and spilling too much. now i use one of those plastic glad big storage bowls and leave plenty of room at the top so the water doesn't go all over the floor.

we just moved in april and before that, he would jump in the bathtub everytime we got out of the shower and his stomach and paws would get all wet and then he'd go in the litter box.... yuck!!!!
thankfully, we now have a glass enclosed shower and he's never been in there once because we don't let him! lol


murph also drinks water out of the faucet whenever we turn it on and bats at it and gets it all over the mirror. neatfreak that i am, i'd probably get annoyed but he's just so freaking cute, i can't get upset. i just keep a thing of windex and a roll of paper towels in the bathroom now since it gets wiped down probably 4 times a day lol.

what we do for our "kids"
hehe
 
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