My Kittens and knocking over water glasses!!!

My two four month old kittens are facinated with our drinking glasses. Even though they have water in their dish all the time they find it necessary to not only drink our water, but they stick their paws in the water and will knock the glasses over. They have probably broken about five of our glasses since we brought them home. Do/did any of your cats do this and if so how do you make them stop? My boyfriend is at his wits end with them doing this and im afraid he'll threaten to give them away if I cant get them to stop! I dont want to have to be aware of the status of my water glass for the rest of their lives! Most importantly, I dont want them doing this to guests, especially since most of my friends hate cats anyways! Help!

Kittens are curious little creatures and sometimes this curiosity conflicts with the humans they live with - so basically you have lots of company. Kittens are babies and like babies they need adult supervision. My solution is to simply keep things I don't want broken or spilled out of reach. It's alot less stressful for me and the animals that way. (I have 3 cats and 3 dogs) That said some cats outgrow this fascination with water glasses and some don't.

If you're going to leave water in a glass out, use a short glass that's less likely to tip. There's 2 of you -- that should mean you only need 2 glasses out at any given time, and arguably you should both be near your own glass.

They're kittens, and they will get over it, but at 4 months you still have AT LEAST 8 more months of them being rambunctious and getting into things.

Charlie likes to sample what you are drinking. The only glasses he's knocked over was a vase with some flowers (and made a mess on the table).

I'd just not keep glasses sitting around.

My solution, at least for keeping water on my night stand, was to save a couple of the refillable plastic cups from one of our gas station stops. They have plastic lids that keep cat paws out. You also get large plastic mugs with lids from walmart.

They're kittens. Everything is going to end up on your floor eventually. Even 1 kitten manages to wipe out the computer desk, diningroom table, and coffee table in about a half hour of hyper moments. I pick everything up off the floor daily and now I have lots of stuff shoved into drawers that I never used before. If it's out they are going to play with it, run into it, and jump on it. That's what they do. It's your job to pick things up or watch them so that there is less for them to get into. I can't have a drink without a lid unless I have a hand on it. Otherwise it's going to hit the floor. She accomplished 2 cans of soda in 1 hour while I was sitting a foot away. Yesterday I was running my keyboard under the bathroom faucet because I set my soup on top of the monitor for a minute to type and sure enough a streak came flying up over the monitor and down went the bowl all over me and the keyboard. It's going to happen alot. You just try to keep things out of the way and clean it up when it happens.

Also I haven't used a cup that wasn't plastic since I was about 8years old. My mom gave it up between the 2 cats, dog, and 2 kids and it made sense so I never buy anything glass for my own house.

The lid idea is great! I thought of just getting plastic and dealing with spills but the lids would stop them from putting their paws in it. Never thought of that. Thanks so much!

Well, to start with, I would definitely not welcome anyone into my home who "hates" my beloved cats, who are my FAMILY. And the same would go for any mate. You have a say over the wellbeing of your cats, and anyone who would threaten to "give them away", I would have very strong issues with. What are your priorities? Do your cats matter to you a great deal and are they family members? Those are serious questions I'd definitely ask myself.

As for the water glass issue, it's very simple -- buy plastic or other non-breakable drinking glasses/cups/mugs, and/or ones with broad bases that would be difficult to knock over. And I would ask myself, what is more important, an inanimate material thing, or a precious life?

well, i'm not going to forbid people from my home just because they dont like cats. They are my long time friends and if they are willing to visit even with the cats and all then i appreciate them coming over twice as much. The fact of the matter is that there are people who simply dont like cats, just the same as I'm not really a big dog person and cant stand when dogs jump all over you. I agree with my boyfriend too, its disgusting when they step in their kitty litter and then go stick their paws in your drink. I mean, its not only unsanitary but Lord knows what kind of chemicals you subsequently ingest from the kitty litter. I wasn't looking to receive advice on where my values are, just if there is anything you can do to stop it!

I love my furr friends to pieces but I wouldn't drink after they stuck a paw in and stirred. My greyhound, Lacey, loves coffee (with cream and sugar) but I don't want to drink after her either! So the plastic cups with lids sounds like a good idea to me.

Actually, I use glasses and ceramic mugs, I just pick them up and take them with me. None of my guys are babies so the breaking stuff isn't as much of an issue.

Don't be too upset, some of the people here are just a little touchy about that subject. We've all had to deal with people that don't like our cats at some point or another.

I'm sure you're a good cat owner and wouldn't let anyone harm or get rid of you kittens over something as simple as their curiosity. Tell your friends to watch their drinks... or don't offer them any.
You can work on teaching the kittens to leave glasses and cups alone. When you see them heading for one go "pssst NO" and put them down on the floor. If you catch them reaching their paws towards the rim you can push their paws down and tell them NO. It works well unless you have stubborn kittens that think it's a game.

Noone is saying you should be willing to drink out of a glass after they even drink out of it much less stick their feet in it. What they are saying is that you shouldn't even consider getting rid of them for something like that. You should just either deal with it (get another drink when it happens) or do things to avoid it like not setting drinks down, using different cups and bottled containers, and keeping objects picked up and put away out of reach. It's part of owning animals. If anyone in my house so much as mentioned getting rid of a pet for something silly like that they'd be the homeless ones. Actually I got rid of a boyfriend I'd been living with for 2years because he couldn't handle my puppy and treated the cats like they had no opinions or feelings of their own and if I had friends that couldn't deal with the animals I just wouldn't invite them over anymore. Sometimes it kinda feels like I have kids. I have to worry what people will think of them and their toys scattered all over whenever I invite someone over to my house, I can't leave on vacations without finding a babysitter, For the dog I can't even leave for more than 12hours without finding a babysitter, and I'm constantly cleaning up messes, picking things up, and repairing broken things.

Reprimanding or stopping the cats has never had any impact on mine. Especially since most things fall down while on the fly and they don't even notice. They do outgrow that stage a little and I think most training that appears successful is more due to age and them outgrowing the desire to do it in the first place than any of your attempts to stop them. You just have to wait it out and think ahead. Now I buy bottled drinks instead of cans and occasionally refill bottled water containers with juice or other things so that I have a container with a screw on cap. Also avoids the dog drool in the soda can while I'm driving and she's sticking her nose against the vent over the cup holder.

While typing this post I also picked up a caprisun drink, digital camera, and tape measure as they landed on the floor from the desk and there's a kitten hanging off my left sleeve.

Oh my, you are discovering the joys of "babies"! That is really what your kittens are - and I can only encourage you to love them and enjoy this funny little journey that they are taking. I think that you have gotten good advice - glasses that are "lower" and less likely to tip over. I don't keep glasses with any liquids out when I am not around - because all three of my cats like to dabble in water! My baby Cosmo actually likes to tip over his water bowls - why? Because he can! I love all my kids to bits and accept their unintentional naughtiness!

We all rearange our homes and lives when we have pets. It's just part of the deal.

As for people who don't like cats. Well, my Mom and Stepdad do not like any animals in the house, period. So when they come over I put the dogs in their crates with toys or treats. The cats run and hide so they aren't an issue. Obviously I'm not going to tell my folks they can't come over. They aren't mean to the animals - they just don't want to be touched by them. So for everyone's sake I separate them.

You can have your non-cat loving friends over - just put the kittens in another room with a litter box and toys. Personally I would do this to protect the kittens from people who might get to rough out of annoyance.

People on this forum are a little touchy on the subject of getting rid of an animal for a minor, fixable problem. Many of us are involved in rescue and see too many cats discarded because they weren't 'perfect'. Cats are their own individual personalities with their own wants, needs and yes, quirks.

I'm glad you came here for advice because it shows you do care about your kittens. Please, talk to your boyfriend about having a little more patience with the babies. They will grow up.

Cats are great modelers and often want to do what we are doing.

We wound up getting a couple of those big coffee house mugs, and that's what the cats use now. In the living room, under a chair, is their mug. And they love it. The water bowl, while maintained, is virtually ignored.

They leave our glasses alone. A couple of times to redirect the kitten was all it took. Of course, he six months and a little more dignified now.

Our kittens used to do the water thing ALL the time!! Drove my hubby crazy too since the water went into his computer one time and fried it We went through a few stages, firstly drinking from bottles. Then we went back to glasses hoping theyd have 'forgotten' about their old habits. Turns out the younger cat hadnt, so now we flick water at her when she gets her nose/feet too close to our drinks. She doesnt like it and see seems to do it a lot less these days. However it's probably her growing up as much as it is us flicking water at her

Yep one of them knocked one over onto our computer two nights ago. My boyfriend didn't realize there was a glass behind the computer when he went to bed. He's been working on something for work for about a week now and I thought he was going to FLIP when he saw it was knocked over onto the computer in the morning. Luckily, the computer still works and his document was not harmed. He still loves the kitties though...we're working on getting them out of this habit ASAP.