Alternative Watering Methods

I'm not really sure if this belongs in here, but it seemed appropriate.

My three cats are caged at night in an extra large dog cage, so they have plenty of room to move around (which now that I think about it might be part of the problem, but I'm not going to stuff them in a small cage), and so during the night they inevitably upset their water bowl and come morning, they and the cage is soaked. I've been considering the idea of setting up a small animal style watering bottle (the kind you hook on the side of the cage) in place of the water bowl. My question is, will my cats use it? Can they use it? I would think they can, but I've been wrong before.

Have you thought about getting a bottom-heavy bowl that they can't tip? My kitten was tipping her water dish so I switched to a ceramic bowl with a thick heavy base which she hasn't tipped. Sorry, I don't know if they would use the rodent-type fountains, maybe someone else does!

I've thought about it, but part of the problem is that they like to play it in it, batting the water all over the place. I don't know how to stop that.

If it's a wire crate, several companies make "clip on" bowls for that type...I'm sure you could find one that would be sized correctly and you could clip it higher-up (i.e. 6-8") so that they will be less likely to knock water out.

Not sure on the water bottle....My aunt who showed pekingese and shih-tzu dogs used those on her crates...so, if a dog can learn how to use it, I'm sure a cat could. I guess you'd have to demo it for them and see what happens.

Art