drinking ritual

I posted a description of this behavior before. Now I have it on video. youtube.com/watch?v=ZQAAX-X6N0Q Our Sasha does this all the time before he drinks. Thoughts?

That's a great video!

I have floor scratchers too! Tolly scratches the floor like your Sascha.

Mazy pulls the bowl a few inches, then taps the water before drinking.

Ootay (rb 5/09) used to splash in the water. Sit up on her hind feet and splash both paws in the water, though she preferred drinking from the sink.

It will be fun to hear from others whose cats have funny water habits.

Originally Posted by otto

Mazy pulls the bowl a few inches, then taps the water before drinking.

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One of my kitties does that too, he may even leave his paw (just the tip of it) in th bowl while his drinking. And he scratches the floor too.

For some odd reason Hercules likes to smack the bowl till the water starts shaking really bad and even splashes on the floor till he will drink out of his water dish...LOL..weirdo kitites

My Monica does that too and drinks out of bathroom faucet too.

My spoiled kitties have food/water in two places - downstairs in the kitchen and upstairs in our bedroom. Dusty will not drink from the downstairs bowl. She will only drink from the upstairs bowl, and then only if it is fresh cold water from the refrigerator. What's up with that? Squeak isn't so picky.

I think they tap the water to make sure that it is there???

I have never seen the digging thing before. Foster boy Jake will lick water out of the sink - a habit I discourage every chance I get. He also likes to drink from the faucet which is OK. He and Archie also like to lick out the dumped water bowls.. you know.. when there is just a little on the surface of the bottom.

They also have a pet fountain that they adore.

Any way they drink water - as long as they drink!!

My Mowgli likes to dip his paw into his fountain and also the dogs bowl and just kind of scoop water up and lick (drink) from his paw. At first we thought maybe he had litter or something stuck in it, but that's actually the way he drinks. Silly cat

My Raven will do that, too (he's also black!). He also likes the scoop the water from the tap thing. I think I read on a thread that it has something to do with burying a scent when done before eating, but not so sure about before drinking. Sasha is a cutie.

I was watching your kittys tail in the video.... It looks like he was in a playful mood, perhaps he enjoyings "playing" with the water. (pawing at it would make it move)

I have 2 kitties who will do similiar....they will come up to the bowl and paw around it, one will then paw IN it, then start drinking. I've always chalked it up to them liking the water to have some movement.

I think they tap the water to make it move so that they can better judge the distance to the water and don't end up sticking their noses in it.

Chynna use to dig and tap when I used regular bowls. Then I switched a fountain and she stopped.

Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

I was watching your kittys tail in the video.... It looks like he was in a playful mood, perhaps he enjoyings "playing" with the water.

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I wasn't surprised by the pawing before hand, but the tail wag caught my eye too. I have a couple of cats that paw around before they drink, but don't wag their tails like yours. It is almost like he sees drinking as a game.

Originally Posted by Dusty's Mom

She will only drink from the upstairs bowl, and then only if it is fresh cold water from the refrigerator. What's up with that?

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Sasha will always drink fresh water from the fridg. I put fresh water down to make the video. As was mentioned, "anything to get them to drink".

Also, putting ice cubes in the water is very thought provoking for Sasha. He likes to play with the cubes but seems to ponder their fate.

Marlow, our outdoor boy likes to drink rain water from the swimming pool cover even though he has fresh tap water handy. ( I never opened the pool this summer; I was afraid of disrupting Marlows routine. I also raised hundreds of tree frogs.)

Sasha's tail wags constantly. You would think that he believes he's a puppy.

Chynna likes to pat the water then lick the water off her paw. She will do this several times until she gets enough water. This is done in their water bowl and the toilet . This also means the seat gets wet and you will too unless it is wiped off first.

Mouse just drinks from the bowl he cant quite get up on the toilet like chynna does. So he sticks with what he knows.