Kitten will not stay out of water bowl.

meruumeruu

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At first, I thought my new-ish kitten was spilling the water bowl when playing, but it was so very frequent that I had to move the bowl to the bottom floor of their house so he'd stop flooding the top floor.(The bottom floor is just the ground the house is sitting on.) 

But I've just caught him specifically playing in the water dish, and sitting in it. Why is he doing this nonsense? I've never had a cat who liked to play in water! How do I make him stop?
 

dave_l

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You could try putting an object, such as a golf ball, into the dish so that he doesn't have room to sit in it. Or put the dish inside a large, shallow pan, to keep the water from splashing onto the floor.
 

catwoman707

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It may not be all about play, it's very common for a cat to paw at the bowl to make it dump or splash about, the truth is that it helps them see where the water level is before drinking.

Especially when using a glass bowl or even white ceramic is commonly spilled.

Colored dishes help them see it better.
 

phoenixmeows

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Our kitten does this.  We put his water bowl in a larger plastic tupperware container to minimize the mess.  Now we have a water fountain that he uses and likes.  He still plays with the water a little but not as much as he used to.  He's super playful so this might be part of why mine does it.
 

MoochNNoodles

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Mooch used to splash in her bowl and soak the floor and the nearest wall when she was a kitten.  Once we bought a fountain for her she stopped for the most part.  Every now and then I see her paw the water.  The last time her food bowl was close to it and she was trying to "cover" her leftovers. 
 
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meruumeruu

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They used to have a nice blue ceramic bowl until the dummy broke it from playing in it so much, now they have a metal one. I have been considering getting them a fountain, because I know how much cats love running water and it will keep their water clean longer, but I'm worried he'd break it. 
 

khy-sa

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If you get a fountain with a decently sized reservoir then it'll be too heavy for them to play with. Drinkwell fountains are pretty solid, it'd take a LOT to break one. They also have such a wide base there's virtually no chance of the cat tipping it over or rocking it unless they ran into it headfirst.

I can't say that there's any incentive not to SIT in it or splash around with paws, but at least it won't tip over or break easily!
 

chromium blues

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Rupert and Noah make it their mission to disassemble the water fountain on a regular basis...

The one thing I found that worked really well was to take that nice ceramic or steel cat dish and sit it inside a cheap plastic dog dish that's just a fraction larger. They can pull it around paw in it all they like, but they can't flip it or spill it all over the floor, and the mess is reduced by far!
 

dave_l

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When my cats were kittens, I started off with some plastic bowls that easily got overturned. Then I bought some cheap, heavy ceramic bowls from a "dollar" store. I've never had problems with those getting overturned. Water gets splashed on the floor sometimes, but it's not an area where that matters.
 
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