Sam's "playing with the water"- problem...

Hi,

I am fairly new here although I have been checking this place out regularly. I have a beautiful male American shorthaired Tiger named Samwise (in short, just Sam ) who is about 10 months old now. He is a total brat. I live in Rhode Island and my husband and I adopted him back in January from a little village shelter... only a couple of days before we found out I was pregnant... oy (I am halfway now)!

Anyway, he is a very sweet and affectionate cat but can be a big brat sometimes. He is up to date with all his shots and also got neutered back in January when we got him. He is a strictly indoors cat since we don't want to take any risks during my pregnancy with toxoplasmosis. I am not immune against it. My husband took the job of cleaning the cat litter on himself, poor guy. He is not declawed either since I am morally opposed to it and who knows, he might get the chance to get outside later.

One problem I have with Sam is that I can't put his bowl of water down for him to drink whenever he wants. His food is in the corner of the kitchen and we are fine with it but whenever I want to put water down, he instantly throws his front paws in the water and starts playing with it, splashing it all over until he gets ALL the water on the floor AND ends up tipping the bowl over. After getting rid of a plastic bowl, I tried a china bowl thinking he couldn't tip it over but it didn't help. He uses all his might to do it anyway. I have tried putting a rug under the bowl, but it becomes so yucky and attracks little bugs like silverfish. I have tried with newspaper that I change daily but that's not a good idea either because Sam also licks the water from the newspaper after he spills on it... can't be healthy for him.
Yesterday we got this water dispenser thingy for him that gives water whenever needed. It turned out to be worse than a bowl since this gives him PLENTY more water to play with.

I don't know what to do. Another solution could be buying a super-heavy big china bowl that he can't possible tip over? But still he would get all the water on the floor anyway using his paws.
The only place he will drink water from is running water from the fosset. But that's pretty difficult for me to handle all the time. He just loves the sink. He also sleeps during the day in the sink of the main bathroom (we don't use that one as much since we have another bathroom in the bedroom). Also, our bedroom is a no-no place for Sam when we go to bed so we close the door at night... but since there are no doors between the kitchen, hallway and living room, he comes crying every single morning in front of the door and sticks his paws under the door until we are awake and open the door... maybe partly because he is thirsty??
Another little quirk of his is that he starts chasing his food around too. He will throw his food from his bowl with his paws, let it slide over the kitchen floor, chase it down and then eat it. That's not really that big of a problem for me though.

Is there anyone here who has or has had the same experience with their cat? Starting to become desperate here... although I love my little baby to death!

Here is a picture of our Sam!



Thank you!
~ Noor

Sounds like you've got quite the little rascal on your hands!
My Oliver is the exact same way about the water--I sucked it up and bought one of those fancy-pets cat fountains (I got the cat-it brand, but there are other kinds). It helps with the constant begging for faucet water, and since its heavy he can't roll it all over the kitchen like he used to! lol!
Another thing that has, surprisingly, helped with his crazy bratty energy is getting another cat--though if you're pregnant that's probably the last thing you want to think about right now!
Now that he has someone to play with he doesn't drive me bonkers all day like he used to!!

Good luck--he will calm down a little as he gets older, I promise!
He sure is cute though!

The only thing I can think of is 1) get a fountain, although yes, that does give him a lot more water, but then 2) get marbles or suchlike to fill the basin of the fountain up almost to the top. Enough for him to lick, but not enough for him to splash --- hopefully! It may be the splashing he likes. A lot of this is due to the fact that he's just a kitten really, even though he's 10 months old. Everything's a toy! He may settle down a bit as he gets older.

Good luck with this! Melichus was a water horse, he taught us to keep the toilet lids down!

Well everyone has answered your water question well..get a cat fountain.

As for the trying to get in your room in the a.m, this is completely normal and I think if cats aren't sleeping with you, most cats do this..
Cats bond and so naturally want to be with you...especially since he is still a kitten.

A good tip for some extra sleep in time is to wear him out before you go to bed with a toy like cat dancer or laser pointer or Da Bird or some other interactive toy..then reward him with some nice warm cat food...It should alter his schedule a bit and give you some extra sleep in time..

Or you could let him into sleep with you (but he still might wake you up

Mine not only puts his paw under the door but will bang on it if its closed..
Generally, I leave the door open and he comes and goes as he pleases now.
And not forgetting play time at night has been my snooze button in the a.m's!

Hi

Thank you so much for your replies!

Olly, I will definitely check out that brand of fountain, thanks.

Rose, thanks for the tip with the marbles. It's definitely the splashing that he likes too. Like you said, also here, he toilet lids need to be down, otherwise I might be confronted with a lake in the bathroom. Happened a couple of times in the beginning.

Loveysmummy, we do usually play with him at night. He is an awesome "jumper-and-catcher" and my husband does this best with him. Sam has this mouse toy with which my husband will lure him until Sam is in attack position and then hubby will throw the toy in the air and Sam will catch it mid-air. It is amazing to see. I love it.
Like you said, in the morning, he used to bang his paws on the door too. Now he has moved on to putting his paws under the door and literally crying... It will get better hopefully.

Thanks again.

Good luck! I can understand about not letting him into the bedroom. Most of the people here (self included) sleeps with their cat(s), but even with Melichus on occasion we would shut him out as my husband is a VERY light sleeper and an 18# cat jumping on and off the bed through the night would continuously wake him up. It did not make for a very bright-eyed and bushy-tailed attitude the following day! As he got older (Melichus, not my husband ) though he settled down and eventually got to the point where he stayed pretty much in one spot all night.

That's great Rose. I understand that a lot of people will let their cats inside the bedroom when they are asleep, but that's one moment during the day I won't let him near us. My husband is indeed also a very light sleeper and I wouldn't want him to wake up all the time. Although... it could be good exercise for the when the baby is here... LOL

there are several different types of fountains. i prefer the [font=verdana,sans-serif]Petmate Fresh Flow Purifying Pet Fountain, which i found online at Petco.
it's slightly less expensive, & since the water flows down a ramp, rather than coming out of a spout, he might play with it less. i would also put the marbles in the base of this one.
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My ex-roommate's cat used to play with the water like your Sam. She eventually outgrew it, but till she did we kept the water bowl on the counter next to the sink. Since the counter was naturally slanted in the direction of the sink, thats where the water flowed! Another trick that worked for us was a sheet pan under the bowl. It helped to control most of the water.

As for your door, try going to a home center and picking up a draft brush. Its a long thin brushlike attachment that is meant to keep the drafts out, but it will also keep kitty's arms out. It also comes in rubber for the extra nosy kittens.

Thanks for all your tips!