plays with water

Gahhh! My 5 month old kitten constantly plays with her water. She swishes it around and sometimes submerges all 4 paws in it, splashes etc. She'll do this until all the water is out of the bowl and all over the floor. I've taken it away, and only given it to her during feeding time. But even then, instead of drinking it, she goes back to dumping it all over the floor. I've switched bowls, thinking maybe the old one was too small. Hm, so does anyone have an explanation, or a way to stop her from doing this? Yesss, she has toys, and yes, she plays with them. Has anyone else had their cats do this? I hope she's not dumb, haha. That's all.

Fresh clean water should be available to your kitty at all times.

She's just being a playful kitten. Many cats, whilst not wanting to swim or anything like that, find water itself fascinating, and it's a great stimulation for them.

You should be leaving your kitty enough water all day, every day, so she has plenty of access for drinking. But perhaps, if she's making a mess, you could change where you put the water to say, the bathtub, or the shower recess as long as she can get in and out easily.

I agree with the others, she's just playing so i'd leave the waterbowl filled for her because we all need our water

oy! Pouncer does that too- she's around the same age. She even tries to get outside when it's raining, to play in puddles. We used to have the problem of her spilling water all over the place until we got a mini fountain of running water. It's not for her to drink from, although I've heard of those- it's just a cheap little decoration for our house that won't matter very much if it breaks. She leaves her water dish alone now, and is fascinated by our little water wheel fountain... she likes to bat at the water that comes out and bite at it. It's really funny to watch.

What I find ironically funny is that she HATES bathtime!

water play is super comon for cats, I think if you can find a way to give her some place to play with water and another place to drink your problem might be solved. I use a drinkwell fountain that has more water than she could possibly empty on to the floor. I have it on a mat for spillage. I also have a small bowl near a toilet that is great for her to play in, she often does l and there is less tha 1/4 of water in that bowl. She might also like to climb in the bathtub or shower stall, then her splashing wont matter. mine loves to play with ping pong balls in an empty bathtub. its a great fun to watch her racing around the tub.

Harley does that too sometimes! I do believe its just common for them to do it, I've heard of many peoples kittens doing this

Originally Posted by dawnofsierra

Fresh clean water should be available to your kitty at all times.

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Thank you everybody, i'll look into some sort of water fountain as some of you suggested. I can't put her water bowl in the shower or anything though, cause she can't jump into the bathtub. I also keep her isolated in my bedroom away from my older cat (13 yrs) because he has feline leukemia. So she doesn't really come out, and if she does i'm very careful to keep them away from eachother, and their belongings.

Wesley plays with water with his front paws. That's how he drinks it. He dips his paws in water and licks them off afterwards. I have this water bowl with a big bottle of top and as the water lever gets low in the bowl, it dispences more water from the bottle, creating this bubbling sound. I think he is fascinated by it and tries to make the bubbles come up. Then he likes to jump on the couch with me and cuddle with his wet paws. I tell him to go away and come back when they get dry.

Originally Posted by Chichi

Wesley plays with water with his front paws. That's how he drinks it. He dips his paws in water and licks them off afterwards. I have this water bowl with a big bottle of top and as the water lever gets low in the bowl, it dispences more water from the bottle, creating this bubbling sound. I think he is fascinated by it and tries to make the bubbles come up. Then he likes to jump on the couch with me and cuddle with his wet paws.

I tell him to go away and come back when they get dry.

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ooh, that's better than pouncer though. she likes to occasionally play in the TOILET...

Sophie drinks her water by pawing it up and licking it off her paw. Put ice in her water and she goes ballistic, playing and splashing.
Cassie loves it if you leave the faucet on in a thin stream. She'll jump into the sink and do her best to attack the water.
Sunni used to always spill her water. No matter what bowl I put it in or how I tried giving it to her, she found a way to spill it all over the place.
Cats are fascinated by water. I don't think there's much we can do to discourage it!
Kitty still needs that bowl left out with fresh water all the time, though.