She only drinks from her paw

One of our 8-month-old kittens, Smidge, seems to only drink by dipping her paw in water, then licking it. I never see her drinking the normal way. She is healthy (though small), but I'm just wondering what would make her do that.

I don't know why but Sophies done it from being a kitten.

I noticed because she was a lot quieter when drinking compared to Rosie.

She drinks from a running tap with her mouth though.

Lol that's sounds really cute I've heard that some cats do this because they can't tell how deep the bowl that they're drinking out of is. So instead they put their paw in it. Also I've heard that some cats don't like to drink out of bowls were their wiskers touch the bowl while they're drinking. Or maybe she just likes the taste of her paw? lol

Originally Posted by evnshawn

One of our 8-month-old kittens, Smidge, seems to only drink by dipping her paw in water, then licking it. I never see her drinking the normal way. She is healthy (though small), but I'm just wondering what would make her do that.

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That's funny, cuz my cat SMUDGE likes to do the same thing...I had to do a double take when I read Smidge...
I don't really like it that much that she does it, because she walks in her litterbox and then later dips her paws in her water bowl. That can't be healthy.

My Sophie does it, too. She started out drinking normally as a kitten, but along the way has developed this habit of dipping her paw in and licking the water off there. No idea why, but it's cute. The vet was even at a loss to explain this one!

Twitch does that, too. She doesn't have proper depth perception...she doesn't exactly see well anymore. She runs into wall, too, though.

You know, I wonder if it has something to do with the way she learns. For instance, one time—ONE TIME—I held out an orange section for her to smell to see how she'd react. Well, she backed up and squinted, like the other cats. Only now, whenever I hold my hand out to her to smell, she backs up and squints. So maybe she got splashed or dunked herself one time in the water bowl and now doesn't want to risk it again.