tipping water bowl

My lovely Russian Blue/Siamese mixed kitty Winston has gotten into the habit of tipping his water bowl every time I fill it. While it's cute and all, it worries me that he's not getting enough water throughout the day!!

Originally, I thought that it was just the bowl. I replaced that with sturdier bowls, and he seems to have more fun tipping these ones than his last ones as he's started to do it to his food bowl as well!!

As of now, I'm kind of at a loss for what to do to solve this problem, the only thing I can really think of doing would be to velcro his bowls to a wooden placemat or something.

Any suggestions?

Hi

I had the exact same problem with my two babies, Jazzie Boy and Button Girl. They would tip over their water bowls and I always worried whenever I would go somewhere overnight if they were able to get enough water or not.

I finally had to buy a self waterer system from wal mart made for dogs that held one gallon of water. It would release water as they drank out of the dish. I thought the problem was solved for several months until my little calico, Button Girl began acting like a bulldozer and kept trying to head butt it so she could watch the bubbles in the jug. After two mornings and the gallon jug and bowl being overturned and water all over the floor once again, I went to Pet Smart and and now have the 3 Gallon water system for my two little 2 year old babies. Yes, it does seem a bit overkill, but it doesn't get tipped over anymore and I know they have fresh water if I'm gone overnight. I do change it about every 5 days right now but in the winter, probably will not change it as often.

So, Good Luck with your water baby!

Well, you can do what my boyfriend did for our collie/aussie mix and glue the dish to a sturdier piece of wood that he can't tip (a nice one that will blend in in you home)

Or, you can try purchasing "crock" style dishes- they are very heavy- and the kitten won't be able to sell them All pet stores carry them. They have a ceramic finish

Originally Posted by omg.lisa

My lovely Russian Blue/Siamese mixed kitty Winston has gotten into the habit of tipping his water bowl every time I fill it.

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My cat, or cats used to do that too. I know Chynna did because for some reason she likes to rub her face along the edge and they are so spoiled that I had a plastic tumbler-like container (only wider) that I kept filled on the bathroom counter.

I got tired of mopping up water so I saved a couple of those small ice cream pails that you get potato salad in at the grocery deli. Now they can't tip it over because it's shorter and wider.

I want to get one of those water fountains because my cats like cold fresh water and are reluctant to drink it if it's room temperature. It's ok now because I'm home and can change the water frequently, but when I go back to work I worry that they won't be drinking enough.

Originally Posted by StarryEyedTiGeR

Or, you can try purchasing "crock" style dishes- they are very heavy- and the kitten won't be able to sell them

All pet stores carry them. They have a ceramic finish

Click to expand...

What a good idea!!! My cats hate drinking from plastic, but it's the only type of container that I have that is suitable for a drinking dish that can't be knocked over.

actually, a stainless steel bowl with a broad base cannot be tipped over; all of Gizmo's bowls have been shifted to stainless since she got her 'feline acne' on her chin from a ceramic plate.
These broad based bowls are more commonly sold for dogs but there is no reason why one should not do for a cat; Gizmo has a medium and one large sized one and there have been no spills since I got them.
Here's the design:
http://www.bow-wowdesigns.com/Paw Prints bowl.gif

The stainless steel dog bowls are a good idea, but if your cat is like my Spike, instead of tipping them over he'll scoot them along the floor, causing them to slosh water over the sides (even the ones that are supposed to be slip-proof -- Spike is very strong). If you use these bowls, you'll want to put them on some kind of mat so your cat can't push them around (a kitten might not be able to do it, but believe me, a fully-grown cat can -- same thing goes for the heavy crock dishes ... unless my cat is just freakishly strong? ).

We currently use two stainless steel doggie bowls on mats (we used cheese-cloth place mats, cut to be a little big wider than the bowls), a heavy water fountain (which Spike hasn't yet tried to knock over, but probably could if suitably determined ... what a mess that'll make!), and a small plastic dish in the living room that only gets a little bit of water put in it so that if Spike tips it, there's just a small amount of spillage.

I'd like to just leave our bathroom faucet on all day (Spike's fascinated by it anyway, and Oz will drink from anything), but my boyfriend (Mr Conservation ) vetoed that idea. Oh, well.

Honestly, your idea of velcroing it down works the best. I had a water-tipper too, and tried heavy dishes, big dishes, everything. Unless you want to buy a big fountain, nothing works but making the dish untippable. The big heavy crocks are just a challenge for determined cats, and rather than tipping them they'll just scoot them and splash in them and knock them around til the water is everywhere just as bad as dumping the whole thing over.

Zissou's bowl was velcroed to the tile floor, and now it's velcroed to her placemat. They sell squares of velcro at the drugstore or some grocery stores that's adhesive on the back, but I would probably add some superglue into the mix since it's going to be wet a lot.

Oh, and don't do it on wood, do it on plastic. It's hard to get things to stick to wood, and you'll have a harder time getting it clean.