Hey all. It's been a while since I've written in the forums. I've been having a problem with Patch recently, and was wondering if anyone had any reasons why he might be doing this and suggestions on how I can stop him from doing it. For some reason, he keeps tipping over his water bowl before he drinks from it. It almost looks as if he needs to see the water spill or move before he begins to drink. Sometimes, he drinks first, then paws at the dish, and drinks again. I'm getting rather annoyed at having to constantly mop up spilled water around his dishes and would love some reasons why he is doing the behavior. It's been going on for about a month now, and I've never seen a cat do this before. Thanks for any and all reasons or suggestions for the behavior.
He probably just discovered a new fun thing to do with his dish and knows that it means extra attention from you so he keeps it up. Maybe he likes to watch the water spilling too, who knows.
There are plenty of other water dished you can get. Huge heavy ceramic ones or ones that have a larger bottom then top. Also you can try the electonic flow kind. That way the water staying moving and it is not really easy at all to tip it.
I also suggest the drink fountain thing. You dont need an expensive one...They have ones that you can fill and the water keeps flowing. They are heavy, and he'd be less likely to tip that over....Otherwise, just a big ol' heavy ceramic bowl would work fine, and probably a couple bucks cheaper.
As for why he's doing it, I agree with the first post. He's just found something that gets your attention, and he kind of likes it...all kinds of fun at one time.
I know places like fosters and smith make stainless steel bowls for puppies that dont tip over... they are slightly cone-shaped (wider at the bottom than at the top) and have a rubber ring around the bottom... some cats just like moving water better than still water or just like to have fun with the water... I'd try a fountain as well, but if you want to stick to a regular bowl, try the puppy one
Sleeves does this too, infact I saw a thread about this not that long ago so I think it's a pretty common game among cats!
He does it if he's not getting attention. I had to move his bowl away from his food as he was just ruining it by getting water all over it, so now its on its own where all its going to wet is the carpet.
I also bought a cat-it water fountain for him as he likes running water but still trying to get him to drink from that...
I think they just think its hilarious to do, just like drowning toys in their bowls, thats a good game too...