Cats and Love/Hate Relationship with Water
*This post may contain affiliate links for which I earn commissions.*
Most Cats Dislike Getting Wet, but SOME LOVE IT!
All cats need and enjoy drinking water. Most cats are very curious about water and will risk getting wet to check it out. Occasionally, you will find a cat that really enjoys water and will seek it out. It is best to just let new cats figure it out on their own and their humans just observe. A cat may be fine with water, but gets scared or startled with early exploring if a human is nearby or forces the issue at all.
You can see Squish is stealing water from Izzy’s cage. She just dips her paw in and gets it wet. She does look like there may be some guilt or concern that she might get caught since she stops and looks around for a moment.
If you have read other articles on here you may have already concluded that Squish is “special”. This can also be code for weird or odd. At our house they all mean the same thing. Squish loves water and she is very SPECIAL.
Squish often likes to lay near the water bowls. Sometimes she naps near the water bowl. She also likes to play around and sometimes a little IN the water bowl. Her favorite activity is getting a drink from the faucet, even if she gets wet while doing so. It is not uncommon for Squish to wait outside my shower while it’s running and right after I exit she hops in and rolls around. What a goof ball!
We have had a number of cats that like to drink from a faucet. There have been a few times in the past where we have set up water fountains for the cats to get drinks from. Although they were relatively popular we found the fountains to not be the easiest to keep clean and sanitary for our little fur babies. Health and safety over fun is always the rule at our house. So we went back to faucets and glass bowls. It may be time to check and see if there are any new and better fountains out there. I will keep you posted.
Squish can get a drink at a faucet from all types of positions…
Squish enjoys getting a drink at the faucets so much and so often she will even get a drink in my bathroom sink. The faucet is much lower so…
Squish has no qualms whatsoever about getting her head soaked if she can also get a drink from the faucet/her head at the same time.
Ashley is another cat that is drawn to the flowing water of the faucet. She will get drinks there too if there is any water left after Squish has gotten a drink. She is also attracted to water in other forms as well.
I was lucky to see Ashley dip her paw into my water glass THIS time. You can see she is doing that even though she is sitting right next to a cat fountain.
Cats like running water over standing water for a variety of reasons. These include: they can combine their sense of hearing with their vision to find and identify a good water source, in the wild big cats prefer moving water for the taste and safety due to water predators like crocodiles tend to hang out in still stagnant water, and some cats find moving water just plain fun to watch and interact with.
