Kitten tipping over water bowl.

[geckodiva]

Our 9 month old kitten, Monster, tips over the water bowl while it is still full. Does anyone know why she does this?

She prefers biscuits when they are available but also likes to have a good drink afterwards. We have stopped her eating biscuits for about a month as we were trying her on a cereal free diet (tubby kitten post on previous site). During this time I never saw her drinking from the water bowl and it always remained upright. Yesterday we were out for a long time so I gave her biscuits and an extra bowl of water. When we got back there was a damp patch on the carpet and the bowl moved.

It's not really a major issue, we just don't know why she does it as she clearly needs the water after eating biscuits.

[Alice]

I don't know why she does it - possibly just being a boisterous kitten, but I'd suggest that you put her water in a bigger bowl/small bucket which is too heavy to be easily knocked over - obviously not too tall for her to drink from it. Alternatively you could go for a water fountain such as the Catmate (more a small waterfall than a fountain)....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Petmate-06039-C ... r+fountain" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[KittyWitty]

Definitely look at a water fountain! We have a CatIt Senses one and its the best!

[emmab]

Well, in the wild, cats are used to moving water, and also are very finicky when it comes to drinking water. Also, moving water is often cooler and fresher, ie from a tap or rain water. Cats do not like their water bowl next to their food either. Either try changing the bowl,or moving the bowl, or even get a water fountain which seem to be very popular. Our Purdy used to make a hell of a mess with his, but never the less drank it. Good luck.

[Lyn from Australia]

Some of my cats love to sit with their front paws on the edge of the bowl, so their three main water bowls - one of which is a fountain of sorts - are all VERY heavy pottery/porcelain. They occasionally play and throw water all over the joint, but they don't tip them over!!

[geckodiva]

Thanks all for the replies. I think we will definitely try a water fountain.

When we first noticed puddles of water we thought she was just crashing into it when running around. Then after moving it to various different places we saw that she was dipping her paws in. We tried different depths of bowls. One time when the bowl was in front of the TV we saw her trying to get underneath the bowl. We thought that after a few times getting wet and then having no water she would hopefully stop.

[Lin1611]

Hi, definitely try the suggestions above but I have to say some cats just like to do this and you may never find out why and she may never stop!

Our old boy Bela did this until the day he died, we had heavy ceramic bowls so he couldn't knock them over anymore but he would constantly flick the water around with his paws. Each bowl always had a puddle around it. We live in a hard water area and to this day there are a couple of lime scale patches on the wooden floor that I will never scrub off because it reminds me of him

People swear by the water fountains but none of my cats have ever taken to them, but give it a go!

Lin

[Lyn from Australia]

Love your profile pic Lin. It looks like he or she is saying "Oh woe is me", or "Life is just so tiring".

[Lin1611]

Thanks Lyn! That's the second compliment Ernie has had on this picture today...this was him 'helping' me to make the bed by rolling around on the mattress while I tried to put clean sheets on

[lilynmitz]

I've had several cats who do this, so resorted to using a non-stipping bowl. Even so, I quite often find Lily's bowl dragged half way across the floor, and she often dips her paw in before drinking - I think to check the water level so she doesn't dunk her nose in too far!