Standing in water

[Lulu54]

Hi everyone, I have three cats two were feral but are now tame (eventually). The oldest feral Bluebell who is 10 insists on standing in water to drink and there are watery paw prints all over the house. She only started doing this a year or so ago. I've checked her paws really carefully and the vet can't find anything, we regularly carefully trim her claws as soon as we can hear them clicking on the flooring as they get very long and horny and are probably quite painful so we don't let them get too long.
Does anyone have any ideas as to why she is standing in the water bowl - she only does it when she is actually drinking.

[Lulu54]

Oh yes and she's also had blood tests so I know she doesn't have diabetic neuropathy or anything like that.

[bobbys girl]

When I first read 'standing in water' I though you meant puddles. Our Tommy preferred puddle or pond water and would stand IN the puddle to drink (though thankfully not in the pond!) is it just that big bowl or does she try to stand in small bowls as well?

I am sorry I don't have an answer, but a little more detail might ring bells with someone.

[alanc]

My first cat, Sally, used to do this as well when she was young. I think she was washing her paws! Never did find a solution, so not much help, I'm afraid.

[Alice]

I find that cats like to drink from a much deeper container - a small bucket or similar, perhaps try a deep ice cream tub, which might make him less likely to step into it.

[MarkB]

We have a big dog water bowl in the garden. Kasper, who is about a year old, always puts his paw in the water when he drinks from it. He doesn'tdo it indoors with the fountains or the smaller water bowl.

Kylie, who is 16 now, used to put her paw in the water bowl and lick the water off the front of her paw. She hasn't done it for years though.

[meriad]

gosh, this is an interesting one - I suspect there is absolutely nothing wrong with your girl and it's just a quirky habit. As Alice says, maybe try a higher / deeper container like a plant pot

Mark, my Monty does the same as Kylie did - he'll dip his paw in the water and then drink off his paw

they are funny creatures, aren't they

[Lilith]

LOLOLOL!

I've always said that black and white cats are a few kibbles short of a packet...

I've got one just the same who acts as daft

[lilynmitz]

I've had several cats who paw the water before drinking it, sometimes even spilling the water, so I had to get non-tip bowls for them. I tended to think it was them checking there was actually water in there (particularly if there's no visible light reflection on the surface), and also checking the surface level so they don't dunk their noses in too deep and getting water up their nostrils!

[Lulu54]

Yes I think it must just be a quirky habit, it's annoying though because she gets water everywhere!!!

I will try a deeper container though and see if that stops her.

She also likes to knock glasses over, I dare not leave water filled glasses anywhere because she just shoves them over - a couple of ruined keyboards before I realised!

[lilynmitz]

I know you mentioned that she has been to the vet lately, but did they do blood tests? Given her age, and this sudden obsession with water, this can be an indicator of conditions such as kidney disease, hyperthyroidism and (I think) diabetes, all of which are manageable but are best caught early. However, they do need blood tests to confirm (some vets say you can feel the enlarged glands with HyperT, but they couldn't with Lily's, despite her being tiny and despite both glands being 4-6 times larger than "normal").

[MarkB]

Laz used to drink water from glasses all the time. I think lots of cats do it, but it was an obsession with him. He turned out to have a very rare condition called Diabetes Insipidus (makes the drink and pee a lot) I ended up buying some tankard type unbreakable glasses that are difficut to knock over. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Polycarbonate ... SwrklU4mBh

And I spoke too soon yesterday. Kasper was splashing his paws into the water fountain. It went everywhere and also make the water mucky, so had to be cleaned out and refilled - annoyingly, only yesterday morning I gave the fountain an extra deep clean - ie took the motor apart and soaked the bits in descaler (I use a safe citric acid one called Astonish http://www.astonishcleaners.co.uk/produ ... e-remover/

[Lulu54]

I only ever saw one case of diabetes insipidus (in human) in 30 years of nursing. That was someone who had a psychiatric obsession about drinking water. In the end he died from drinking an excessive amount apparently

[MarkB]

Lazarus was getting like that. He couldn't stop drinking. My previous vet a year previously diagnosed Kidney Disease and put Laz on (Generic) Fortekor. When I changed vets and they ran bloods, he said Laz's kidney values were the same a a year previously. He suspected DI and we had to doa waer deprivation test over 4 or 5 days - it was horrendous - especially for Laz who was desperately thirsty (I think on the last day he was down to 30ml over 24hrs) but he tested positive. He was on Desmopressin for the last 15 months or so of his life (we lost him to a liver tumour last March ) - I think it must be very rare, but not totally ignored as a possibility. I offered the spare bottles via a big dog rescue but there have been no takers, which I guess shows just how rare it is.

[Crewella]

This is a new one on me too! I've a cat that likes to 'pat' the surface of the water before he drinks sometimes, and I've had a cat that liked to dunk her toys in the water bowl, but never one who stood in it!

[Mrs Kane]

I had the same problem with our cat when we first got her. She'd also play with the water bowl and we'd often find it upturned every morning and her crying because she had nothing to drink! I was worried that we'd get a stain on the wood floor (we rent) so I bought this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Petmate-Dosko ... k/36127680 when I was in America. I couldn't find one in Spain sadly.
It has a very deep dish (I'd say 12cm) and slopes downward so there's no purchase (am I spelling that right in terms of grip?) and too heavy for her to knock over when full of water (although she's tried many times!) It's meant for small dogs but suits her quite well! She occasionally tips it over when it's low but not that often, maybe once a month. We've put an old rug under it too so any nighttime adventures from her won't flood the hallway. But the best thing is it's too deep for her to put her paws in without getting her ankles wet, which she apparently hates. So bye bye paw dipping and dirty floors!

PS: added side effect. It's a gravity drip container so she'll watch it fill for hours on end and then bang it to put more water in. Sometimes there's overflow. But that's why we have the rug.

[Lulu54]

Yes I could put a towel or something underneath.

We had a day at the vets yesterday - Blubell savaged the vets hands and left a six inch gouge on the nurses arm. I had to bring her back today to have more tests under sedation which was a week's salary thrown down a big hole abd they said although she's getting on a bit all the tests were normal. The last lot were normal too.