On the 'fluids' we give our cats.

Hi Group,

Just another observation I made whilst butlering (ie. being a Butler to) Liz and Max (My Cats)

Both cats don't like milk of any sort. And I have tried 'Commercial Cat milk', Moo milk of course, goat, sheep but not yet Mares nor Yaks. :-)

Well I also noticed they wouldn't drink the water after I had just cleaned/refilled their bowls. Today, for the first time, I sniffed it. Yep chlorine.

Now Melbourne (Australia) has/had some of the best water in Aussie. and I noticed they did drink their water after only one day.

Your thoughts/observations?

G.

My last Burmese girl preferred her water from puddles but she refused to drink filtered water so I don't think that it is the chlorine.

My two Bombay cats have a water fountain which they like but still drink out of a bowl kept in the shower recess and Parsifal likes to drink directly from the tap.

I think that it is personal preference but my family has always kept a bowl of water in the shower recess so if you can't get your cats to drink enough, maybe that is worth a try. I refill the bowl whenever I have a shower - warm water, naturally.

Double grin plus, pinko.

I have a glass, where with in it all, I keep my false teeth (which I haven't used for 5+ years) Both cats drink from it and it is my duty to keep it refreshed every day.

ETA, idiom :-)

Doesn't a bowl in the shower get all kinds of soap and shampoo in it?

No - wait until after you have soaped and shampooed then rinse it and fill it from the shower.

Oh ok :) That's a bit more organized that I expected. I thought it was left to fill during washing (which would mean the water tasted of human, yum)

I keep the cat's water near the plants. When I refresh the water, I tip the old water into the plant bowl. This is the only reason my plants survive :)

One of my cats prefers cold water. Sometimes she'll sit next to the bowl, then look at me, then dip down to the water and straighten up and look at me again. Then I go refresh with cold water and she's very excited :)

My cat likes to drink from the toilet bowl, though she is also perfectly happy with tap water. Her favorite source of water, however, is any glass of water that someone leaves sitting around:

My cat will drink water from pretty much any place except her bowl!

Peri, long gone now, would lick water off leaves in the garden after rain, in preference to anything else. Amy likes to play in the shower after someone has used it. We always keep the toilet lid closed to keep them out of that because I think it's gross :)

My sister used to have a cat who liked to drink running water. He would stand by the kitchen sink whenever someone was in the kitchen and when they'd turn on the faucet, he'd work his tongue lapping it up.

Tabby likes to lick our damp hair after a shower. She will sit on the back of the couch and use her claws to hold our heads in place.

Our cats are all former ferals, so they ain't picky, if ya know what I mean. Gracie does prefer fresh water, so she usually drinks after I have refilled her bowl. None of them drink out of the faucet. Willow used to dip his paw into the water bowl, then suck the water off his paw. For some reason he doesn't seem to do that anymore.

#7 From that shot, your kitty looks like my Lexi, except Lexi has the tip of her left ear clipped from when she was a stray & someone spayed & released her.

I give my kitty filtered water, so he doesn't get kidney stones. He gets the same stuff I drink :-)
He is not allowed to drink from my water glass but sometimes he'll try.

#14 Does drinking tap water increase the likelihood of kidney stones? I never heard of that.

My cat will deign to drink from his water bowl when there is no other source available to him, but he prefers water from just about anywhere else: an abandoned water glass, the toilet, the sink, the bathtub... His favorite thing is to get some rube human to run a little water into the bathtub, just enough to get it to pool in the lower end but leave enough dry room for his body in the shallow end, then drink from that. We'll often do that for him if we're leaving for a day or two.

Whenever I go to the loo, Parsifal jumps into the bathtub and waits for me to turn on the tap so that he can play with the water and have a little drink in passing.

That is why I bought the fountain for the cats but the novelty has worn off and he still likes to play in the bath.

#15 I imagine that, as with humans, the harder the water the more likely the cats are to get kidney stones. In Malta the water is so hard that it is near impossible to work up a lather and I have a Maltese friend who has had one kidney removed due to a huge stone.

Male cats are more likely to get stones; I just don't want to pay for the vet.

The Moon Cat is an adventurous drinker: besides the bowl he shares with the dog, he samples water from the toilet, drinks from puddles, licks icicles, laps from watering cans, and jumps up on the rim of the tub to slurp bathwater from my right leg.

He disdains milk, but has a fancy for plain yogurt (not really a fluid– perhaps a colloid).

Robert

Robert

Cute!

I had a cat that liked beer. Whenever we had a party people had to watch their glasses or he would help himself.

Yep, Mr.Durick (#21)

I don't think he should drive...

ETA. Nor even go looking for Tough Rats

#21 Love that pic!!

My Bombay likes filtered water from my Pur water pitcher. Makes sense that if I can taste the difference he can also.

I filer the water which goes into my cats' water fountain. I even cook with filtered water. The water here in Western Australia tastes disgusting. The water in the shower recess is the only unfiltered water the cats get and they seem to like that anyway.

The Moon Cat, drinking the water of life:

Mine would do that too if I didn't close the toilet lid. He's now drinking the water from the shower before it drains out. He'll be really upset with me when I have to close the bathroom off while I deal with the sluggish drain--mainly afterwards when he loses his water source.

So bitser (#29), you hide your whisky in the toilet too?

ETA. In my OP I said I had tried "sheeps' milk". On reflection that was a lie. I had though tried goats' milk.

I'd just installed the toilet (note the shiny caulk around the base) and he leapt up after the first flush and drank. We hadn't used it yet, so it was pristine. I don't think he's drunk from it since. He's a weird cat.

Cow milk is bad for kitties, but Charley loves it so occasionally I'll let him drink the dregs from the cereal bowl - doesn't seem to upset him. He also likes to drink from the tap. All three mews will drink from their water bowl (providing it's not too close to the food, as - cats being cats - they like their water separate), but by far and away their preferred drinking spot is outside on the deck in the 'bowls' we've provided - three plant pot bases of various sizes. They get dirt in them, and leaves, but that's where they want to drink from. Cats.

My late cat used to like to like the bowl after I had buttermilk with my cereal.

My cats will drink the Birmingham, AL water (it's expensive enough), but what they really love is drinking Mama's bottled water. They sneak a drink from my glass when it's on the end table. I have to watch them like a hawk.

My cats don't drink milk, but they do love cream cheese. And Pop Tarts. Um.

Tabitha loves yogurt. Whenever she hears the sound of a container opening, she trots over from wherever she was sleeping. I only let her lick the lids, but it is a favorite treat.

My much-missed old guy, Tuck, was a big fan of yoghurt, too. His thing was to lick the bowl after I was done, from which he would emerge with white beads of yoghurt on the ends of his whiskers :)

The Moon Cat fancies a bit of yogurt, between his two breakfasts of cat meat. We feed him portions over an hour or so, since he eats too fast and then throws up.

I've heard that feeding yogurt to cats and dogs aids their digestion and makes them smell nicer.

My little lady likes yogurt and ice cream and both cats like milk and cheese and they have no trouble with digesting them. The cats splash milk all over the place when they drink it, and no matter how quietly I open the cheese, Pip ALWAYS knows.

ETA Now I know how my Mother felt when she had special snacks for herself.

My cats beg whenever I am slicing Cheddar cheese. I give them little pieces, and they eat them happily, and then they slope off. They never ask for more.

Teensy bites of cheese, the yogurt remaining in the bottom of the cup, a swallow of milk when I make hot chocolate, a smidgeon of DH's tuna sandwich filling, all of these make sense! But my Gin also begs for bits of angel food cake, olives, pickles, hot & sour sauce...these, not so much!

I just opened a bottle of white wine, and had to tell my little darling with a sweet tooth that there was Absolutely. No. Way. Go away, short and ridiculously fuzzy.

More wine for me. That's why I drink alone. Mostly.

Right now, the fluid I'm giving my kitty is pain medicine and antibiotic. She had surgery and then pulled open one of her stitches,

I hope she feels better soon...

So do I. She's my adventurous kitty and it's kind of unnerving to see her limping around.

My cat enjoys licking the milk from the bottom of the cereal bowls and the ice cream from the bottom of ice cream bowls. I know I shouldn't give them to him, but he doesn't get them often and really enjoys them when he gets them.

My roommate gives the cats milk on Christmas Day as a Christmas present, but then I make him clean the litter box for a week after (they have a very stinky reaction to millk).

Must give the cats a pain in the pinny as well.

Suggest undiluted evaporated milk instead; it might have a slightly milder reaction.

Better still - suggest that milk is not good for adult cats.

It's probably the lactose? Here in finland you can get lactose-free milk pretty easily since much of the population is intolerant.

We can get it here in WEstern Australia as well. It is mostly the Orientals which are lactose intolerant and it is recommended that they are not given milk as all once they are weaned.

mine get water from any running tap, the shower recess and they have their own water founain for emergencies when I am mean enouth not to turn on a tap for them.

>50 pinkozcat: When I first read your post I thought you meant Oriental people, since the closest supermarket to me is Chinese and has lactose-free milk....