How can I stop an obsessive cat?

[Vigilantesjustice]

My husband's cat is obsessed with water. She knocks over glasses, bowls and anything that might have water in it. I thought I had solved the problem of her tipping over/scooting around her water dish by putting the water in a pyrex cake pan, but this has created a whole new problem. She has started wading in the dish, chasing invisible objects through the water, and shaking her wet paws and flinging water all over the house. Is there anything I can do to make her stop? Neither of my other two cats do this, and they're crazy in their own right. HELP!
-Corinne

[Craft Forums]

[msfish]

Wow. All I can suggest is to get a comparatively narrow, heavily weighted water dish that she can't scoot around; maybe you could stick a big piece of tile or some such to the bottom of the one you have to make it a little less mobile? In my experience, cats who love water...pretty much always love water, and the only way to keep them out of vases and glasses is to pick vessels with small openings that aren't easily tipped and to guard your beverages at all times. My cat isn't nearly as enamored with H2O as yours is, and he still manages to knock over every glass of ice water I leave unattended for more than ten seconds. It's been six years, and I've just gotten used to it. I'm sorry I don't have better advice, but - I feel your pain!

[stella]

okay, well, my family's cats are all unbelievably spoiled and rule the house, but is it really that big of a problem? you could just put a towel or rag rug down under the water dish so she doesn't track water away from it, and make sure not to leave other water around the house.

i don't think there is a way to train cats not to do things. they're too savvy for that kind of thing. one of our cats occasionally gets the idea to poop behind the couch, and when you try to stop him, he looks at you like "EXCUSE me, i am taking a dump behind the couch here, do you MIND?"

[Vigilantesjustice]

We've learned to deal with the tipping, but I really need the help with her wading/ "fishing" behaviours. She can empty the dish (nearly 3 quarts!) in about 5 minutes, and even though I've tried the rug thing it gets soaked by the time I have to refill their water. (My dog is PU/PD, and needs to drink a ton of water in order to flush her kidneys normally.) I guess I'm just going to have to build a super sturdy "doggie diner" type dish holder for the standard pet dishes we have, she doesn't walk in those.

[delqc]

Both of mine love water, too.

Maybe try one of the water filter things? It is heavy so hard to move around, but has water falling in a stream all of the time so that they can play with it.

Otherwise -- fill a pyrex pie dish with ice, so it melts slowly. Then she will have water to drink, but less to spill (at least until it melts).

I also suggest providing kitty with some more toys. She's might just be bored.

[girlsavage]

One of our cats used to be obsessed w/ sticking her paws in peoples glasses, tipping them over. We ended up giving her her own cup to drink her water from. It was a heavy sturdy bottom one, she drank out of it and eventually even got bored with it. Now she drinks out of the pet self waterer with the other cat and the dog and no longer tips or tries to get into glasses of water. Don't know if thats any help, since you need to have water for your dog that she can get to, thats just what worked for us. Good Luck!

[Vigilantesjustice]

I think I'm just going to get a massive jug auto waterer with a smallish dish size so that the dish is always full, but it isn't terribly big for her to stand in and even if she does dance around in it I won't be refilling the thing six or seven times a day. Anybody have any reccomendations as to brand of waterers? Something not terribly expensive is good. I don't need a ton of bells and whistles, just something that keeps the dish full and ideally doesn't have a clear bottom. (I've determined that she is likely chasing the bubbles under the dish from the water she has already spilled.)

-C

[kindarana]

Maybe put out a plastic dish pan for a kitty bath in the human tub or in the bathroom where the spills are easily dealt with?

[janaka]

aww...that is so cute. my cats enjoy knocking things over. anything. they also enjoy drinking directly from the faucet and the toilet.

why not get her a little pan for her just to wade in? she must enjoy it. then get the self waterer thing for her to drink from.

[sweaterbones]

one of my cats has this problem as well!

actually, both of my cats love playing with water, but in different ways.

felane loves to knock her water bowl over and then lick the water up off of the linoleum on the kitchen floor. someone mentioned using a heavy dish, and that's probably the best option. make sure it's one that's wider at the bottom than at the top, otherwise it's still easier to tip over. she still likes to scoot it around on the floor, but it's not nearly as messy.

bearadactyl likes to stick his paws into glasses of water that people are drinking and lick the water off of his little cat hands. that's kind of gross because sometimes we catch him playing the same game in our toilet. my only advice for that one is to keep an eye on your glasses of water. nothing else has worked for us in that arena. he also likes to come into the bathtub when we're showering and get clean. thats just weird though. i don't think i've ever come across a cat who likes a nice hot shower.

good luck. playing with water is one of those cat things that seems hard to change!