Pet Stress and Pet Behavior Problems

 The Cat Water Fountain

"Why is Your Cat Sitting in the Sink?"

Most cat owners find it challenging to get their cats to drink enough water to ward off the dehydration that leads to bladder and kidney infections to which cats are commonly susceptible.

I’ve owned many cats that were finicky about drinking water and suffered from bladder infections, so I was concerned when my new cat began shunning water from bowls. He rejected many different bottled waters offered as alternatives to well-water and a friend’s municipal water. I tried different bowls, kept them scrupulously clean and freshly-filled and added ice cubes. He preferred to drink from the fish bowl, the skuzzy puddle in the driveway, the trickling stream that runs through the nearby woods or our water glasses on the dinner table.

His favorite place to drink was from any sink where someone was running water and was in a frantic hurry. Most mornings my three teenagers and I are trying to get out the door on tight schedules. The cat was clogging up the highly choreographed dance we do around each other every morning in a tiny kitchen to eat breakfast, clean up, pack lunches, fill water bottles, write field trip checks, and confirm after school activities. We were late for school buses, Metro North trains, school, work and meetings while waiting for the cat to finish drinking so the kitchen sink faucet could be turned off. Toothpaste and mouthwash were swallowed to avoid interrupting the cat if he demanded a drink in a bathroom sink.

If no one was running water, he would sit in the sink or on the counter and use kitty telepathy to ask for a drink. Family members and old friends knew to turn on the faucet; new friends asked “Why is the cat sitting in the sink?” We were concerned that he was not drinking when we weren’t there to give him a drink on demand.

There are a variety of cat water fountains on the market that run on electricity to re-circulate water. I bought one for my cat. At home, I washed it out, filled it with water, plugged it in and watched in fascination as my middle child demonstrated for the cat how to use it by drinking from it herself on a dare from two siblings. The cat loves it, he drinks more water and we have less stressful mornings. I give it a good cleaning on weekends when I have more time, and a quick rinse mid-week. When the water level looks low or it makes a strangling, gasping sound we remember to add more water. Sometimes we find him sitting next to it just watching the water, as if he is waiting for the fish to come.