Advice solicited from cat people
Thursday, December 17th, 2009 09:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniAsyouknowbob, we rejoice in the company of three cats: Scrabble, the calico cat of all work; Mozart, the elder cuddleme; and Hexapuma, comic relief.
Scrabble prefers running water to drink, so a couple years ago, we bought a cat fountain. The fountain we bought had a waterslide design -- a black plastic mountain rising out of a central bowl. A pump at the bottom of the mountain sent water to the top, where it ran through a filter before running down the waterslide. The filter, and the reservoir bottle, were covered with a black plastic cap.
In the last month or so, Hexapuma learned how to take the cap off the mountain, revealing the filter pack. Shortly thereafter, he decided that drinking from the water around the filter was his preferred method. I didn't think that ingesting nylon/polyester fibers with one's water was ultimately a Good Idea, and so a Battle of Wills ensued.
Which culminated in the acquisition of a new fountain. This one had two bowls: the water bubbles through a hole in the top bowl and flows over the sides to the bottom bowl; pump and filter are securely enclosed in the base of the top bowl.
Scrabble has given this fountain the Calico Cat Seal of Approval. Mozart has allowed himself a sip or two.
Hex won't go near the thing.
He cries. He gets up on the kitchen counter to drink out of the sink. He sits mournfully beside the dismantled, cleaned, and dry old fountain (also on the counter). He watches in Great Amaze and Puzzlement when the other cats avail themselves of the free-flowing elixir in the new bowl.
I put down a plain bowl of water, and he did drink from that. He will sit next to the new fountain, but drink from it, he will not.
We're -- well, Steve, since he's home -- moving the plain bowl of water closer to the new fountain, and hope that Hex will eventually Get the Picture.
What else can we be doing?
Scrabble prefers running water to drink, so a couple years ago, we bought a cat fountain. The fountain we bought had a waterslide design -- a black plastic mountain rising out of a central bowl. A pump at the bottom of the mountain sent water to the top, where it ran through a filter before running down the waterslide. The filter, and the reservoir bottle, were covered with a black plastic cap.
In the last month or so, Hexapuma learned how to take the cap off the mountain, revealing the filter pack. Shortly thereafter, he decided that drinking from the water around the filter was his preferred method. I didn't think that ingesting nylon/polyester fibers with one's water was ultimately a Good Idea, and so a Battle of Wills ensued.
Which culminated in the acquisition of a new fountain. This one had two bowls: the water bubbles through a hole in the top bowl and flows over the sides to the bottom bowl; pump and filter are securely enclosed in the base of the top bowl.
Scrabble has given this fountain the Calico Cat Seal of Approval. Mozart has allowed himself a sip or two.
Hex won't go near the thing.
He cries. He gets up on the kitchen counter to drink out of the sink. He sits mournfully beside the dismantled, cleaned, and dry old fountain (also on the counter). He watches in Great Amaze and Puzzlement when the other cats avail themselves of the free-flowing elixir in the new bowl.
I put down a plain bowl of water, and he did drink from that. He will sit next to the new fountain, but drink from it, he will not.
We're -- well, Steve, since he's home -- moving the plain bowl of water closer to the new fountain, and hope that Hex will eventually Get the Picture.
What else can we be doing?
Feline Foibles
Date: 2009-12-17 05:57 pm (UTC)There is no retraining of the kittens. They have made their preferences known, and even if faced with a dozen fresh bowls of water, they will cry at the sink (or pitcher) pathetically, like they are dying of thirst.
It's part of their charm, I guess.