Cats won't drink tap water, only puddles...

[ComeOVeneer]

to the extent that 3 days of sun, water bowl is full and they still won't touch it. What can I do to make the water more palatable to them?

Put ice cubes in it.

Or get a fountain. Mine loves to drink from the fountain in the back.

My old moggy was the same - I think it is because of the chemicals that we have in the tap water. why not keep bowls outside so they fill with rain water and try to keep a supply of it going?

I don't think its to do with the tap water having chemicals in as my cat will drink happily from the shower tray and from glasses of water we leave on the floor.

At the vets we used to advise people to let tap water stand for a day or so to let the chlorine evaporate - sometimes that puts cats off. Rainwater would be good too.

my rl mate puts her cats water in a pyrex jug.
arf

My cat drinks from the shower tray too. He must like the taste of shower gel.

My friend just puts the cats water in a glass to get round the problem.

Someone told me that cats don't like to have their drinking water near their food-that could be a cause.

Has anyone tried using a small animal drip type water bottle with cats? One of mine gets up into the kitchen sink and licks the tap so I wondered if this would work for her.

My dog is the same. Will only drink tap water as a desperate last resort when puddles and bowls of rainwater outside have dried up.

my dog used to only drink rainwater

everyone knows that dogs only drink out of the toilet bowl

not me, I only drink out of a fine bone china cup & saucer

You need a water fountain, cats love them.

See www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=364&pf_id=3249

my cat drinks out of the loo!
Also, we have a second water bowl over near the sink, he will eat, ignore his proper bowl and go off to the other.
ALso, he drinks bath water daily!

We 'accidently' leave a water glass lying around for the cat to encourage her to have more water. She will also happily drink from very muddy puddles etc rather than her water bowl. She drinks tap water from a glass so it's not about the water. We just assumed she preferred to steal/scavenge water and think how clever she was than drink what is put out for her

My cat also drinks out of the loo, we have great photos of her head down, back legs resting on the loo seat. At least the men in the house always put the lid down now!

We used to give our cats cheap bottled water before we lived in a house with a pond. As soon as they discovered the pond they ditched the bowl. Our new kittens are happy with a bowl of tap water and the pond when they are outside.

for now