The cat prefers drinking running water

[Katymac]

I am not prepared to leave the tap on

Neither will I be spending £30 on a cat's drinking fountain

Would it be awful to bu one of those slightly tacky indoor fountains for him to drink out of?

My cat does too and I got her an indoor cat drinking fountain, for whatever reason she didn't like it and flies laid eggs in it - gross. Threw it away and wouldn't recommend.

My cat was the same so we got an indoor water feature. Cue cat totally ignoring it!

I think they do the tap thing just to see how willing we are to be their slaves.

Little M also likes drinking from the toilet bowl. Why do cats find it necessary to drink from anything except their actual water bowl, with fresh water in it?

*oh, and do you feed him wet food? Mix a tablespoon or 2 of water into it, to ensure he's hydrated in this warm weather.

As it's been so hot we've been putting ice cubes in our (ancient) cat's water bowl to encourage him to drink. So of course now he just stands at his bowl waiting for you to add ice... every time...

Next thing, you look outside and he's lapping up warm, brown, puddle sludge out of a manhole cover... and loving it!

Contrary bugger.

We are his slaves even DH who 'did not want a cat'

Wet food = diarrhoea

So dry food all the way!!

Fly eggs! I am glad I didn't buy the £30 cat fountain!!

Leroy's fountain only cost £14.99 from Amazon.

My mum uses an indoor fountain thing but not the same as a tap according to her cat

Have you placed bowls of water around the house away from the food? We've had great success with Puccini drinking doing that. He also likes a sink with an inch of water in it as he scoops up water using his paw - it's the sweetest thing

Have you tried using a glass? My cats have all preferred that - especially if I leave it in the shower... (Which is walk-In, so not as silly as it sounds !)

Oh yes, madam likes drinking from glasses and cups too ( but not fountains or bowls). She has several dotted around the place so she can pick which is the right one at that moment.

We bought ours an indoor drinking fountain thing. Refused it.

He also loves drinking out of glasses.

Ah yes - cats like their water away from their food. I learnt that about 2 months ago; I've had cats all my life.

Poor neglected buggers.

Inspired by this thread, I've just ordered an extra wide water bowl - they don't like their whiskers touching the sides.

Considered a water fountain, but there's been so many stories on here about them gunking up with algae, then the fly egg disaster post completely put me off.

But yes, they do like drinking the manky puddle water that collects in the manhole cover. Strange beasties.

My cat prefers in the following order:

Pond water,
Oat milk, she will stick her head in my cereal if she gets the chance.
My bedside glass of water - if she stands on my face to reach it then thats a bonus in her eyes.
Anything I might be drinking,
The glass left on the bedroom floor just for her,
Her bowl if I move it to a new position,

Never ever her own bowl if it's in its usual position.

lol @ "anything I might be drinking"

YY, Desolate

Definitely try glasses. Mine love it and drink loads from it.

We have one after getting fed up of cleaning cat paw prints out of the sink and bath every time you wanted to use them (as they hadn't wiped their feet when they came in) and the constant demand to turn the tap on and then have to wait until they were done so you could do what you wanted to do.
It has changed our life, I top it up daily and clean it out once a week.

We have a very slow dripping tap in the bathroom which has now become ginger boy's personal water fountain. His bowl of water mostly gets ignored.

My fussy princess also loves drinking from the tap but I am putting a stop to it. She would jump up every time the tap was switched on and then when it was off would lick the get the remaining drips.

Her water bowl is a good distance away from her food (apparently this is an evolutionary thing because water next to dead prey might be contaminated) and I have raised it by putting it on a cup. She likes it nice and cold so I have been adding ice cubes.

When she jumps up to the tap, I put her straight in front of her water bowl, swirl the water with the my finger and then splash a bit onto her mouth, that gets her drinking! It is working, as she is jumping for the tap less.

Oh gosh, the things we do........