Until I lived with one, I had been under the impression that cats were clean and dainty animals. Now I know otherwise. Maybe Tigger is just an exception, too. He is an indoor/outdoor animal, and that has worked well for us because he goes outside and it’s none of our concern except on rare occasions when we’re gardening. The downside to this technique is that when it’s wet, he often tracks in mud, leaf detritus, and an occasional slug. Sure, it’s gross, but it’s generally soft.
After his recent illness and required incarceration while on antibiotics, we got him a litter-box. He begrudgingly used it at first and the novelty and sound were so hilarious that I enjoyed it too. Sadly, he’s now able to come and go as he pleases again but often comes back inside to use the litter-box. He’s also a picky drinker, so he either gets a paw wet while checking the water then uses the litter-box and gets litter/cement everywhere, or he just tracks litter around, sometimes all the way across the house. What makes it especially gross is when you consider what is working as the bonding agent in the litter.
Back to being a finicky drinker. He won’t drink from a water source if he doesn’t know it’s fresh. We often checks the freshness by pawing at the water, leaving clumps of litter in whatever source of water he drinks from. Sometimes that’s Barley’s water dish, sometimes his own, sometimes your glass of water on the coffee table, or the sink in the middle of the night or sometimes the toilet. What kind of “clean” animal would drink from a toilet?
Gretchen has the same deal with wanting fresh water, but has not resorted to the toilet yet. She still settles for meowing until we fill the sink. And, her poo smells like roses!
have you tried putting the toilet seat down? one of our cats (snickers) always wants fresh water as well namely straight from the faucet while we’re brushing our teeth.
yeah, it’s one of those tough calls… Do we want Tigger to make noise all night or do we want him to be a gross old cat that drinks from the toilet. So far, I’m better with gross.
good call!
Ditto on the toilet seat down thing. Of course, we have a critter who loves to shove things off the mantle, table, etc. to show her displeasure at our behavior, so closing the toilet seat is a natural defense against having to go fishing for something that was on top of the toilet tank.
I’ve seen little bubbler-like water fountains in Fred’s that might do the trick …
yeah those bubblers work great. Stephanie’s Dad has one for his cat. He put it on a timer so that its not constantly running and the cat goes nuts for it.
Michelle already got one. He doesn’t use it.