HAH! Serves you right for trying to torture your cat.
I agree. A wet dog will shake hard a couple times, maybe roll around on your persian carpet or up against the sofa and be perfectly happy being damp. And heck, they like being stinky. As you dog owners know, they will find a carcass or a pile of manure and roll in it and come back to you as pleased as if they were covered in roses.
A cat hunts by ambush; the whole licking thing is about removing scent, not being clean. So they have to view anything that disrupts their fur as a major time and energy investment. Hunting is hard; energy must be conserved whenever possible (that’s why they sleep so much).
Usual useless anecdotal data:
Of 3 cats in our house:
1 cat liked to jump into the bath with our sons when they were small enough for baths.
1 cat all of a sudden last summer started playing with waterdishes. Splashing in them, knocking them to make waves, etc. Over 7 years old too. Weird.
1 is the usual water hater.
997 more such case reports and we’ll have some real data.
but not a CrazyCatLady 
When our cat was little she used to play in mud puddles. She’d hop right in and splash around. Then she got older and her attitude was, gee, I’d love to play in that water, but it’s just too much trouble to clean myself up afterwards. So, yeah, it’s not dislike of water but fastidiousness.
In my experience, it’s not so much that they dislike water, it’s just that they like to be wet only on their terms. A cat which enjoys jumping into the bathtub will not enjoy being dropped into the bathtub. A cat which enjoys going out in the rain will not enjoy being sprayed with the garden hose.
Well, when I was *growing up, our cats were excellent swimmers–always. I made sure to that. We had a pond, and I would spend hours on the weekends (and during summers weekdays) teaching them how to swim by throwing them in. We probably had some of fastest swimming cats–domestic or otherwise–anywhere in the world.
I see.
My dog doesn’t seem to like getting wet - if it’s raining out, she won’t go for a walk unless she’s REALLY desperate. But I’m sure that’s because she knows that if she gets wet, she’ll need to be towelled off, which she doesn’t enjoy much. And we used to put her down in the basement until she dried off, too - which she didn’t care for either. We don’t do it anymore, but she still prefers staying relatively dry. I’d say, cats or dogs, experience has a lot to do with the animal’s reaction.
… :dubious: Trying to drown your housepet, Crafter?
(I swear I read that and the first thing that popped into my mind was “The Cat Came Back” cartoon – I pictured a disappointed Crafter on a pier, dismayed to discover that he is still a cat-owner.)
I think it’s the coldness that they dislike. I’ve been able to train cats to sit in a sink of slowly rising water if the water is lukewarm, i.e. at body temperature.
Have you not heard of the fishing cats of Asia?
They stand in streams and capture fish. Their claws do not retract all the way, and their paws are slightly webbed.
citation number uno
photos from the same site
video mpg of “sassy” and “nicky” fishing goldfish from this site
and from The Smithsonian
My friend has a cat who jumps into the bathtub with her and swims around. All the time!
My kitten fell into the tub a few times. She jumps out and sits on the heat register to blow dry. Heh.
My SO works with a guy whose cat liked to sit on the edge of his tub. Once the cat fell in, and clawed great divots out of the poor guy’s flesh trying to get out. Now the cat gets locked out of the bathroom before he even starts the bathwater.
It was probably a Turkish Van, not Angora, often referred to as the “Turkish Swimming Cat”:
http://web2.iadfw.net/vantastx
http://www.cfainc.org/breeds/profiles/turkish-van.html
Somewhat unusual fur for a cat may contribute to their acceptance of water.
I meant the one in the swimming pool. I’m assuming you knew the breed of your own cat.
When I was in high school, we had a swimming pool, and my neighbor had a kitten. The kitten would come over and would be absolutely fascinated by the swimming pool. Said kitten would walk around the edge, sniff at the water, dip a paw in, or peer over the edge of the diving board. He would even walk along a low wall that divided the small hot tub section from the rest of the pool - with water spilling over it - to the other side.
I’ve always liked to read, so I used to sit in a chair hung from a styrofoam float in the water and read a book on a hot day. The kitten would wait until I was within a few feet of shore, then jump over to me - carefully - find a comfy spot, and lie in the sun. After a while he would stand up and watch - and when I got close to shore again, would jump off.
Obviously, this kitten was not afraid of the water. He only fell in to the pool once, that I saw, and had no trouble swimming to the side, but couldn’t get out until he swam to the hot tub wall (it was lower).
This was also how I found out I was allergic to cats.
Doh! You are absolutely correct! I make that mistake all the time even though my own Snowball was half Turkish Van.
sigh I feel like Charlie Brown in the spelling bee when he misspelled “beagle.”
I don’t think cats hate water, but a wet cat might feel inconvenienced. If we were all hair and had to dry ourselves with our tongues, we wouldn’t be as keen on bathing.
When my cat (Schnurri) was about half a year old I made the assumption that cats hate water so we took him fishing to the river, and I let him run around on the river-island. Soon enough he was swimming his way back to the shore! He didn’t need to learn how - he just knew.
[hijack]
i had to ask… can a kitten swim? or a human baby? if so why can’t human adults who never swimmed swim? is it the natural fear that drowns us? is it bad to hijack like this? should i start a new post? i’ll go now… [/hijack]
Shijinn I saw a show where they basically tossed babies and toddlers in a pool (it was very controlled and mommies were present). The babies all naturally started kicking and paddling to the surface – it wasn’t so much swimming as instinct to keep breathing, but they had the general idea.
Kittens might have a tougher time if they don’t have enough body fat to keep them buoyant, but I’ve seen them do the same thing (wee one fell in a bath tub).
The problem is that if they aren’t rescued very quickly, they get tired and drown. But they don’t panic so much – they just start dealing with the new, unpleasant situation.
That’s the problem with adult humans. Those who believe “I can’t swim!” PANIC, breath all gaspy, flail about and exhaust themselves faster.
Clothes play a role too (hint, if you fall into water fully dressed, make sure you get rid of footwear like tall boots that fill with water and pull you down.)