I’ve told this story here before, but it’s a perfect fit here.
The late great springer spaniel Miss Emily Kimberly, in her later years, was on meds that made her process a lot of water; she drank a lot and peed a lot. So it was quite a job to make sure her water dish was always full. Sometimes we’d forget and she would drink it dry, and then like any normal dog she would drink out of that big fancy porcelain dish in the bathroom that was always full of clear, cold water. When we heard the lid go FLIP, we’d know her dish was dry and go fill it.
This did not go unnoticed. One day we heard the FLIP and found Miss Emily, not drinking out of the toilet, but staring at us expectantly from the bathroom door. After that, when she needed water, she’d just FLIP the toilet lid to summon us.
I’ve never had to teach a young animal to drink out of a bowl. If they’re thirsty, they figure out what to do about it even if they are messy the first few times.
We have a big white and gray shorthair named Little Man who’s kinda a goofball cat. About a year or so ago, when he was still in exploration mode on the new house, I saw him walking around the living room looking at the mantel over the fireplace. He spent about five minutes going from spot to spot in the room working out angles and doing the math in his head before he retreated into the kitchen. He then came running out of the kitchen at a full sprint towards the couch and did a very graceful leap at the mantel using the back of the couch as a springboard. For a second I thought he might actually make it…until he did a header right into the side of it. :eek: He then landed on his back on the brick ledge of the fireplace and rolled over onto the floor. So at this point I’m thinking, “My wife will never believe the cat just committed a spectacular act of suicide right in front of me.” As I’m walking over to check the carcass, he gets up and looks at me with a “Well, that didn’t work at all” look on his face and trots off to the bedroom. One quick “cat-scan” for injuries later, and I had a funny story for her when she got home.
Our nameless cat cracked me up this morning while scaring the puddin’ out of my husband. I got up early, as usual, and my sweetie was sleeping in, so I shut the bedroom door to make sure he’d have quiet. As I surfed, I heard the cat come charging up from the basement, through the kitchen and the family room, across the living room, and down the hallway, where I heard a loud KaThunk!! I looked in time to see him come back into the living room, hop on to the love seat, then on the half wall. About that time, my husband came out to find out what was wrong. Goofy feline crashed into our closed bedroom door! It was dark at that end of the hall - all the bedroom doors were closed.
Cat was looking all nonchalant. Husband was miffed at being up so early. I was amused.
You are in grave danger. Cats are jealous of their great dignity. NEVER laugh at a cat. Cats have long memories and are familiar spirits of witches. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.
I had a similar experience, but with two cats. I had pulled an all-nighter at work, and got home in the late morning. I went to bed right away. The cats had a race track defined around the house, which included a romp over the bed, so I closed the door. I was almost asleep when I heard, “gallop, gallop, gallop, gallop, THUDTHUD” as the first cat hit the door and the second cat piled in behind him.
When I come out of the shower, it’s not unusual to find three cats waiting to get in. No matter how much water is in their bowls, it just isn’t as good as that wonderful water on the floor of the shower. One of them will actually come over and start licking my feet as I get dried.
I have to keep the bathroom door closed now because my particularly athletic tabby can actually leap from the floor to the top of the shower door. He just sits up there, seemingly perfectly comfortable on this 1-1/2" wide surface. The first time he leaped up there while I was in the shower, I hadn’t seen him coming. His front feet made it all the way up, but his back feet thumped the side of the shower door very loudly. Scared the bejeebers out of me.
This thread is hilarious; I’m most certainly going to hell for laughing at the mental images of cats smashing headlong into things.
I don’t have a good pet injury story, but I have a water dish story. My old kitty will take a peice of his food, drop it in his water dish, then fish it out and eat it. He hates to be caught doing it, like he knows how silly he looks. You have to creep up on him and peer around the fridge.
I think that’s one of the coolest parts about owning a cat – them doing something incredibly stupid, mischevious, or otherwise annoying and then being completely nonchalant about it while the humans pull their hair out in frustration.
My dog does a similar thing, except her water bowl is too small for her to sit in. So, she stands there with her two front paws in the bowl and makes a huge racket with it by overturning it and pawing at it.
I’ve never had to teach a young animal to drink out of a bowl. If they’re thirsty, they figure out what to do about it even if they are messy the first few times.