# My cat...what's so special about tub water? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 19, 2021, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768 "2021-10-19T16:26:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/1 "2021-10-19T16:26:08Z")
Every time I’m in the bathroom, Moki jumps in the tub and looks at the faucet, and then me. I turn it on, and it fills faster than it drains, so she backs up as the water comes, then I turn it off and she follows the water down, drinking. Then she has the nerve to jump up on me with wet feet. She’s got a nice bubbling fountain that filters the water, but she loves tub water. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/2 "2021-10-19T16:30:40Z")
My cats think bath water is for drowning. When I am in the tub they will come up and peer at me, sometimes walking on the edge of the tub anxiously. Half of me believes that they are worried that I will drown. The other half believes that they hope I will drown, and they don’t want to miss the show. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/3 "2021-10-19T16:43:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The other half believes that they hope I will drown, and they don’t want to miss the show. “On one paw, I like to see things die violently. On the other paw, if he dies who will open up the Holy Speluchre of Preserved Prey-Meat? It is a conundrum.” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/4 "2021-10-19T17:00:41Z")
One of our cats (Dot) loves drinking from the faucet. My son bought the cats a cat water fountain and this has her bugging people far less when they’re trying to use the bathroom with the tub. I believe it is this one. ![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71pFZddmqEL._AC_SL1500_.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/5 "2021-10-19T17:22:05Z")
Both my current cat (Allie) and her predecessor (Felix RB) are/were of the opinion that a bathtub I’m soaking in is a primo kitty water dish. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/6 "2021-10-19T18:00:49Z")
At 6 months, George has yet to figure out that he’s a cat and cat’s don’t like water. Hubs makes beer, which involves lots of water, a tub of sanitizer and lots of washing of large buckets and pots. The poor man spends more time relocating the kitten than he does actually cooking. Wet cats are slimy feeling and boy are they skinny!!! ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/7 "2021-10-19T18:12:19Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Both my current cat (Allie) and her predecessor (Felix RB) are/were of the opinion that a bathtub I’m soaking in is a primo kitty water dish. I have watched cats lap up muddy rainwater. Could be that some cats appreciate water with a bit of “flavour”. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/8 "2021-10-19T18:24:24Z")
I have now had two cats who try/tried to drink the soapy bathwater. – One of them showed up a few months after the death (at fairly advanced age) of the other; but reincarnation is an unlikely explanation, because aside from other possible reasons he was already over a year old. I very much doubt that the soap is good for them; so I do my best to prevent it. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/9 "2021-10-19T18:29:26Z")
Unless it’s a bubble bath, one is supposed to soap up and rinse off _before_ soaking in the tub… ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/10 "2021-10-19T18:32:42Z")
I prefer to rinse off afterwards. And it’s my tub; so there isn’t any “supposed to” unless I say so. If I went to a public hot tub, of course I’d wash and rinse before getting into that. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/11 "2021-10-19T18:33:53Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > On one paw, I like to see things die violently. On the other paw, I have five more claws! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/12 "2021-10-19T18:54:26Z")
One of our cats like to drink in the tub from a dripping faucet. She was quite upset when I had it repaired. They used to stand outside the bathroom and cry, “Get out of there, man! You’re getting wet!” After time, they just thought we were crazy. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/13 "2021-10-19T19:19:14Z")
Our cat likes to drink the puddles of water near the drain after a shower. We refer to it as “people soup.” He’ll come into the shower as soon as the water is turned off, get very offended if he gets dripped on, and then when he’s done drinking will put wet paw prints on the bed. Through some set of circumstances, there is now a small bucket that lives in the tub and collects shower water so the cat can drink it after the drain dries. Cats like to have their food and water in different places. Supposedly this is so they don’t contaminate their water supply with their kill. I expect in most houses the tub, leaky faucet, toilet, etc. are about the only other place a cat can get water other than the bowl next to their food. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/14 "2021-10-19T19:29:39Z")
fishing cat [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/DJ58wzWvdc4/maxresdefault.jpg "Fishing Kittens See Water For the First Time") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ58wzWvdc4) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/15 "2021-10-19T19:37:08Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Cats like to have their food and water in different places. Supposedly this is so they don’t contaminate their water supply with their kill. Interesting. I used to have both a cat water dish (on the little table that the cats get fed on, right next to their food dishes) and a dog water dish (on the floor next to the dog’s food dish.) All the cats drank out of both dishes – a number of different cats, over some years. Then I got a pair of kittens who liked to knock the bowl around, and the cat water dish kept winding up on the floor. So I took it away, and everybody used what had been the dog water dish, which was harder to knock over and was already on the floor in any case. Currently there is no dog. The water dish is still where it belongs when, and sized as if, a dog were in residence. The cats all drink out of it – including the one who tries to drink out of the tub. In addition to the tub-drinkers, I’ve had cats who liked to drink from a faucet when it was dripping, though they’d all also drink from the bowl; and, toward the ends of the lives of the ones who had been bowl-knocker-over kittens, both of those now-old cats kept trying to drink from the upstairs sink whenever I used it, so that eventually (since they were supposed to have lots of fluids at that point) I put a bowl on the side of the sink and they drank from that. – many years ago I had a cat who liked to sit on the edge of the tub while I took a bath, with her tail in the water. Not the rest of the cat; just the tail. And the current would-be tub-drinker shows distinct signs of wanting to get in with me; but I’d really rather he didn’t. The thing that really gets me is the cats who demand clean water in the dish (they’ll sit in front of it and stare at me until I empty, rinse, refill, and put the dish back down) but happily drink out of mud puddles in the dirt driveway. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/16 "2021-10-19T19:40:15Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > They used to stand outside the bathroom and cry, “Get out of there, man! You’re getting wet!” About 50% of my cats have gone through a phase where they were extremely worried about me whenever I took a shower. Two in particular would stand guard anxiously until I emerged unscathed. I have always thought they were protecting me from the Evil Water Spirits. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/17 "2021-10-19T19:42:25Z")
I have 4 water stations throughout the house. I’ve had too many cats die of kidney disease unfortunately, so I try to make it very easy for them to get water when they’re thirsty. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/18 "2021-10-19T19:48:53Z")
Havoc is weird in that she likes, nay _demands_ to drink running shower water. She’ll sit by the sliding door to the shower stall and yowl until I open it a bit for her to stick her head in and lap water. During a long shower she will do this several times. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/19 "2021-10-19T20:02:18Z")
Because this thread really is pretty worthless without pictures. This cat liked to drink from running faucets, and didn’t really care if that meant getting wet. She also somehow trained my wife to put an ice cube in her water dish, and then the cat would lick the ice cube. [![](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/18xrcdw0f5lzu20/dscf2623.jpg?dl=0) ](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/18xrcdw0f5lzu20/dscf2623.jpg?dl=0) [![](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/4kahz3i3zl01t5z/dscf2621.jpg?dl=0) ](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/4kahz3i3zl01t5z/dscf2621.jpg?dl=0) ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768/20 "2021-10-19T20:11:30Z")
My family calls a bath “girl soup” due to the incursions of drinky cats. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-cat-whats-so-special-about-tub-water/952768.md?page=2)