# Why do cats hate water? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2010, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425 "2010-10-17T08:33:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/1 "2010-10-17T08:33:15Z")
I just saw yet another cat thread in MPSIMS, and someone mentioned having to spray a cat with water. But what specifically is it about water that engenders such a reaction? I’ve done a little reading, but it mostly is of the kind that illustrates the exceptions–how cats in the wild can swim, and how you can train a cat to not dislike water. But nothing about why it is so prevalent that we’ve taken notice of it. And, of course, I do entertain the idea that it isn’t true, but then we need a reason why we think it is. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/2 "2010-10-17T09:13:05Z")
All of my cats have been fascinated with water. Some of them havent minded getting pretty wet. The spraying aversion seems to be a reflex action more than anything. The fascination with running water comes from their natural environment. Water is interesting to watch and safest to drink when its flowing, but if its flowing too fast, that is indicative of rising water levels - a flood. Then they panic understandably. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/3 "2010-10-17T09:18:51Z")
I’ve always been curious about this, too. Every cat I’ve known has hated water, hated getting baths, hated having water flicked off someone’s fingers at them, hated having water sprayed at them from a bottle, etc. But every dog I’ve ever known has loved water. I tried spraying my dog with a bottle once and she just opened her mouth and tried to catch the water in it. She would rush to the bathroom whenever someone started a bath in the hopes that it was time for her to get a bath, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/4 "2010-10-17T09:35:18Z")
Quite the reverse in our house. Our dog hates water and even walks round puddles. Our cat on the other hand doesn’t mind heavy rain, and will sit in her favourite spot looking through our back gate, getting wetter and wetter. We always give her a good towelling down when she eventually decides to come back indoors. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/5 "2010-10-17T10:10:45Z")
From what I understand, cats have relatively sensitive lungs and can catch pneumonia easily. Hence their aversion to water - it’s not the wet, it’s the cold. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/6 "2010-10-17T11:09:33Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > From what I understand, cats have relatively sensitive lungs and can catch pneumonia easily. Hence their aversion to water - it’s not the wet, it’s the cold. Being cold does not make you sick. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/7 "2010-10-17T11:18:50Z")
> [@FuzzyOgre](#): > > > [@Alessan](#): > > > > From what I understand, cats have relatively sensitive lungs and can catch pneumonia easily. Hence their aversion to water - it’s not the wet, it’s the cold. > > Being cold does not make you sick. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/8 "2010-10-17T11:23:45Z")
> [@FuzzyOgre](#): > > > [@Alessan](#): > > > > From what I understand, cats have relatively sensitive lungs and can catch pneumonia easily. Hence their aversion to water - it’s not the wet, it’s the cold. > > Being cold does not make you sick. I’m not sure about the causality, but based on my personal observations, there certainly is a \*correlation \*between sitting around in wet fur or clothing and getting sick. Perhaps you can explain this correlation to us. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/9 "2010-10-17T12:12:23Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > > [@FuzzyOgre](#): > > > > Being cold does not make you sick. > > I’m not sure about the causality, but based on my personal observations, there certainly is a \*correlation \*between sitting around in wet fur or clothing and getting sick. Perhaps you can explain this correlation to us. [As your body temperature drops your white blood cell count lowers.](http://dumbscientist.com/archives/cold-weather-can-make-you-sick) But you won’t get sick from that- it’ll just make you less able to fight off a cold that you could have potentially caught anyway. [Add in the idea that people tend to stay indoors when it’s cold and rainy, increasing the chances of spreading viruses amongst one another](http://coldflu.about.com/od/cold/f/coldandweather.htm) and a good amount of confirmation bias (you ignore all the times you’ve just been sick out of the blue or the times that you became cold and wet without getting sick) and it’s easy to see why people think being cold will make you sick. It’s all three of those things combined that have given people an exaggerated view of the effect that cold has on us. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlecCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SmartAlecCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlecCat)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/10 "2010-10-17T12:41:20Z")
I can’t imagine too many animals (humans included) who wouldn’t flinch away if you snuck up on them and sprayed them with water (or any other liquid, or threw something solid for that matter). It makes a good/easy negative reinforcement. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/11 "2010-10-17T14:16:04Z")
First off, as a human (yes, really!) I don’t like people spraying me with water, unless I expect and want it. It’s an unpleasant surprise. I think that most cats hate it because it messes up their fur, and they are very fussy about their fur. I have seen videos of cats swimming and appearing to enjoy it, but every cat that I’ve had has always HATED getting his/her fur sprayed. As for why dogs like it…well, dogs love to roll around in dead smelly things. The deader and smellier the better. Dogs is weird. ---
**Author:** ![taffygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@taffygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taffygirl)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/12 "2010-10-17T15:15:50Z")
Dogs roll in dead, smelly things to cover their own scent. It’s not weird, just unpleasant for humans who are around them. My dogs loved to jump into creeks but hated baths; I used to joke that the water was too clean for them.🙂 Cats–and some dog breeds–are not good swimmers. It makes sense an animal would be averse to something that could be dangerous to it. Getting sprayed with water may not be dangerous in itself, but it makes sense to me that a cat would be averse to getting wet by sprayed water if getting wet by immersion presents a danger. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/13 "2010-10-17T15:38:39Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > …I think that most cats hate it because it messes up their fur, and they are very fussy about their fur. I have seen videos of cats swimming and appearing to enjoy it, but every cat that I’ve had has always HATED getting his/her fur sprayed. I agree, if you wet a cat then it has to spend an hour licking itself so it’s properly groomed. If you had to comb your hair with your tongue you wouldn’t like to get it wet either. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/14 "2010-10-17T15:57:21Z")
I think it has to do with what they are used to. Cats like to approach things on their terms. A cat thrust unexpectedly into water will not wait to figure if it enjoys it but rather just wants out. Some cats do enjoy water. Go to a zoo with tigers and I bet the tigers have a pool and you will see them swimming. Some domestic cats will enjoy water too. I think a lot of that is just having gotten used to it one way or another and then they are fine. FWIW my dog hated any water bigger than her dog bowl. She would be visibly annoyed by rain when she had to go for a walk in it. She would tolerate baths and such but not happily. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/15 "2010-10-17T16:34:08Z")
> [@SmartAlecCat](#): > > I can’t imagine too many animals (humans included) who wouldn’t flinch away if you snuck up on them and sprayed them with water (or any other liquid, or threw something solid for that matter). > > It makes a good/easy negative reinforcement. At Parris Island Marine recruit training in the 1920s, one guy yelled out “Horseshit” after lights out, so the instructors sprayed down the whole barracks and everything in it with fire hoses - then smashed out all the windows, so the men had no alternative but to spend a very cold wet night. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/16 "2010-10-17T16:50:54Z")
Cats originated the hot, arid parts of North Africa. They’re still essentially desert animals; it’s not surprising that they’re uncomfortable around water. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/17 "2010-10-17T16:53:45Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Cats originated the hot, arid parts of North Africa. If cats created North Africa, what animals created the other parts? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/18 "2010-10-17T17:07:55Z")
Wombats. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/19 "2010-10-17T17:14:53Z")
Cats are stealth predators, they rely upon being odorless to their prey. This is why cats spend so much time grooming, to eliminate scent. Getting wet seriously screws this up. It really is no more complicated than that. Wild cats that live in temperate and arctic zones are as concerned about scent as those in desert areas. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425/20 "2010-10-17T17:50:30Z")
The [Turkish Van](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Van) is sometimes called the “Turkish Swimming Cat” because it doesn’t share the usual feline aversion to water, and often actually likes to enter the water and go swimming. They also have an unusual coat for a cat - it’s water repellent and dries quickly. That suggests that most cats don’t like the water partially because their coats aren’t designed for it. You wouldn’t like getting wet either if you felt compelled to dry yourself off with your tongue. BTW, among big cats, tigers don’t share the feline aversion to water, and are quite willing to go swimming. From wiki: > [@](#): > > Among the big cats, only the tiger and jaguar are strong swimmers; tigers are often found bathing in ponds, lakes, and rivers. Unlike other cats, which tend to avoid water, tigers actively seek it out. During the extreme heat of the day, they often cool off in pools. Tigers are excellent swimmers, able to swim up to 4 miles and carry dead prey across lakes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cats-hate-water/557425.md?page=2)