Conference misery::feline

    Dawn,
    
    Two of my cats love water also.  My Ragdoll, Kelsey, sits on the
    bathroom sink while I'm brushing my teeth or washing my face and sticks
    his head underneath the faucet to drink.  He will not drink from his
    water dish if I am home; he insists on using the faucet.  He hates
    having water touch his body though!
    
    Herbie, my Himalayan, insists on sitting on the my bathmat every
    morning while I shower and waits for me to come out and drip all over
    him.  He is very used to water, having been bathed a lot since
    kittenhood.  He doesn't drink from the faucet though; I think he's too
    dense to figure it out!
    
    -Roberta
    

        I used to have a Siamese male that absolutely refused to drink
    'old' water!! We had to keep one faucet dripping so he could climb into
    the sink and get his drinks from "new" water! 
    
        I currently have a little female, "Stormy", who is fascinated by
    water! She will stand by the dishpan that we use as a water bowl for
    the dogs, and will delicately whack the water with her paw, and then
    stand and intently watch the ripples... When they die down, she bats it
    again, starting more ripples. She will do this for an hour or more at a
    time...
    
       JM 

    I have 2 cats, a water hater and a water lover.  The water lover is a 
    Maine Coon look alike by the name of Count Basie.  He sits on the edge
    of the tub when I take my shower, and afterward jumps in to lick the
    tub dry.  He also hangs off the toilet seat and pats at the water in
    the toilet bowl; for a long time, until I close the lid and shoo him
    off.  I used to use water to teach discipline, but this quy just
    hunkers down and lets me squirt him - doesn't bother him one bit.  With
    the other cat, all I have to do is take out the squirt bottle or
    squirt gun, and she goes running.  The Count is a long hair, which
    maybe a factor in his not getting upset by water; I think, however that
    he may be just a whacko!!
                       

    
    All of my cats have one form of water obsession or another.  Old Merlin
    has to see me fill the water dish with water fresh from the faucet or
    he won't drink it; instead he'll jump in the tub and see if there's
    some "real" water leftover in there.  If I decide I need a long soak
    in the tub, he'll sit on the side of the tub next to me, and every now
    and then take a drink (it tastes better if it's dilute Daddy soup?).
    
    The "little" ones love to watch water drip, and one of Beautiful
    Blueberry's most favorite places is in the sink.  They don't mind
    getting a little wet, and they're still not completely sure why you
    can't stand on water when it looks more or less solid.
    
    len.
    

    Two days in a row! Can you all stand hearing from me so much!??? ;-)
    
    I have one water lover. Furby. I, like Sandy, give my kids spring water
    to drink. But NNOOOO! Furby joins me in the bathroom every morning
    after he 'Brekkies', and sits in the tub until I turn it on enough for
    her to get her drink. She drinks Hudson water! YUCK! She will drink out
    of a bowl of 'Hudson' water on the bathroom vanity too. Sometimes she
    wants me to hold the hand held shower head near the edge of the tub so
    she can get her drink from that. It has to be HOT water then though!
    She's bananas!
    
    The squirt bottle doesn't work too well with her either, as she chases
    the stream to play with it! The look on her face when it disappears is
    priceless though!
    
    Yonee

    
    Shilo (Maine Coon Kittie) loves water too!  In the moring it is a fight
    to see who is getting into the bathroom first..  If you are lucky
    enough to make it and close the door he will sit outside of the door
    and paw at it and mEoW like there is no tomorrow until you let him
    in...
    
    He loves sitting in the bathroom sink and jumping in to the tub.  The
    first time that he jumped in the tube we were all in the livingroom
    when he came walking in with all four of his feet soaking wet.  We
    wondered how this happened.  We soon found him in the tub.
    
    He also loves watching the washing machine fill up and gets pretty
    annoyed when I close the cover...
    
    He is always up to something that just keeps us smiling......
    
    *joyce
    

    
    I have a question.  All these kitties who love to play in water and
    drink from the sink, how do they feel about a bath (the kind you give
    them, not the kind they give themselves)? ;) Misty loves to walk into
    the shower when I get out and drink the water, but she absolutely hates
    baths and doesn't even like me to dry her wet feet after she been in
    the shower.   Devon likes to play with the water in the water bowl, but
    isn't thrilled about a bath.
    
    Steffi

    
    My cats clearly believe water is neat as long you don't get wet.
    
    len.
    

    Mine love to get splashed and dripped upon, but dunking is out!  
    
    They jump in my big garden tub and insist that I turn on the water.
    They play in it and drink it from the stream.  They love this tub
    even when it's not wet.  Dixie came running through the house the
    other day dripping wet, and I went to look at my tub that I had just
    filled up for a good soak, and there was a layer of gray hair 
    floating on top.  Guess she thought it was solid, too.
    
    Did you ever play "hidden toes" in the tub?  They chase my toes
    when I stick them barely out of the tub water.  This game can
    go on forever - bath water is cold when we're done.
    
    Both my kits are half Maine Coons, and also love to play in any
    and all water that they don't have to be immersed in.  Wonder if
    that's a Coon trait?
    
    Oh, and Dixie loves to play with my hair when it's wet.  I turn
    my head upside down for her, and she attacks it as if it were a
    wild animal.  Dry hair doesn't interest her.
    
    Sharon (and Max and Dixie)

    Our Maine Coon Cat, Chowder, loves faucets and tubs.  She will sit
    next to the sink for hours waiting patiently for one of us to turn
    on the water.  When we do, she likes to drink from the faucet by
    getting directly underneath it and opening her mouth.  Of course,
    she gets her head and paws all wet.  But just try to get her to
    take a bath and you have a major chore on your hands.  Who knows what
    goes on in the heads of those little kitties!!
    
    Carl

    Beth loves to play in her water bowl (and the toilet.....).  She loves
    to put her toys in there and to splash around.  She fell in the toilet
    once, which she did not enjoy, but as soon as I toweled her off, she
    was right back in there....
    
    Blue also loves water.  He loves to drink out of the bathroom sinks,
    something he did in his old house.  In order to keep their baby out of
    his water bowl, they started leaving the sink full of water and Blue
    much prefers that.
    
    Mary
    

    
    
    	Must be something about Maine Coons.  My Sasha is part
    	coon kitty and loves water.  Very very seldom will she
    	drink out of the water dish.  I either have to turn on
    	the faucet in the bathroom sink or she'll sit in the tub
    	and wait for the water to drip.  Audrey is fascinated by
    	a tub full of water and the shower.  If I'm in the tub
    	she bats at the water (and or bubbles  =)  ) with her paw.
    	I'm waiting for the day that she falls in.  Hopefully
    	it won't happen when *I'm* also in the tub.  And if I'm
    	in the shower she loves to walk between the curtain and
    	the liner and peek in at me.  
    
    	JJ
    

    Spunky has a bathroom fetish (already described elsewhere in here), but
    has recently also decided that our flooded cellar is a fine kitty
    playground.  We must have about 2" of water down there and he leaves
    these wet kitty footprints all over.  He doesn't mind splashing through
    the deep water, or rolling in the muddy parts, or even drinking the
    water (it's clean).  What's really funny is he;ll take his latest fav
    toy, one of those 50 cent fur-covered mousies you get in the bucket at
    Pet Depot, downstairs, DUNK IT, then bring it back upstairs to play
    with it.  Maybe it tastes better wet??
    
    -dana

     I have 2 water babies.  The Princess like to take a bath with me.  The
    last two words are key.  She does not like to be bathed, but if I take
    a (Rare but much enjoyed) long soak in a hot tub, she will join me. 
    She actually starts out by playing with my toes, and then eventually
    she will crawl out on to my knees and shimmey into the water!  (She got
    pushed in one day by Spots, and discovered that the water was WARM and
    so she stayed!)  She looks soooo cute with her solemn little face and
    all her fur floating and her eyes half closed!  The only downside is I
    can't use bath oil any more.  (It takes too long to get it out of her
    fur!)
    
    Cinnamon will get in the shower with me in the morning.  He is such a
    hoot!  He get on the side of the tub, between the curtains, then he
    just hops in.  I turned around one morning and there he was, looking up
    at me as if to say, WOW, all these drips to chase!  CooL Mummie!  I
    have to stay between him and the spray, but gettin wet doesn't phase
    him in the least!
    
    Feline 2/3's Wet, (Spots only likes water in the bowl!)
    
    Sue & Crew.
    

    re:  .13
    
    Mine love their mouse (a rabbit hair-bow minus the metal clip - no, I
    didn't buy it, it was given to me and I didn't want to wear something
    that was killed for a hair-bow!) when it's wet.  They turn into jungle
    kitties for hours.  I've always known that a wet dog smells stronger
    (yuk) than a dry one - must be true of rabbits, too, as well as 
    other furry playthings.  
    
    Sharon
    

    Has anyone come across a breed called Van cats (after lake Van in eastern 
    Turkey). I'd heard that all Van cats like swimming & used to hunt fish 
    in the lake by swimming after them. They are sort of white and beige
    coloured, but I can't remember how long their coat is. I would love a
    cat that enjoyed swimming, it would look so odd.
    
    Andy

    Andy, 
    
    You're talking about a "turkish Van".  They are from Turkey, and named
    after lake Van.  They are basically a turkish angora, from a different
    part of Turkey.  SOME turkish angoras like water, but not all of them. 
    Especially since they've been domesticated.  They have medium length
    hair (Cindy Gerry calls them a "fake longhair". (-:).  VERY pretty
    cats.
    
    Holly (who raises turkish angoras)
    

    I remember hearing on a television documentary about cats that the
    Turkish Van breed today is, in fact, a mutant. The original Turkish Van
    cat was all-white.

    Actually, Turkish come in ALL colors.  I've got a beautiful Turkish
    Angora who is black and white.  However, they will only allow white
    cats to come out of the zoo in Ankara, Turkey.  As I said, Turkish Vans
    are basically the same cat as a Turkish Angora, just from a different
    part of Turkey.
    
    Holly
    

    Back to water adventures...
    
    My new Siamese adoptee, Lily, found out about looking before 
    leaping the hard way.
    
    Every morning I scoop their litterbox out into the toiletbowl, so
    one morning I had the seat up.  Well, Lily comes bombing into the
    bathroom, jumps right into the toiletbowl, and springs back up
    about 2 feet in the air barely touching the water.  I grabbed her,
    laughing my head off, and toweled her off.
    
    You'd think she learned her lesson... Noooooo... the VERY NEXT 
    MORNING - same scenario, except this time, she realizes the seat
    is up, so in desparation she grabs onto the lid, and in what seems
    like slow motion, the lid start to slowing come down, poor Lily
    hanging on for dear life!!!  She finally fell backward onto the
    bathroom floor, totaly humiliated!!  Luckily the poor baby didn't
    get hurt - and I was cracking up laughing!!!
    
    Kittens certainly keep life interesting!
    
    Pam

    That's so funny.  But, you really shouldn't laugh at your cat, that
    embarrasses them. ;)  We try to cover our mouths when we are laughing
    at something they did.
    
    Steffi

    
    
    	Pam,
    
    	If I remember from the intro note, your Lily is a 
    	lynx-point siamese?  Must run in the family....my
    	lynx Audrey is *far* from Ms. Graceful as well..... =)
    
    	JJ
    

    Yep, she's a lynx-point.  Another hilarious thing she does.
    We have a kitty tease (fishing pole with little piece of material
    tied to a string).  When she grabs hold of the material in her
    little teeth, she growls, her eyes cross (even more so than
    usual!) and her ears go flat.  She looks like the kitten-from-hell!
    She has the funniest expression on her face - totally different
    from the sweet baby kitten face she usually has.  You just have
    to laugh out loud seeing this face!!  I wish I could get a picture
    of it while she's doing this!!
    
    And her jaws are SO STRONG, it takes practically all my strength
    to open them to get the teaser out!  She's not very much fun for
    the other cats - no one else can play once she grabs it!
    
    Pam

    
    re. 23 - My sweet little Robin is like that.  When she gets something
    prey-like in her mouth she does a Jeckyl/Hyde transformation.  She
    growls, she hisses, she's a regular "don't mess with me I'm a killer
    feline predator".  Then a little while later she comes bounding up
    on my chest begging "please pet my head so my purr engine will start up
    and I can drool all over you".
    
    len.
    

    
    
    	re: .23
    
    	Audrey does that but it's during what I call "slow motion
    	wrestling" with Sasha.  Her haunches go up, her ears go back,
    	she squints her eyes, slowly scrunches down and puts one
    	paw in the air.  She stays like this till one of them 
    	decides to pounce.  It doesn't happen very often but I get
    	a kick out of it when it does.  Ends up being a hit and run..
    	there's a pounce and then they both take off like the wind
    	in separate directions.
    
    	JJ

    
    
    Each of my kitties have their own view of water..

Meatbee, absolutely loves to sit in the window (a bay window off 
the tub/shower) while someone is showering or bathing.  The 
steam bath treatment must be what makes her such a princess.  She 
also loves to play around bubble baths.  BUT never, never ever 
get her face wet.  HORRORS!!!!   She is also the only one in 
the house that must drink from the sink.  Of source only if it 
is filled just 1/3 up and never until the running water has stopped.  
She won't drink from a filled sink unless she has seen the fresh 
running water going in first.  So leaving a sinkful is not acceptable.
Talk about picky!

Maxwell, doesn't care for bowls or sinks to much.  He will drink from a 
bowl but only if it is outside on the porch.  He prefers instead to
go over to our drip water system (spickets and drippers) and suck on 
them.  Looks pretty silly this huge cat sitting in my tulips sucking 
on a straw coming out of the ground.  Obviously I can't add any 
fertilizer through my system.  He's big enough already!!  Max does 
not like to be wet unless it is from rain.  He will run around in 
it until soaked, but will not get near any human sources (showers etc.).  
Personally I think he just loves to be dried  off....  oooh feels good 
Mom..  Rub more under my belly, even if it is dry already. :*)

Stingo, will drink out of sinks, tubs, toilets, puddles, you name it.
Doesn't mind getting wet unless it is the anit-Stingo squirt bottle.
I used to bathe him all the time (he is white and heads for the dirt
at any chance).  After a few times and him crying like I was killing 
him, I gave up and he gets "sponge baths" now.   He does like to sit 
and watch us in the hot tub.... must think we're nuts getting in that 
big hot thing full of water.  He will jump up and look in and touch 
us with his paw.

Sophie, my wonder baby, is an ice cube freak!!  If I get ice out of the 
fridge, she comes running and sits and waits until I give her a cube.
Funny the other cats only come running when they hear the food being
opened.  Then it's HOCKEY time...  She also expects a few cubes dropped 
in her water dish.  The only way she will drink any water is in HER dish 
with ice cubes.   She will also sit by the tub, but only on the ouside
of the shower door.  She likes to watch but has not ventured in yet.

Becky
Mom of four

    Gee Becky, you really ought to spoil your kids a little. ;)
    
    Steffi