November 29, 2014

Sammy Gets A Drink


I keep a stainless steel bucket under the spigot of my wood cookstove hot water reservoir. That makes it handy when the stove is in use and I want hot water. It actually sits there all the time, because the other thing I used it for is to catch water from the kitchen faucet. Rather than letting all that cold water go down the drain while I'm waiting for the water to warm up, I catch it in the bucket. Then it goes to water plants or into the washing machine.

All the cats love to drink out of this bucket. Riley is a surface licker, although he likes to paw the ground as a prelude to getting his drink. In fact, all that pawing is the reason the cats' water dish resides in the bathroom. He prefers drinking out of the bucket and if the water level in the bucket is low, he stretches his neck!

Riley

Katy is a paw dipper, which works for all water levels.

Katy

But Sam - if the water is low ...

Sam



If the water is low he stands with his front feet in the water, in the bucket!


What a cat.

Sammy Gets A Drink © November 2014
by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

16 comments:

Judy said...

Psycho Kitty is a surface licker and a paw dipper. It depends on how fresh the water is. If I have just refilled her bowl she does the licking. If the water is a couple of hours old then she does the paw dipping thing.

Bill said...

We have a cat and a dog who spend part of the day inside and they share a water bowl. Seeing how they drink so differently makes me smile. Our dogs laps and slurps the water (from the middle of the bowl), making so much noise you can hear her drinking from across the house. Our cat, on the other hand, silently sips (always from the edge of the bowl--unless he's drinking from the toilet).

Dani said...

Cute - and clever cats :)

Farmer Barb said...

Having ZERO knowledge about cats, I have found it very interesting to note exactly how they choose to drink. I had a friend whose cat I "sat" for when she was gone. She had a cat bubbler. If the water wasn't moving, she wouldn't drink it.

DFW said...

Leigh, our cat is a paw dipper as well. Usually from the rain barrels. As much as we try to keep the screens on the openings, he always gets it open to get himself a drink from the fresh rainwater. That Sammy is something else!

Anna said...

Wow, you have very unspoiled cats. If our cats' water bucket is low (or stale or the phase of the moon is wrong or....), then our boys just sit there and meow until we fix it. :-)

Mom at home said...

Our cat paws at the water and gets it all over the floor first then he sticks both front feet in while he drinks. We keep a towel around the bowl to keep the floor dry. Laser also loves to lay in the bathroom sink. He doesn't care if you let the water run over him!
The only thing we can think of is that he was kept in a kennel as a kitten and his water source was a bottle to lick. We adopted him from the vet school as he was used in medical research. He flunked out because he was too healthy!

Unknown said...

It's very interesting to know that you also have a cat that paws the ground before it drinks. Riley sounds a lot like our cat Orange. He basically looks like he digs for water in front of the dish before he drinks. I don't know why they do this.

Renee Nefe said...

When we lived in Korea the apparent "in thing" was to get these cut rock fountains. The pumped water caused a round cut rock to spin on the top. This made an excellent water dish for my neighbor's 3 cats. The only problem was making sure that it didn't run dry as that is hard on the pump motor.
Here Lilly is always willing to check out new water sources.

Renee Nefe said...

note: I didn't buy into any of the "in things" in Korea.

Unknown said...

My cat has gotten the point she won't drink water unless it's out of the water filter faucet or a fresh glass. Spoiled kitty :) Great pics!

Sandy Livesay said...

Leigh,

Your cats seem to have no fear of water. My sisters old cat used to jump up on the side of the tub when she was showering until one day he fell in the shower. No more water for him!!!

Adorable pictures of your cats.

Mama Mess said...

Such a cute post! Very pretty kitties!

Leigh said...

Ya'll, it's so much fun to hear about your cats. It's amazing how some don't mind water in the least but some hate it. I have photos of Sammy wading in puddles to play with raindrops. :)

Anonymous said...

How adorable

Cozy Thyme Cottage said...

Love the color of Katy! Nancy