The Shover and the Splasher

Some cats prefer to drink water that is in motion. Not to pretend that I begin to understand the cat brain. This is a documented phenomenon. Moving water is preferable in the wild because it is less likely to contain pathogens or dead stuff or just plain icky infestations that they would rather not ingest. So they splash the water around to imitate this moving water preference even though they live in the veritable lap of modern luxury. I guess Newton and Einstein took exception to their stationary water dish. But just recently. Last summer I began to notice that there was a puddle of water next to their water dish. So I'd wipe it up. Then I started leaving an old towel on the floor so the water wouldn't spread. Then Reid noticed that water had invaded their food dishes, leaving a layer of moldy nasty crusty former cat food at the bottom. Something had to be done. So I relocated their water dish to my shower stall. A place with a drain! Which was when I discovered how the little stinkers animated their H2O. Newton is a splasher. He smacks his front paws into the water with gusto before he drinks. When he leaves my bathroom he has been spotted with dripping whiskers. Not to mention the telltale pawprints on my bath mat. Steinie moves the whole damn dish. He's a shover. You can hear him doing this from the other end of the house. There is this lovely grating sound effect produced by the plastic water dish traveling from one end of the shower stall's textured surface to the other. It even echoes. I'm not entirely sure when he pauses to actually drink. I do know that the water moves significantly, escaping the confines of the bowl. The new dish location seems to please them. And I know I am much happier not stepping in a puddle on the cold basement floor. I do wonder, though, what might happen when they're both thirsty at the same time.