Hm. Maybe try putting the water away from the food. Some cats don’t like it near the food. (Presumably related to clean water sources in nature vs. dead prey.)
My last cat only ever drank from the running tab. Jumped into the bathtub and meowed until someone turned it on, day or night.
We got one of those little water fountains, super popular. Everyone has there own place on it to drink. One likes where the water comes out, one likes the little pool and one likes the edge towards the nozzle, the water makes small waves there.
They really make sense; instinctively, cats trust running water more than stale water, for the same reasons I mentioned.
Often thought about it, but didn’t get a chance to try.
Dogs : ooh that’s disgusting looking puddle let’s drink it all
I can’t believe that there are cat owners who don’t know this.
If they’re an indoor cat, buy a cat harness and take them on a walk. Preferably one with a long leash.
Do not try to walk them like a dog; that will never work.
Cats are fiercely independent; try to force them in a particular direction and they’ll protest. Let them lead the way.
If they try to go somewhere dangerous, simply stand in place and do not allow them to progress any further. Do not tug, they will eventually get the message on their own.
Be prepared to spend a half hour minimum outside, ideally an hour or more. Cats like to take their time on a walk.
That was so nice when I got an 8 year old indoor cat. You could see this world of wonder in her eyes, as she didn’t know where to look and where to sniff first.
With time, I could let her run free but supervised in a shared apartment building garden. She always went to the same pine trees and couldn’t get enough sniffing them. Also jumped on the window sill of neighbour cats just to hiss at them from the outside.
When I went to neighbours, for example to pick up a package or talk about something, she trotted next to me through the hallways like a well-trained dog and sat next to me when I talked to a neighbour. The whole stairway and hallways were another great adventure to her, sniffing and clawing doormats etc.
Also be prepared to let the walk take 5 minutes or less if the cat doesn’t feel like it. Or if they find it too scary (but might want to try again a little while later).
If you want this to be successful, you would be wise to devote time to harness training (i.e. getting used to the harness) first. Don’t just put the harness on - it can be a bad experience for the cat and move you further from the goal of a walk.
Yes, the worst was when something startled her (sting from a thistle?) and she dashed for the door full speed, into the harness, did a looping. A good fit is essential, could have cause major injury!
He’s lookin in the pantry for whatever magical thing you’re eating comes from
Move the water away from the food. Get bowls that are wider and shallower than those so kitty’s whiskers don’t touch the sides when drinking and eating. Cats like separation between food and water, and they don’t like their whiskers touching the bowl when they eat.
Might make mealtimes easier for kitty.
Also, get ceramic bowls and keep them clean. Plastic and metal ones are associated with cat acne…
Except for some cats that show their face down a glass to drink, with their whiskers completely squashed between them and the glass.
And apparently prefer it that way. Most cats will not like it but some do.
Your water is always worth the effort. It hasn’t been sitting in a bowl all day.
That is true, but the glass could also stand on the table the whole day and ge didn’t care. By the end he got his own glass and he loved it just the same, our water was however still a bit better.
When you’re gf doesn’t know where to eat and shoots down every restaurant in the tri-state area.
They prefer to have the water away from food bowls, is a sanitary instinct for predators
I keep telling my girlfriend this but she doesn’t listen. “I see her drinking her water all the time!”, she says. Yeah well she’d drink a lot more if you moved her water bowl!
It frustrates me so much because kidney failure is extremely common in cats due to low water intake. She claims that she loves her cat so much yet refuses to research this shit.
Meanwhile I have two water fountains for my kitty—both far away from the food—and let him drink from sink anytime he wants. She never lets him because he gets in the way of her “skincare routine”, but I am of the opinion that you should never pass up on an opportunity for your cat to drink more water.
When we got our two cats (they were buddies in the shelter, so they came in a bundle) one was super scared of everything. The first two weeks we only noticed his presence in the middle of the night, when he came out of hiding to eat. Then he started drinking out of my water cup, which is on my desk next to me. A year later I’m drinking out of a bottle and he has still his favorite cup on my desk :) the other one is using a fountain.
At this point jusk ask her to move the water for your peace of mind. I’m worried this will breed resentment otherwise when her cat’s health fails, even if it’s only due to aging. If she respects you she will move the bowl, even if she believes it is totally unnecessary.
That or suggest a second water bowl, as a can’t harm to give the cat more water to choose from.
Deep in thought. “Is this what my life has become? I used to be a legendary hunter.”
“My ancestors could take down water buffalo. Look what I’ve let myself become. I could probably only take down a Zebra now.”
This can actually be a large part of it. Cats are obligate hunters so they can be pretty regimented in wanting a ‘hunt’ to spur their appetite.
A play session may be that fourth thing.
The fourth is catnip. Always the 'nip.
Once my mom asked me to clear out a planter box that had become overgrown because she wanted to plant tomatoes. I pulled up this 3ft tall stalk plant with little purplish flowers, and as soon as I shoved it in the trash bag, the cat came running from the other side of the house and dove face first in the bag. After a minute or so, it was backing out of the bag with the stalk between his teeth dragging it out of the bag and once it was out of the bag started nibbling on it and rolling around on the plant. Looked up what the plant was and apparently I had just pulled up his catnip grow operation. When he came down, he was mad at me for a few days.
A Webbox treat stick.
Split water and food bowls by a good amount of space. Opposite sides of the room, or different rooms altogether. And more than 1 water bowl. Apparently these tricks are useful.
Yeah I only learned a couple of years ago that cats hate having their water anywhere near food. Moving bowls into different rooms made a huge difference to their water consumption.
There is also a trick I used to do - fill the food bowl with water (wetfood only). The cat plucked it out of the water and then drank the water. They take in most of their water from drinking blood / when eating. Also important to feed them internal organs - chicken hearts, livers, etc.
My mom was a florist with a greenhouse attached to the house. Cats loved roaming the greenhouse to find mice of course, but by far their favorite was all the glasses of water my mom used to cut flowers with, we joked that one particular tuxedo cat had a refined palette and would only sip on rose water.
When those cats were thirsty, they didn’t check the water by the dog food or one in their cat tree for a sip, they’d go right to the table and counter top and sniff around at every glass they could find till something seemed just right for them.
Me and my sisters pretty much had to go around the house collecting glasses every day we got home from school cause my mother couldn’t be bothered to clean up after herself.
i wonder why that is
I’d suspect it’s a water safety thing, not wanting to drink stagnant water right next to their “kill”. The cats I’ve had have always preferred drinking running water in the bath
This is but a hypothesis, though
Sometimes I wish I can read cats’ minds so I can finally understand what they want
Be careful what you wish for.
Indeed.
The next best thing: Talking buttons
It looks like a human looking into the fridge full of food but finding nothing to eat
Me, every day.
Your mind will be blown once you learn about ‘different flavours’. I wish I could ask my cat which he prefers.
I finally figured out mine doesn’t have a favorite and he rotates through multiple flavors. Variety is the spice of life and all that. I mostly have it figured out now and only have to give away about a bag a month. Took nearly $200 of food research to get here though I hope he knows how much I care
Couldn’t you have multiple flavors out to eat in order and see which one they eat first?
I don’t have a pet but I think I’d do that. Food is mostly fuel for pets so they’ll eat what’s available unless there’s a problem. These things are manufactured to be appealing to your kitties. If they won’t eat it you won’t buy it.
Mine goes off fish every now and then. Sometimes during these times she will still eat salmon, but not tuna, cod or her freeze dried minor treats.
Other times I have to be careful not to get my hand attacked for not putting the fish dish down fast enough.
The other night she had chicken “stew” for first dinner, reluctantly. When I tried to serve the same flavor for 3am dinner, she sniffed it and then reached out and scratched my leg and yelled at me.
I haven’t gotten rid of that flavor, she may change her mind later.
She’s currently only excited about beef and rabbit flavor. I’m extremely disturbed about canned rabbit, so I hope she starts accepting poultry again soon.
Wait… Now I’m remembering about that dog that got trained to talk with a sound board.
If you had that for a cat with water, chicken, fish and beef I wonder if it would work…
Edit: It can be done…
Holy crap that’s nuts
a cats favorite flavor is whatever they feel like it is at any particular moment
And/or whatever you’ve just given up on and thrown away
What Whisker likes today might not be appealing to him tomorrow, and he will ask for it in 2 months when you thought he didn’t like it. Don’t get me started on which brands he favors depending on which direction the wind blows. That being said, I got mine to eat his wet food by mixing pumpkin purée for human babies with it. It worked for almost an entire week.
Fun fact, pumpkin purée is the #1 vet recommended cat laxative.
That is a fun fact!
I could present him with multiple options at once, but since he only gets wet food, this would involve a lot of waste.
There’s also the added problem of changing taste. Depending on my mood, I prefer different food on different days. Until proven otherwise, I just assume the same for him, which is why I would ideally have everything in stock and he could choose every day.
Maybe I should get more cats, give them multiple options and see who goes for what. Ideally, everything gets eaten and I learn more about their preferences.
Maybe you can try to associate the food with a label? So that the cats can point at a label or color or whatever the association with a flavor is, to show you what it wants in the Moment?
I do this, and it’s still only like a 60% chance it’ll appeal to my cat in the moment. I just let it sit until she either eats it or it’s been 6+ hours (she’ll generally eat it within 1-2 hours, though). I use wet food pouches, and only put a little in the dish at a time, so it’s not a huge waste, but it’s annoying when she chooses a flavor and still doesn’t want it.
Evey time I entertain the thought about adopting a cat I think about stuff like this and nope right out.
If a person would act like that you would hate their guts :D
Tbh, it’s not even a question in my mind about whether she’s worth the hassle. I’m not an especially patient person, and I grew up with very tolerant and well behaved dogs, so I had much the same thought before I adopted my cat, but she’s absolutely delightful. She’s sometimes picky, but she communicates pretty well to me, so what she’s thinking is not normally a mystery.
Coming home to her climbing all over me and aggressively nuzzling my face is one of my favorite things in life and it’s totally worth a little guesswork on her preferences. That obviously isn’t totally universal, but I didn’t consider myself a cat person before, so it might be true for you as well.
I decided to get a cat after hanging out with my sister’s friendly cats and realizing that I do love cats, as long as they’re not the shitty stereotype I had of a standoffish, hissing, scratching asshole.
Treats:
This is the answer.
My cat is 18, and she has become extraordinarily picky in the past year. The only thing she will eat reliably is Churu. She gets her medicine mixed in it twice a day, which means that now she wakes me up at 5 a.m. daily to beg for her breakfast.
I have the only cat in the world who could take or leave Churu.
you are not alone! i ended up mixing them in with wet food just to get rid of them. (the churus, not the cats)
Mine too. Sniffed it and wandered off. Tried 2 flavours.
Dreamies work though
Out of our 4, two are obsessed with it and 2 just don’t care. I think it’s the smell.
For me this 4th thing is “tub”. It’s when my cat asks me to fill the bathtub with a small puddle of water so he can stand on the dry side and drink from the puddle. He’s 18 years old but he can still climb in and out of the tub and I think that’s pretty cool.
