Forums » Smalltalk » Water Dish Suggestions

Hey everyone! So, this man right here is giving me some hassle!



He's definitely living up to the name Mushu.

I have a water dish ( this one, to be precise), and Ellie, my girl kitty, has had no problem with it.
Mushu, on the other hand, has the habit of somehow splashing the water out of the dish. I have not witnessed this, but I have seen him standing on the edge with his two front paws before. Usually the mat I have underneath catches it all, but this morning it was sloshed EVERYWHERE.

Do any of you pet-savvy people have suggestions on a water dish that he won't be able to make a mess with??

He sounds like a cat I had before. He had depth perception issues, so he could not see the water unless he found a way to disturb the water. I am not sure if this kitty has the same issue, but it might be something to keep in mind. He may also like playing in the water.

This is actually good to know! I adopted him, and his last owner just told me that when he was a kitten he got scratched by his brother in his eye and had an infection in both eyes. She took him to the vet and got him treated, but he gets teary-eyed occasionally (which prompted my question to her in the first place). So he might have a couple other minor eye problems. (I have noticed that his 'tears' are a lot less frequent than the first day I had him, so it might be stress-induced).

I know it's a really simple trick, but maybe try and find a flat or large enough rock(s) (cleaned, obviously lol) and put them at the bottom? If the issue is him just moving the bowl, then simply putting a weight or a few might help a bit.

I know my cats are awful with sloshing water around when the bowls can be easily moved; Sometimes they get too excited when they're playing and just careen into it and SPLOOSH water everywhere lol

I hope you can figure this out though! I know how annoying cleaning water over and over and over can get lol

Well he looks like a tough kitty! Lovely color to his coat as well. My advise is to show him the dish, kind of tap it and see if he can learn to figure it out himself. What my cat ended up learning is that if he 'dug' at the bottom of the bowel, it caused ripples in the water and he managed to solve his own issue. ^^ I hope everything works out!

If seeing the water is an issue, maybe a cat fountain would help? Looks pretty expensive, though! https://www.amazon.com/Cat-Mate-Pet-Fountain-Fluid/dp/B001TY5D6C

Some cats really hate it when their whiskers touch the sides of a bowl. They're super sensitive to it. Maybe you could go a cheap route of trying a shallow, wide water dish for him where his whiskers don't touch any edges? I also notice that this is a bowl that keeps the water really cold, he might not like overly cold water. You could try going for lukewarm, see if he likes that?

Minke sometimes 'digs' at the water because it's not as clean as he likes, and Dette sometimes just enjoys drowning her toys (like the little villain she is) and playing around which creates a mess. There are lots of innocent reasons cats mess with water besides potentially poor eye sight too.

You guys are all being super helpful, thank you!!

I was considering this option, getting the 'small dog' size so that the bowls are bigger (and might help if it's the whisker problem?). It seems like it would at least keep the mess concentrated to a 'safe zone', if he really does just like to play around.
Any thoughts?

I have my parents' small dog bowl and the whiskers definitely touch the edges and it doesn't contain any messes. You might want to try using one of your own dishes and picking a shallow soup bowl or something for a bit and see if that helps. If it does and that's the problem, they make special bowls for cats for whisker sensitivity: https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Catsbys-Food-Whisker-Relief/dp/B017DUKHKM

(That's the first one I found, you might be able to find something cheaper if you shop around a bit!)

Edit: Found one for just a couple of bucks! https://www.amazon.com/DESIGN-Melamine-Shallow-Whisker-Pattern/dp/B0711112CY/ref=pd_sim_199_5?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0711112CY&pd_rd_r=5P6X2R7GQD5579J7NF0Z&pd_rd_w=ISjHB&pd_rd_wg=U1gyC&psc=1&refRID=5P6X2R7GQD5579J7NF0Z

Sanne,
That's awesome! I'll definitely try that, I'm so glad you found the cheaper alternative - that way if it doesn't work, I didn't spend a lot of money on it
Thank you!!

Celestina: I’m just curious - have you had a chance to try any solutions, and did it resolve the problem?

I have had a chance to try solutions, but unfortunately I'm back with another plea for help!

So far I tried;
one of the 'shallow' dishbowls that Sanne suggested
Metal bowls (knowing cats don't like plastic sometimes)
Fountain

I just got the fountain yesterday, so maybe it will take him time to adjust. We're thinking he might have problems with seeing things up close (he's better farsighted), so I was thinking that maybe he just couldn't see the water and that's why he would splash. But he splashed at the fountain too.
This morning, I put fresh water in it, and tried to make it as lukewarm as possible. This is my last shot, hoping that maybe he just doesn't like cold water? Otherwise I'm at my complete wit's end. I currently have an absorbant bath mat under the water dish to soak up the water he splashes out with his paws.

Hmm. That’s a tough one. The only thing I can think of at this point is that maybe he doesn’t like the taste of your local water? I’ve lived in places where I wouldn’t drink the water unless it was filtered. Just hated the taste. In other apartments, the water was fine. So if you bought some bottled water with a low mineral content, you could test it. Or you could just boil your tapwater, let it cool and then serve it to him - that should remove at least some stuff and may improve the taste.

That's possible, though I have a filter on my tap (it does need changed though..)
There's also a filter in the pet water fountain, but he might not have tasted it enough yet to realize? He splashed it before he even licked at it. Why can't I have a normal cat?? I love him but he's being difficult lol

Oh right, I forgot about the filter in the fountain Maybe at some point he’ll drink enough of the water to realize that the taste is different? I’ll try to think of other things that might help and I’ll post again if I think of something.

WE HAVE SUCCESS!!
Mushu has been drinking from the fountain without splashing! I have been careful to not put COLD water in it, so that plus the filter/fountain mixture is probably what did the trick! Yay!!

Yay! I’m very glad it worked!