Why do cats paw at the water bowl before drinking?
Carlotta Ledner
2025-07-16 19:38:40
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Cats dip their paws in water and then lick it when they try to avoid the water bowl touching their whiskers. Your cat might not like this sensation, which can be irritating to her. Lots of cats prefer shallow water and food bowls. Choose a bowl that has a plenty of space for whiskers, not narrow or deep, so the whiskers don’t touch the bowl sides.
Some cats prefer to drink moving water. When they put their paw in a water bowl, they try to imitate the running water. Moving water can look more fresh, and therefore, more appealing to cats.
A cat dips paw in water before drinking, if she is not sure about the water level. This can happen when you refill the bowl from time to time and to a different level. Keep the water level consistent through time and when refreshing the water. Cats like routine and consistency.
When your kitty gets older, some functions can deteriorate, including an eyesight. Senior cats and cats with eyesight problems can touch water before drinking to determine the water depth. Then they tend to dip their paws in water and drink.
By drinking by scooping the water with a paw, the cat may be looking for a fast escape, if a need arises. If cats have changes in their routine or environment, they might feel less secure. To make cats feel safe and not stressed, keep the water bowl location consistent, have a feeding and other interaction routines, correctly introduce new pets to the family, make sure you have plenty of water bowls of various shapes and sizes available for your cat.
Zoe Green
2025-07-10 18:07:10
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They have to paw and splash at the water first. But all that poking and prodding does actually serve a purpose. Firstly, dogs and (especially) cats instinctively know that still, stagnant water can be a dangerous breeding ground for bacteria and parasites so that pawing at the water is basically a depth, temperature and water quality check. It also gets the water moving which immediately makes it more appealing to drink. The other factor playing into a water pawing are whiskers. Cats instinctively don’t like putting their head through a space where those highly sensitive hairs touch the side walls. So for bowls with high sides (or that are close to empty) the paw is deployed as a bit of a dipstick.
Shemar Crona
2025-07-01 13:04:07
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Your cat’s whiskers are very sensitive. They’re rich in nerve endings that aid your cat’s vision and help them sense the environment around them. If your cat’s water bowl is too narrow or deep, their whiskers squash against the sides. This is uncomfortable for your cat. The constant stimulation of those nerve endings overwhelms their senses, resulting in your cat to use their paws instead to avoid discomfort. Inconsistent Water Depth can also lead to this behavior, as cats are very fussy and any change to the status quo can lead to strange behavior, such as paw dipping. If you’re inconsistent in how much water you pour into your cat’s bowl, your furbaby might use their paw to test the depth of the water, checking to see if you’ve topped it up to the level they’re used to. Water Bowl Placement is another factor, as many cats dislike being backed into a corner, which can make them feel vulnerable if they lower their head to drinking normally. They use their paws instead so they can still keep an eye out.
Broderick Tremblay
2025-06-24 22:40:58
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Pawing at, playing with or even splashing in a water dish is not as unusual for cats as you might think. Though the conventional wisdom might dictate otherwise, some cats love water –– as long as it’s not aimed at them, as it is during a bath, and consider water a fun toy. They love its reflective surface and the way it splashes when they hit it. To some cats, that means moving water is preferable to the sort that sits still in a dish for hours. So it is that some cats prefer to drink aerated water directly from the tap, a fountain or even the toilet. Cats who splash their water before drinking may, in fact, be attempting to achieve a similar effect.
Charley Schroeder
2025-06-14 10:33:18
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Many Cats Prefer Moving Water
When your cat bats at the water in her bowl, she might be trying to get it moving.
That's because, in the wild, cats evolved to learn that still or stagnant water isn't as safe to drink as running water.
Puddles of unmoving water are more likely to have harmful bacteria growing in them.
Slapping at the water dish is a way for cats to get their water moving a bit, which makes them feel more comfortable about drinking it.
If your cat bats at the water in her bowl before getting a drink and likes to climb on the counter to drink water out of the tap when you turn it on, this might be the reason.
If you think your kitty prefers running water, get a water fountain.
They have charcoal filters to get rid of yucky tastes and smells that might turn cats off from drinking, and the water is continuously moving.
Water fountains can encourage more water drinking in cats, and that's a great thing because they often tend to run dehydrated, which may exacerbate or cause specific medical issues.
Winifred Kozey
2025-06-07 06:10:13
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It's possible many cats do this as a form of enrichment. Just like people, cats need enrichment in their lives and find ways to create play and fun. Playing with their water could be one outlet from this. But Brooks also notes that some cats do prefer drinking from moving water, which could be why my cat gets his water all sloshy before he starts sipping. Offering your cat the chance to drink from a running faucet can sometimes be enjoyable for them, assuming it's safe to drink from your faucet. Many people have those constantly-running water bowls for their cats for this very reason. Sometimes cats are just cats. And much like their need to knock everything off of a table if they want to, they may just want to slosh their water around and make a giant mess before they start drinking it.
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