Eating bowls

[Maria]

I recently went out and bought some new, expensive ceramic bowls for the cats. Not only would they look nicer, I thought, than the plastic things they were using, but the cats are sure to appreciate them. Not so! They'd rather stick with the plastic cheapies, thank you very much!
It reminded me of a friend's cat that refused to drink out of anything other than an old mug they had. Even when he went to the cattery for 'holidays', the mug had to go with him.
Does anyone else's cats have strange preferences with their food/water bowls?  
Maria

[Heather]

My son's cat will only drink out of a mug also, she will put her paw in and lick the water off . She will not drink out of anything else and she is in her late teens.

[topaz]

Buxton spring water, filtered over thousands of years through hundreds of feet of moorland rock to bring you unparallelled freshness and purity - totally ignored in favour of a pool of muddy water on the patio.

[Ann]

I haven't noticed any preference for eating bowls, mainly because I haven't tried changing the boys. Although on the odd occasion when I put a saucer down with some extra food, I can certainly say they attack it with their usual gusto. Mind you, it's usually a treat of some sort, so that could have a bearing.

What I have found however is that they're only interested in one litter tray, a tatty old grey one that came with them from their previous home. (It really adds to the ambience of my living room!!) I installed a spanking shiny new one in the bedroom some time ago and that has been completely ignored by both of them. I'm wondering what'll happen if the tatty grey one ever conks out!

Ann

[Lesley]

cleo and coco refused the 'changed' water bowl.
now, the child's plastic mug (accepted only in the bath tub) is the only water source!
the food bowl is always the same, but is inspected throughly when i wash it.

[sass]

Well Muff soon developed a preference for drinking from the kitchen tap. This was sweet at first but soon we realized that

a) It's unhygenic when you want to get a drink and realize she's had her tongue around the spout!

b) It's dangerous when I'm running the hot water tap and she makes a beeline for the water.

c) and of course Ming wants to copy her.

We couldn't break her of the habit so we took a tip from a TV program I was watching about animals with problems (I forget the name of it), a behaviourist had suggested the purchase of a fountain for someone who had the same problem with her cat. So we tried it.

Here's Solomon possing next to the fountain

Muff really loved it. She spent the first 24 hours glued to it as if it were a really good tv show! Now they all use it. And I love the sound of running water too.

[Lesley]

sass,
fantastic! i love this idea *and what a beautiful fountain.
i think i will get one as well. of course i'll have to put it high enough so the babies can't decorate with the water. but what a great idea. thanks for sharing. *p.s. great photos!

[Ann]

I love the idea of a fountain too and have been intending to treat myself to one. The one in the picture is so attractive.

Ann

[sass]

I love the fountain, I love the sound of tinkling water. But be warned, once you have it you can't switch it off otherwise you'll get complaints from the feline residents!

I leave the fountain running the whole time but I have to remember to top it up at night as you need to keep the motor under water. When I switched it off for a couple of days to clean it Muff went back to using the kitchen tap. It took several days of picking her up and walking her into the living room to be deposited by the fountain before she stopped using the tap!

I'm sure it makes a difference to the atmosphere too. The air is a little moister which seems to be good for plants, humans and wooden furniture as well as cats.

[Spock and Dracs]

We're going to start campaigning here and now for our own fountain. We can have all sorts of fun with it in the two hours we're actually awake every day.

Spock and Dracs