Why does my cat meow all night and not drink from his bowl?

[missmich]

My main problem with my boy is that hew meows all night long!!!

Ok,he will drink from the bowl sometimes. Most of the time he prefers to have fresh water from the bathtub or from my water glass.

My bathtub has a bad drain so I've been trying not to let him sit in there to get water cuz his fur gets in there and clogs it! So I'll give him some in the sink when I use the bathroom.

I change his water a few times a day as well.

At night he will wander around the house and meow and meow and annoy me! He wants fresh water!!!

I had a silly fountain thing but he didn't like it and I'm not wasting money on another one.

Anything I can do? What could his meows be for? He's been like since I got him a few years ago. He's healthy too.

[DogMomforNow]

Could you try one of these? They're really cheap and he might like it (my dogs love it)

http://www.lixit.com/

Sorry I'm not more help, hopefully someone else has some bang-up advice for you

[miss_sonja]

does he like to drink from your glass of water? my boys do (yeah, I let 'em...:-). If so, you could leave out a glass for him.

is he getting wet food or raw food? if so, his need for water is less than if he's on dry kibble.

[_betsy_]

One of my boy cats does this too. He neows when he's bored. He's looking for either my attention or one of the other cats to come play with him. Lazy butt like to sleep all day and then wants to run around at 2 in the morning. He also will only drink running water. He will not drink out of a bowl. Never has. As a kitten, he used to dump over the "unspillable" bowls to lap water off the floor, now he just waits till we're in the bathroom and gets drinks from the tub faucet. I think he has sensitive whiskers and can't stand the hitting the side of the bowl.

[RiverSky]

I think he's bored. Cats are nocturnal and want playmates at night. He is meowing for attention (asking for water is one way he has found that works, sometimes!). I suggest you get one or two kittens or adopt another cat.

[phatchristy]

Some cats really enjoy water bottles, if you do a search, there's some link somewhere on the web on how to teach a cat to drink from a water bottle with tuna water.

Personally, I like to leave a water bottle out AND a traditional water dish that I change daily. Since we have a multicat household everyone seems to be happy that way. Though our youngest girl will still stick her head in a water glass to check it out! Go figure!

[amlikam]

Originally Posted by miss_sonja

is he getting wet food or raw food? if so, his need for water is less than if he's on dry kibble.

OP I am curious about this as well- cats should be on a wet food diet. Dry food does a number on there kidneys....

I had a cat that sounded like yours and switched her over to wet food and her water obsession was over in no time.

If you do switch over give it a while- most cats are literly addicted to dry food- so it takes a while for them to get on board with the wet food diet. My other cat refused to eat for 4 days... but now he wont even sniff at the dry stuff. (which we keep on hand just in case)

Also yogurt is really good for cats- give a little bit of that to kitty too during the transition stage

The night thing has to do in part with cats being nocturnal but also I noticed my kittys were able to settle in more easily on a wet food diet as well- though they still would have their nights...

Try to stimulate the kitty during the day if you can...

good luck!

[rhiOrion]

My cat is so weird about water, too. He will start meowing early in the morning (not every night/morning, but at least half the time). It's so pitiful.

For a while we had the dog downstairs locked in the kitchen/dining room at night, and when I'd go downstairs and open it up, Squirt (cat) would *run* downstairs and start drinking water like he was scared he'd never get more.

I thought that maybe he didn't like having his water in the bathroom, even though he has no problem with his food up there. So I moved it into the hallway. He didn't like that.

So I thought maybe he only liked the water dispenser that is downstairs, so we bought a new one for downstairs, and moved the old one upstairs. He didn't change.

We started letting the dog sleep on the foot of the bed, and therefore Squirt can get downstairs to that water anytime he wants. He still runs down the stairs first thing in the AM to drink water.

Either he's stupid, or he's messing with my head. I think it's the latter.

(no advice...just thought I'd let you know that you're not alone with a finicky-about-water cat)

[amlikam]

Originally Posted by Rhiyaya

or he's messing with my head.

laughup


I know what you mean....

[MidnightCommando]

OP - I could have almost written your post about my cat. I've been wondering this for years now and still don't have a clear answer to why some cats do this - I've asked my vet, looked online, etc.

I think it's a behavioral thing. Our cat will drink from anywhere except her dishes (toilets, puddles, water glasses, dog bowl). She does have an affinity for our water glasses so I've tried putting her own glass in with er food - hates it.

I'm not much help but it's nice to know someone else also has a kooky cat with drinking issues

[USAmma]

LOL! My cat does this too! We actually keep her in the garage at night in good weather so she won't bother us with the meows. If we put her outside she scratches the door all night and meows loudly. She also won't drink from a bowl unless she's desperate. She prefers licking the wet shower or drinking out of the toilet. If we leave water glasses out she will knock them over. There have been many nights when we wake up to the clatter of a broken glass. Once she tipped a vase over and the water warped our dining table, as we were camping for the weekend. Weird cat.