Why does my cat drink from the toilet and not her bowl?

Question

I give her a fresh water twice a day in a dish beside her food but she ignores it and goes to drink out of the toilet instead. I try to keep the lid down as I dont think it can be good for her - with cleaning agents etc. Does your cat do this and have you any idea why?

Answer 1

my cat occasionally does this. he did not like the water that we gave him at the time and he figured that there was water in the loo. he still occasionally drinks from the loo but this is due to the fact that he is lazy and cant be bothered to go downstairs to his bowl so he drinks from the loo.

useful? x

Answer 2

Cats are weird. I had one who would only pee in the bath, down the plughole - and a friend had one who would actually use the toilet to - well, use the toilet!

Just keep the lid down and enjoy having such an original and eccentric friend.

Answer 3

Because you give it tap water and they don't like the taste of Chlorine. Either use bottle water or pour the tap water into a bottle and leave the top off it for a day and by then the chlorine should have evaporated. It takes a while for the tap water to have the things in it evaporate.

My cat used to prefer drinking dirty water outside and I didn't realise until somebody told me about the chlorine in tap water.

The water in the toilet has been in the cistern for a while so the chlorine has already evaporated.

Can you not put the lid down on the toilet?

I swear it's that reason and no other. All you need to do is make the water the same as in the cistern and leave it out for a while, instead of pouring straight out of the tap.

Get a large water bottle and leave the lid off and just fill it up once a day, so it has been out a while before you put it in the bowl.

Answer 4

i have no idea why your cat would do that

Answer 5

I don't know why your cat does it, maybe it likes the taste??! me and my sister got two kittens for christmas and mine would always drink out of the toilet- not sure why. But eventually he grew out of it, how old is your cat?

Answer 6

what is her bowl made out of? We had a stainless steal bowl and they refused to drink out of that because it can rough on there tongue and taste disgusting when they drink which will put them of. plastic bowl's are good because they don't have any smell or weird taste. Your cat is obviously thirsty and will drink anything liquid. Try changing the bowl and see if that will help.

It could also be what you are washing her bowl with. If you are using some washing up liquid you may not be washing it of propually and she can still taste it. Next time try washing it with just boiling water and see if that helps.

Answer 7

Cats, lovely creatures that they are, have some very strange habits.  Dogs will also drink toilet water.

Check out this website for info http://www.healthypet.com/library_view.a...

Answer 8

She s pissed (in the English sense)

Answer 9

the same thing would happen to my cat but the lid is closed

Answer 10

The most likely thing is that the water you are giving her tastes funny. Cats have a much better set of tastebuds than humans. Maybe try filling the bowl from a different tap, and washing the bowl out using only water, no detergent? I keep the lid of my loo down to stop my cats trying this.

Answer 11

haha, our cat used to drink from ANYthing but his bowl, like our glasses on the night stand or in the living room. The solution is actually quite logical: the water in his bowl is fresh from the tap, i.e. full of chlorine. Cats hate the taste and smell of it and when there is other sorces available they'd rather drink that. The water in the toilet bowl would have been stagnant over night so it has less chlorine (it evaporates over time).

Either buy a drinking fountain like the cat-it fountain (chlorine evaporates when it touches oxygen) or filter the tap water for your cat to remove the chlorine.

Good luck xx

Answer 12

my cats would do it too if i left the lids up. but we keep then down...

leave some water in a bowl or short cup beside the toilet... with the lid down....  

Answer 13

I've owned many cats, but not one has ever had a drink from the toilet. The sink, yes, but not the toilet. I imagine it is characteristic to your cat and something you can use as a platform for training.

What kind of cleaning agents do you use? Are they organic? If not, I agree that it is better to keep the lid down and teach her to drink from the tap or out of a bowl.

Maybe she likes her reflection in the water. It sure is an interesting dilemma you are faced with, which could provide much laughter, as long as it is not harmful water.

Answer 14

my cats do the same thing! i don't know why either i was hoping to get a decent answer from your question but i too give them fresh water through out the day but they insist on drinking it from the toilet bowl sometimes the bathroom sink i guess there's nothing wrong with it who knows maybe they find toilet water colder and more refreshing =)

Answer 15

my cat used to do this as well,keep the lid down. When u see ur cat in bathroom turn on bath tap and it will drink there. Cats dont like stagnent water .