Drinking

[rebel rebel]

My cat has a nice dish full of clean water, she is currently outside drinking rainwater collected on a grid. What's all that about?

I used to feed a stray cat a neighbour had taken in, while she was in hospital. It would never drink water from the tap, only rain water that we collected. It must have been able to taste the chemicals in the water.

 

[Puzzled]

Dogs tongue action

This ^

Their tongues have evolved to be pretty effective at scooping up water, bit messy but it gets the job done.

 

[Delvis]

As humans we have the ability to lift a glass and pour it into a mouth to ensure a continuous flow of liquid.

If you are a a cat or a dog for example and are thirsty, all you can do is walk to where some water is and lick it little by little. It looks very frustrating.

They have tongues developed for scooping the water. We do not

 

[ttaskmaster]

NVM

 

[krooton]

Maybe, will investigate, thanks!

Edit: Seem's I live in a soft water area

Makes no difference, we have a cat fountain that used to house hard water, and now that we have a softener, it doesn't.

Both before and after this change our eldest cat always laps up dirty rain water, bloody weirdo. Other 2 don't.

 

[LeMson]

She drinks out the pond too lol

 

[Randomface74]

I love drinking from a drinking fountain. Should be more of them around to stop plastic waste.

Cool video of the dog tongue!

 

[ttaskmaster]

NVM

 

[Energize]

It's because of the jaw and soft tissue structure, herbivores like horses and cattle can just drink water the same way humans do.

 

[WantoN]

Their tongues pull up a surprising amount of water.

 

[Brazo]

My cat has a nice dish full of clean water, she is currently outside drinking rainwater collected on a grid. What's all that about?

It may be the chlorine. Try letting water stand for 24 hours before putting in their bowl. It’s actually much nicer!