The Enchanted Water Bowl

We are animal lovers, every single one of us. As  result, we have some of the most loved on fur babies you could ever meet. We even foster animals from time to time, so far only cats, but we take them in and love on them until we can help find them homes.  Truly, if I could just get to a point in my life where it was even a tenth as good as my dogs and cats have it, I’d be living in the lap of utmost luxury.
But pets are for spoiling, we all know that 🙂 
As a result of having such a large extended family, keeping the water bowl filled is sometimes challenging. It’s not just the amount of water everyone drinks, you also have to take into account the water olympics: One dog drinks water, the others hear him or her and go to watch, thinking to themselves “Oh wow, Zoey sure makes that water look good. I sure do want some of that…” and the drool starts to come out of their mouths. As soon as Zoey (the big’un) is done, the two little’uns  break into a race for the bowl. Two little heads pop in at the same time trying to drink up as much water as they possibly can before the other drinks it all (because there are only two gallons there, oh the horror!) and the cats watch in mixture of amusement and annoyance at the juvenile antics of dogs as they, too, begin to develop a sudden craving for some fresh, cool water.
Then, of course, filling the bowl sparks another round of water bowl fever as everything with four legs hears that water being poured and comes running to try out the “new stuff”.
So goes the day.
But one very special bowl presents the greatest challenge because it is never filled for more than a minute or two at a time and the real treat is to get to drink from THAT bowl.
I call it, the enchanted water bowl. 
This story is all about that bowl.
 A while back, I was in the kitchen and my oldest cat, Daz (a.k.a. the communicator) came in and gave me that “I need something and you haven’t provided it” howl. I was busy and didn’t think I’d refilled the water bowl yet so knew it may be getting low. As the oldest ranking pet in our home, Daz demands only the freshest water and will not drink water from a bowl once all of the other pets have had a taste of it. So I pulled out the first vessel I could find, which happened to be a 4 ounce ramekin (a great size for one cat), filled it from the sink, and placed it on the floor.
Daz looked up at me and I swear if he had eyebrows he would have arched one triumphantly at the special treatment. He ambled over and began delicately drinking, taking his time to make sure the other cats arrived to see him receiving such special treatment. Once done, he stood there a moment, looked up and around as slowly as he could, and then victoriously meandered away, leaving them with this leftovers. The other cats were quick to approach and sniff the bowl, wondering what magical waters their senior had been given and then, one by one in order of rank, they took turns finishing it off. Not a drop was left.
The next day, right after I had filled the biggest water bowl, Daz came into the kitchen, sat down by “his” bowl, declaring that he needed his enchanted waters.
This time, the dogs took notice and as Daz finished up drinking out of that tiny 4 ounce ramekin, two cats and three dogs stood in some sort of formation waiting on him to grant them leave to fight it out over the rest.
I rolled my eyes. Not three yards away was a very large Pyrex mixing bowl filled to the utmost brim with the exact same water.
“But it’s not the same” they seemed to whisper among themselves, “This water is special”.
The cats were able to share a bowl but the dogs had to have it refilled for each one. And so it goes now. I make sure they have fresh water in the large bowl, but from time to time one of the critters will come to me when I am in the kitchen and stare longingly into the enchanted water bowl, then look at me pitifully, pleading for the magical waters that somehow taste so very different despite the source being exactly the same.
And I smile and fill it, realizing that they really aren’t very different from humans after all.
enchanted water bowl

32 Comments

  1. My cat (Sam) plays with his food after he eats what he wants. He scratches a piece of the food out of his bowl and bats it around on the floor. He also plays with his water bowl. After he drinks, he puts his paws in the bowl and moves it around just enough that I have water on the floor. Someone told me “you live in your house and let the cat live with you….No, no, your cat lives in your house and lets you live there!”

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  2. Oh my gosh, this was hilarious, hahaha!!! Hubby fell asleep on the couch and I’m doing my level best not to laugh out loud and wake him. What silly animals!!! So funny and adorable! My kitty is the same way with fresh water. He has his water bowl next to his food bowl, a cup at the bathroom sink that is always filled and then to make sure all bases are covered I fill a glass at the kitchen sink for him, too. He’ll drink from the cup in the sink or on the counter. Either way as long as it came from the kitchen faucet. 🙂

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  3. I was told, or read somewhere that if you don’t know what being ignored is like, get a cat and try to get it to do something it doesn’t want to do.

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  4. Christy, now you know we don’t spoil our pets, they spoil, or should i say rule us. I have two cats one black and white, 17 1/2 lbs., the other a yellow tabby, 7 or 8 lbs. I also have a wild, not descented (??) skunk that has become a pet. I don’t have a dog so don’t have to worry about the dog getting after the skunk. My cats pay no attention to the skunk and it pays no attention to them. Originally i had three, now only one, two must have found another home.

    It has been interesting playing with and petting the skunks. I have videos so if someone doubts me i can prove it.

    I love your posts and blogs and try out many of your recipes.

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  5. This is so funny and so typical we have 5 yes 5 German shepherds and one cat in our house and for some reason the dogs seem to think the cats water is better than their water not to mention it is smaller than their water bucket so I am filling it up sometimes several times a day, but hey I want fresh water so I make sure they get fresh water. Because like you our pets are part of our family but it is so funny and you are so right animals are just as silly as us humans at times.

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