The other day we spotted Aki, the big, scruffy, fluffy cat from next door trying to drink from our little water feature/mini pool;
I see I've not the scale right; either the cat should be bigger or the plastic half barrel should be smaller...
It was just hilarious watching him teeter unsteadily as he tried to drink from the little cheapo solar fountain, with all four paws tight together on the rim. I guess he's already learned the hard way that the bit surrounding the water jet is just a light floaty platform...
I watched a squirrel use the solar fountain as a springboard to scamper across the garden; it wasn't pleased when the platform tipped and it's paws got wet. It sat on the fence nearby re-evaluating the situation and flicking its tale.
We've since put a couple of bricks inside for his paws. I'm happier about that too; it means animals that fall in have a chance of escaping.
Aki's determination to drink the rain water in the barrel reminded he of one of our last two cats;
I was horrified to come outside one day and see McCavity, our small but fluffy cat, drinking from a plastic watering can. It only has a small hole for filling it, just large enough for a small cat's head.... neck.... body.... to fit through, and the water level inside was quite low. It seemed to me that there was nearly as much cat inside the watering can as outside...
We promptly hid that watering can and bought one with a much larger hole... at least it wouldn't be quite such a struggle to for her to get out if she happened to fall in.
The other cat we had at the time Leo, always preferred to drink from whichever tub held the dirtiest water, it seemed. Maybe she thought of it as a cold soup? (Yes, female, and called Leo. It turned out they were sisters, not brothers as we were told)
We're without cats of our own now, and luckily Aki hasn't cottoned on to the watering can as a drinking supply as it plays a vital role as a door prop to hold the French windows open.
Family Chant
When we were out on a walk, a post, the kind that blocks people from taking a car down a footpath, was always an opportunity for
'Here stands a post!'
'Who put it there?'
'A better man than you!'
'Touch it if you dare!'
Followed by a race to get there first; we waited to start running until the last line.
We have buckets of water in a few places in the yard for our kitty and also the various wild animals that come mostly at night and drink. However, I've noticed that Kitty prefers to drink at the birdbath.
ReplyDeleteCats and dogs always seem to prefer drinking 'outside ' water to their nice clean 'inside' water.
DeleteI have the same as you, a deep bowl with cheap fountain! When it works it is so lovely to hear the sound of water. But sadly I have been through two solar fountains and they are both dead.
ReplyDeleteI bought a solar fountain for our small water feature, loved it for all of two days then we found it on the lawn chewed to pieces by our fox population! Our last cat Bo drank from clean puddles very daintily but our cat before that Noddy always liked to find stagnant smelly puddles and would drink from them with gusto and obvious relish. He also like to eat large hairy spiders, but the legs would get stuck in his throat and he would promptly sick them up very noisily. Charming. Regards Sue H
ReplyDeleteCats, and foxes, just don't care! The foxes would steal our plastic bottle milk delivery, split them open and discard the remains all over the garden.
DeleteI love your little drawings with the captions... wonderful stories.
ReplyDeleteI fill the birdbath with water very often, and at night it's open to all the animals anyway.
Isn't it wonderful in the garden right now? YES.
All the best to you.
Thank you. Viola
Thank you, we have been enjoying our garden in-between the rain showers
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