Putting things in the water dish

[canopener]

One of mine does this, except rather than toys it’s usually scraps of paper or plastic she gets out of the recycling.
What fascinates me is how deliberate this behavior is. She goes down to the kitchen and then brings her finds upstairs to put in her two preferred water sources—the bowl in the bedroom and the toilet, if the lid is open. From a behavioral standpoint, I can’t fathom what purpose this serves.
I have found the easiest solution is just to ensure there are extra bowls around.

 

[tarasgirl06]

One of mine does this, except rather than toys it’s usually scraps of paper or plastic she gets out of the recycling.
What fascinates me is how deliberate this behavior is. She goes down to the kitchen and then brings her finds upstairs to put in her two preferred water sources—the bowl in the bedroom and the toilet, if the lid is open. From a behavioral standpoint, I can’t fathom what purpose this serves.
I have found the easiest solution is just to ensure there are extra bowls around.

Yes! And it's so easy just to put the lid down on the toilet. That's all the time at my house.

 

[Dave226]

One of my cats puts his paw in the water bowl and licks the water from his paw, that makes a fair old mess

 

[tarasgirl06]

One of my cats puts his paw in the water bowl and licks the water from his paw, that makes a fair old mess

That's happened in our furmily, too - can't remember who all would do this, but I know it happened!

 

[flybear]

we have our water dish in the shower for that exact reason because we have two water loving, toy drowning cats ... they get fresh water every morning when I shower and again in the evening ... drinking fountains don't work for us because mine will tip them over, drag them around or completely take them apart to get into the water ... we have a ping pong ball in the shower that they but into the water dish every single day ( water-basketball ... it is a thing ... ). I have given up on preventing them to put things in the water and just try to prevent water to get everywhere ... a large storage container under the water is needed here. Mine also burry toys in their litter box ... but I found out that cat toys can be laundered pretty well lol ...