Maggie's New...Toy?

Wanting to buy for all members of our family this past Christmas, Justin and I set out to Petsmart about a week before Christmas to find Maggie the perfect gift. We got her a few packs of her favorite treats and a couple of catnip toys for her stocking before searching for a larger gift.

We had noticed lately that when we take her to the vet (she has to get weighed every six weeks to monitor her weight for the hyperthyroidism) and we don't put the pet carrier up right away, she will sleep in it for hours at a time because it is enclosed and dark and comfortable to her, I guess. So we decided to look for a bed for her that was enclosed. We found one, and while we had our doubts that she would actually use it, we got it anyway.

Fast forward to Christmas when we gave Maggie the bed, and she had no interest in it. It continued to sit in our living room for the next five days and she wanted nothing to do with it. She would walk by it and we would encourage her to get inside and she would look at us as if to say, "Why would I sleep in some glorified pillow on the floor when I have two separate beds to choose from in this apartment including one that has my own blanket on it?" And, well, she had a point:

That's her sleeping on her blanket on our bed. You can find her there about 20 of the 24 hours in a day.

So we located the original tags for the bed and back to Petsmart we went. They took the bed back without any problems and we were left back at square one with having no idea what to get her. Who knew that the hardest person to buy for in the family would be the cat? We walked around the store for awhile and we suddenly had the idea to get her a new water bowl. We decided that she (and us) could really benefit from one of those water bowls that looks like a miniature water cooler that stores a lot of water. We are constantly filling up her water bowl since she drinks a lot in one day (blame it on the hyperthyroidism) so we went to the aisle with all of the food bowls for cats. While looking at the water-cooler-like bowl, we found something even better.

This something was the perfect gift for our kitty. We didn't just buy her a water bowl...we bought her a water fountain. Yes, a water bowl that has a fountain that she can just step right up to and drink from. Maggie has always been facinated by water running out of the kitchen sink faucet so we thought this was the best thing we could buy for her.

We got home and Justin set it all up. Maggie, curious as to why her regular water bowl was missing, stood around us wondering what this new object was.


We turned it on, and well, didn't quite get the reaction out of her that we thought we would. Instead, this happened:

What is this? What do I do with it? What is that strange liquid coming from that spout? It looks like water. It smells like water. Should I touch it? Probably shouldn't.

We had to laugh at her a little. But then we gave her a nice pep talk about how it was just water and about how she can drink from the fountain. We thought that if we made the stream of water smaller she might not be so hesitant of it. Here's what happened next:

Oh, I get it! It is water! And I can touch it!

We were relieved that she was warming up to it, but the stream of water needed to be back at regular speed (we thought) in order for her to drink from it, but she now had another use for the fountain:

Wow, guys! What an awesome new paw-washer! Think of the time I'll save now! Instead of cleaning by incessant licking, I can just use this! Thanks!

Great, we thought. She thinks we bought her a new toy, not a new water bowl. We were worried that she wouldn't drink water from it and putting her regular water bowl out right next to it would kind of defeat the purpose. We even looked like idiots trying to demonstrate just how one drinks from a fountain (not recorded, sadly), and then she started doing this:

A paw-washer, a toy, and I can drink cold water from it? Awesome!

Success! Well, sort of. She wasn't so much drinking from it, but rather biting at the water. But we felt she started to understand the concept. So we decided to unplug the fountain and see if she would drink from the bowl without the water running (we decided to unplug it each night because if the water level gets below a certain line then the motor can break and we weren't sure how much water she drank at night). Notice how she is confused now by the missing fountain of water:

Hmmmm. Where did that stream of water go? Not sure, but I'm thirsty from all that playing and paw-washing.

Well, she'll drink from the bowl, but will she drink from it when the water is running?


Yes she will! And now we repeat that entire process each time it is plugged in every day. It's the best toy/paw-washer/water fountain/water bowl/gift we've ever bought for her.