Is it OK for the cat to drink out of the dog’s water bowl?
Posted on Feb 11, 2010 under Best Dog Water Bowl | 11 CommentsI feed my cat and dog in separate rooms but for some reason my cat is drinking out of my dog’s water bowl right now.
Is this safe?
I have two cats that share a water bowl with the dog to the point where we have removed the cats water dish altogether. The dog used to snap at them for this but he gave up after he realized that the cats no longer fear him.
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But GAWD help them if he catches them at his food dish !
February 11th, 2010 at 5:25 am
It’s okay
The only problem I can see is if the dog is a resource guarder, but otherwise it’s fine.
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February 11th, 2010 at 6:01 am
of course it is safe the cat just wants to be around the dogs and when the cats thirsty its thirsty its no big deal
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February 11th, 2010 at 6:34 am
Yes it is ok for your cat to drink out of the dog dish. It will only be bad if the dog is sick or the water has anything in it ment for dogs only.
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February 11th, 2010 at 6:51 am
Its fine as long as your dog is not sick or your cat is not sick.
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February 11th, 2010 at 7:36 am
It might be a problem if your cat then starts to bark. Seriously, no big deal. It is possible your dog may take offense though, but nothing to be concerned about.
Sharing water is fine, but what you don’t want to happen is your cat liking to only eat dog food. That is bad.
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February 11th, 2010 at 7:42 am
It’s fine. All of my cats get along with my dogs, so they almost always drink out of the same bowl Always keep seperate bowls, so that if the dog or the cat get picky, they can split up. Hope this helps!
Do you occasionally give your cats treats? All of my cats are in LOVE with ‘Whisker Lickins.’ You should try it out!
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February 11th, 2010 at 8:18 am
its fine as long as neither are sick
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February 11th, 2010 at 8:33 am
My cat has always drank out of all my dogs bowls, never a problem and vice versa my dogs drink out of my cat’s fountain water thing,
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February 11th, 2010 at 8:54 am
I have two cats that share a water bowl with the dog to the point where we have removed the cats water dish altogether. The dog used to snap at them for this but he gave up after he realized that the cats no longer fear him.
But GAWD help them if he catches them at his food dish !
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February 11th, 2010 at 9:04 am
I think it is okay for the cat to drink out of the same bowl. You might have to refill it more often though! But i have two cats and a dog and they all drink out of the same bowls.
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February 11th, 2010 at 9:18 am
I have a cat and a 125# APBT/Bull Mastiff mix and a 80# APBT and they have a communal water bowl. I got the cat as a kitten when the dogs were 2 years old, and they have always nurtured the cat, so they are more than happy to share, and there is no problem with shared water. In fact, it is unlikely that you will be able to train the cat not to drink out of the dog’s bowl, so you may as well just get a bigger communal bowl or make both bowls communal.
The only issue I could see is if the dog were to become aggressive, which is a disciplinary problem that you will need to address immediately with training, not by getting a separate water dish for the cat. If your dog shows aggression/guarding toward the water today and you let him get away with it, he will feel that aggression and hoarding is OK and will try to start keeping the cat away from more and more over time. If you need to use the separate dish as a temporary solution to make sure the cat gets to drink while you are out, that’s OK, but the dog must learn that the cat is a part of the pack and is entitled to share the family’s resources.
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