August 10th, 2009
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Your cat called this morning. She can’t make the swim party. She hates water. All cats hate water. Except as it turn out, a booming breed of middle-eastern meowers, the Turkish Vans. Nobody knows for sure what led these kitties to water, but experts suspect it had something to do with those full-length fur coats and the Turkish summers.
With temperatures up to 100 degrees (F) in the Lake Van area where the breed originated, the kitties hatched a plan: learn to swim and stay cool. Thanks to two British women who brought the breed west in 1950s, your cat can marvel at the feline Phelps in backyard pools and ponds. Learn more about these swimming kitties here. Woof Report is a free weekday email newsletter with pup-perfect dog care tips, news, products & more! Sign up at www.woofreport.com or become a Facebook Fan. |
Does this include drinking water? My cat (nut) Trey LOVES water. Since I’m retired now (and the stopper in the bathroom sink is broken), he bats the metal stopper into the sink and I know when I hear that, Trey wants a drink (of water). We start out with the sink plugged, and filled slightly, to him placing his paw on the spout which means he nows wants to drink from a running tap. I know, he has two bowls of freshly daily changed water on the floor, but he does prefer his drink of water this way. And on the rare occassion when I’m not home all day, I can come home and see that Trey has kicked that stopper into the sink at some point.
P.S. I look forward to reading your Daily Cat Tip. How informative and with great information too.
It is not accurate to say that all cats except Turkish Vans hate water and swimming. Snowshoes love water and our Snowshoe Siamese loves the pool. She has her own pool float (more a bit of a tiny island to her size). I know other cats love to swim in pools as well but your article may be correct that the Turkish Van is one of the few breeds who like to swim.
My cat harley loves water! When he was a kitten we used to let him play outside in the grass and he would inevitably find the one tiny spot of mud and immediatly splash in it and roll around. We would bring him in and just run water in the tub and splash it on him to help him get the mud off. Ever since then whenever we take a shower he usually comes in the bathroom with us, usually sitting on the ledge so he can get wet too. He even jumped in my bf’s daughers bath one time which scared the living daylights out of her. Harley isnt a Turkish Van. Hes just a shorthair mix with a grey tabby color.