My tom cat would put his foot in the water & lick it off his paw. I could always tell when he had taken a drink by the wet paw prints on the porch.

I had a cat that laid beside puddles and watched the bubbles that come up as the frost is coming out. He would do that for hours. Very strange.

Both of my cats like to drink running water from the faucet but will also drink from a bowl. One of them also likes to put her catnip mice in the water bowl. Haven't figured that one out yet.

I got mine a fountain because Rosie would just sit there staring at the water bowl. Had to be boring as all get out, so I got the fountain. Now she stares at the moving water.

hahaha loved the cat compulations ! Oh heck the maine coon I am fostering doesn't play like that- he acts as if its beneath him! LOL

My Keegan does that....only it is with my tea :p that is how he steals tastes! I have a lot of tea cups with lids now :p

I had a female cat who would dip her paw in the water and then lick it clean. It was the way she normally would drink her water. She didn't do it until we got a 2nd cat. I think she didn't want to put her tongue in the same bowl that the the other cat used.

I believe that cats have a problem with depth perception when looking down. Besides the fact that the surface of the water is difficult to see, it's usually below the cat's head. Notice how careful cats are when they jump down. Mine will jump across the furniture rather than jump to the floor.

Puzzler

Not sure if this is true, but I read somewhere that animals prefer running/moving water to drink because in nature that is the freshest and so the safest to drink. Guess they put their paws in the water to make it move.

We had two part Norwegian forest cats and they did that with the water. The boy cat was fond of slurping water out of the tub when someone had a long soak. EEEUUWW! Dunno why they do the pat the water thing. Our new cat, Nibbs, pats the water, too.