Project 52 – Water | Ontario Pet Photographer

Dec 9, 2011

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In our house, the cats drink Perrier.

Water. Fresh. Cold. Chilled in the fridge. On demand…

Seriously.

Let me tell you about our history with water. We’ve been through a number of different water bowl scenarios. Like most cats, at one time, Ripley had a water bowl.  Simple and clean. But, we discovered (or Ripley trained us) that he likes his water fresh and cold. Soon after, he had a fountain that constantly circulated his water and made lovely babbling noises that made me want to go to the washroom. That was good for a couple of years. But then it seemed that the fountain didn’t keep his water cold enough and he would meow at the fridge for new, colder water. Ripley has always been so cute that we gave in and started giving him water when he asked (even if his bowl was filled to the brim with room-temperature water).

At this point, Ripley currently has two water bowls strategically placed in the house. And we have our ritual. He will ask for water at the one, have a drink, and then promptly ask for the second water bowl to be filled. Of course, he has to SEE you fill his water bowl. No cheating and using time efficiently, by simply filling both bowls at the same time. That doesn’t cut it in our house.

The water is “special” as well – which is the only reason why my husband and I have allowed ourselves to be trained in such a fashion. Ripley has bad teeth. Like some people who dutifully go to the dentist every three months and still have a tartar build-up and gingivitis, our orange kitty is just one of those felines. Dental cleanings at the local vet are very expensive, as we found out within a year of Ripley coming into our home. He had two cleanings that year, within 9 months of each other. His teeth had deteriorated so badly and so quickly, that there was concern that he had something seriously wrong. It turned out that he just has bad teeth. Regular cleanings are not an option because of the expense and the need to put him under anaesthetic every time it was performed. So, our vet recommended that we add something to his water – a liquid enzyme that keeps their teeth and breath fresh and beautiful. The $20 bottle lasts us about 6 months and since using it over 10 years ago, Ripley has not had another dental cleaning.

But, that began our lifelong process of “making” kitty water. It has to be kept in glass bottles or the enzyme seems to do weird things to plastic bottles. Thus, the Perrier bottle. We make sure it is marked in the fridge – not that it would kill you if you drank it. In fact, you would have clean teeth! However, it does mean one thing:

In our house, the cats drink Perrier. Or, so they think.

Now, let’s see what all the other creative and talented members of the Project 52 blog circle have come up with. We’ll start with fellow Ontar-ian, Ann Kearns Photography. And remember to make your way around the whole circle until you wind up back here.