Pooping in water bowl

[groovychic]

Kahlua's new trick lately is pooping in her water bowl. When I first got her, her previous owner had her using a water bottle which was pretty nasty I might add). I also gave her the choice of using a water bowl just because she wasn't drinking from the bottle once she got settles in her new cage. Well...I still noticed that she wasn't drinking much and decided to switch her drinking bowl to a smaller one...so I put in a small rubbermaid container for her to use as a drinking bowl. It works perfectly and she drinks a little over half of the water in there every night! Only problem is that she's deciding to use it as a potty lately :rolleyes: :Pukey: I usually change her water during the day and do a check before I go to bed, but I don't want her to drink poopy water and get sick!!! Any suggestions as to what to do to stop her from doing this?

[paris26]

Where in the cage do you have the water bowl? I have my wheel on one end, my food dish in the middle and the water bowl on the opposite end of the cage. Sometimes that's all it takes. Maybe she needs a slightly higher bowl. One she would have to get her front legs up on to drink, but it would be more challenging to her to get her hind in the water

[Nancy]

If you have food and water side by side sometimes they will stand in one dish to eat/drink out of the other. Of course what do they do while standing there..... :laugh:

I had that problem with one of my girls for a while even though her dishes were far apart. She constantly pooped in her water bowl. I gave her an extra empty bowl hoping she'd poop in it instead. No she didn't but after that she never pooped in her water again either. Who knows what goes through their minds. :dunno:

[Pringlesmom]

pooping in water bowl....that's a new one...Pringle used to pee in his food bowl. :rolleyes:

[Ododad]

I had that problem with Marco before. Once I placed the bowls farther apart, he stopped.
You'll have to keep checking his bowl and refilling with fresh water constantly until he stops.

[Mouser'sMommie]

I have Stewie's kibble dish in one corner and water dish in the other. He rarely poops in the water dish now :thumbup: but now he drags bedding in there and that soaks up all the water :thumbdown:

Now he plays also "basketball"...using his nose to maneuver his kitty bell toy into his kibble dish. So I guess maybe we are all just stuck constantly checking and cleaning dishes! :rolleyes:

[kaiteedyd]

and that would be one reason I use water bottles.

[illinidairychic]

and that would be one reason I use water bottles.

Agreed!!

[groovychic]

Kahlua's food and water are separated. Food on one end...wheel in middle of cage.....water bowl on opposite end. Her water bottle (which she doesn't use) is by her food bowl. I am going to try Nancy's idea and put another bowl (slightly higher so her bum can't fit over it) in the cage. Who knows maybe she'll use the other as a potty! I can only hope right? :bananadance:

Mouser....Kahlua does the same thing and likes to drag her blanket through her water bowl too. She always thinks of something to keep me on my toes! Silly girl :smiliedance:

[Mouser'sMommie]

I thought I'd read that water bottles aren't good for hogs b/c they can hurt/break their teeth on the straws? He used a dish when I got him as a rescue, so that is what I've continued to use, only a smaller dish (I stole a marinara dipping sauce dish from Fridays!!) that he can't walk in. I would LOVE to switch StewPoo over to something less mess-able....