Birds were swimming in the water, squirrels were drinking the water and so was Jack.
I jokingly told him that the water must have tasted like bird paws, which is why he was attracted to it. He proudly walked away with drops of water hanging from the fur on his chin.
Jack was happy to drink like a lion in the wild. Since he liked this saucer of water, I kept it filled with clean water for when he would join me in the yard.
Over the years, Jack continued to enjoy the water more and more, from drinking it to drinking it standing up.
Does your cat like water?
I moved into a smaller house with a small fenced yard around which I planted border gardens. Four glass saucers now provide water in the gardens and are perched on flower pots. The saucers are at chin height for Jack who likes to stand and drink from them at leisure.
Similarly, in my kitchen, I placed a red glass saucer on a yellow flowerpot and filled it to the rim with bottled water. Jack and my two other cats often drank from it.
Now I have a bubbling animal fountain that circulates bottled water and allows you to adjust the height of the water jet.
When I operate a swinging sprinkler in the gardens, Jack intentionally walks under the water drops and licks them into his fur.
When it rains, he stands on an ottoman near a window above my porch and meows. He wants to walk on the roof in the rain, trotting on the shingles to the gutter to drink, and licking water from his fur.
When I open the fridge and pull the cap off a can of bottled water, Jack hears it, hurries to the kitchen and stands beside me waiting for a drink.
A glass full of cold water isn't the only drink Jack finds appealing. He also likes juice or iced tea. He finds me sitting somewhere in the house and goes up to the drinking container. He puts his whole head inside the glass to reach the liquid with his tongue.
Jack's obsession with alcohol initially alarmed me by telling me that he might have a health problem, such as diabetes. However, blood tests show that he is fine.
Cats often have a low thirst, which can lead to dehydration and urinary tract problems. Cat owners sometimes have difficulty attracting their cats to water sources and getting them to drink.
Fortunately, this is not a problem for Jack. My vet told me to give him as much water as he wants, but he wants it.
You can imagine my big eyes when he started popping up behind me in my tub while I was taking a shower. He was meowing at me, soaking his fur and jumping out of the tub.
I now have a walk-in shower. Jack used to stay in the shower and meow until I turned on the water. I would turn on the shower head and he would bite the water drops as they splashed on him.
Now I leave the removable shower head hanging and it hovers just above his head. I let the water run so he can access it as he wishes.
I smile at Jack's love for water and the name I have given him that matches his personality.
I first named him Sparrow because he was found under a bush when he was a kitten and was hypnotized by a flock of sparrows in the branches above him. His name changed to Captain Jack Sparrow because I liked the character from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. My feline Jack also has the suave and funny personality of Captain Jack.
Just as Captain Jack Sparrow stood at the bow of a ship, smiling with a salty sea mist in his face, my Jack runs to the lawn sprinklers, a dripping showerhead and the porch roof when it rains.
