Tuesday, May 5, 2026

No Saucer For This Lorain Cat – May 2, 1946

This one's for all you cat lovers out there. It's the story of Tom, a nonconformist cat owned by Mr. and Mrs. Roy L. Guthrie of Lorain. The article appeared on the front page of the May 2, 1946 Lorain Journal.

According to the story, Tom "is not afraid of dogs, dislikes darkness, and is "simply nuts" about taking a bath or a drink from a water faucet."

"It isn't necessary to place water in a saucer for Tom," notes the article. "When he wants a drink he waits until someone turns on a faucet in the house and he jumps right into the sink, placing his mouth directly under the stream of water.

Here's the story and its continuation.

I'll bet many of my readers who have owned cats over the years are probably chuckling because their cat did the same thing. It's interesting that the Journal felt it was newsworthy. But it's a cute story.

We had a cat named Fred who loved water as well. He would jump up on the counter surrounding the bath tub, hoping that someone would turn on the water. Once we did, he would drink from it, and then dip his paw in the stream and lick that too. A real free spirit.
Fred
I know we took pictures the first time he did it, but this was back in the tail end of the pre-digital age so the photos are in one of many unsorted shoeboxes from twenty-five years ago. Oh well.
For years, there have been fountain water dishes for cats, because they like the motion, and the water probably tastes better too.
Speaking of water dishes, my last cat (Louie) used to strip any stuffed bird ornaments off the Christmas tree and then dump them face-down in his water dish. Since the fake birds were usually cardinals, the red dye coloring would seep into the water, making the birdie look like the victim of a gangland hit. 
Anyway, be sure to leave a comment and tell us about your cat's unusual habits.

2 comments:

  1. I once had a mama cat who had three kittens, and she had not only taught herself how to turn on the bathroom sink for a drink of water, she taught her kids how to do it.
    Sadly, none of them learned the habit of turning the faucet off.
    I also had a black tomcat who, if displeased with me, would dynamically flip his tail in the Universal Gesture of Pique.

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  2. I've been the honored caretaker of many a feline and all were special in some way.*

    For weird water habits, though, our shorthair tuxedo cat, BeeKay, prefers licking dew and rainwater from the garden plants. Though, he is also very fond of drinking from the toilet bowl, often leaving little, muddy footprints all over the seat! Our other cat, Mazie, a longhair tuxedo, sits, watches such antics, and shakes her little kittie-head in disgust.

    *Dad used to say, "Always remember, Don, 'special' is both ends of the bell curve."

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