"how a feline drinks: Science wants to know"

Friday's Philadelphia Inquirer had a front page article on how a cat drinks. Using high-speed cameras they took a look a cats lapping up water,and apparently they found a surprise Cat's do not scoop up water like a dog, but barely brushes the surface and pulling the water up defying gravity. According to the scientists, the cat curled the tongue underneath, retracted it, the water rose up, and the cat snapped it's mouth shut at the exact moment the water was at the highest. They say this took place four time a second. According to the scientists "Cats seem to be very clever about their fluid mechanics".

Oh-kaaaaay. But, they claim that whiskers are a very sensitive delicate sensory tool and will not work well if they get wet. Whiskers of a lapping cat stay dry. But - my experience - cats slop water over EVERYTHING while they're lapping - I'm not sure the scientists have analyzed THAT.

How about some other opinions?

Jim

Bijoux doesn't usually get his whiskers wet but the end of his collar is usually dripping all over us after taking a drink. I don't know if I believe water defies gravity for a cat getting a drink..........

Drinking methods among our kitties have been quite individual to the cat. Without looking, we can ususally tell who is at the water bowl just by the sound. Their lapping rhythms have all been different. I'll have to make a point to watch, but it would have been my guess that kitties tuck their whiskers back during drinking. Tux is our odd child - she doesn't lap at all. She dips her paw and then licks it dry.

LOL!!! I saw the story originally on the CNN website, then saw
it later on MSN, Yahoo and it's all over FaceBook. I can believe
I've watched mine srink, yeah I believe it.

I saw a slo-mo vid years ago that showed how a cat actually curls his tongue backwards to capture the water, but I don't remember the denouement where the water enters the cat's mouth. This is fascinating.

Of course, Weezer is more like this cat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UTdhK0lwuw

Weez only wants water from a faucet (very demanding about she is, too!) and only drinks from her bowl when she has no other option. Unlike the video I only give her a drip or a small stream, but she still manages to get totally wet anyway. I've always thought she must have some tiger in her. Unlike most cats, tigers relish the water!

suzz i saw the same slo mo of the cat drinking i'm sure. i remember the tongue curling under and it seemed that the little barbs on the cat tongue helped as well.
Toothpick likes to play in the water....Buddy did too. nobody else here slops the water around but there's always water all over the place. i really want to get one of those bowls that catches the water when its slopped over OR one of those fancy wicking mats they sell at either ll bean or land's end.

I saw that too!

Susan, I've seen kitties at the animal shelter who drink by dipping a paw. In fact, two were doing that on my last trip there! And one of them also ate that way, one piece of kibble at a time, scooping it up in a paw.