Fun fact: Most cats hate getting wet, but the Turkish Van cat likes water because its ancestors in Turkey’s Lake Van region often cooled off in lakes during the very hot summers there.
Every cat has its little likes and dislikes, its own eccentricities. I grew up with cats; they were all completely different, and I loved each one for those differences. However, my current cat, Angel, a beautiful, white shorthaired cat, makes me laugh like no other cat I’ve known, due to her enjoyment of being soaked down.
It is often said that “dogs have masters, but cats have staff.” I certainly feel that way every time I use a faucet in Angel’s presence. She makes it clear, in no uncertain terms, that if the tap is turned on she must have her fair share of the water — not to drink, but to bathe in. She waits for me to wet my hand and then glide it down her body from her furry head to the tip of her tail, sometimes repeatedly, until she looks as if she has been in for a swim.
This peculiar habit started innocently enough. One day, in my kitchen, she was bathing herself with her tongue, as cats do, and I decided to help her out. Cats have a hard time reaching the top of their heads during their daily (hourly) bathing regimen, having to utilize the classic “wet side of paw, turn head, and slide dampened paw up and over ear” manoeuvre. It is fairly effective, with the added bonus of making them look totally adorable while executing this move (and don’t they know it!). I figured if I put a bit of water between her ears, I could help the process. I hoped that she wouldn’t dislike the added H2O and bolt. To my delight, she seemed not only to like the addition of water to her ablutions, she even showed her appreciation by giving me a lick or two as I withdrew my hand. (This may have been a hint that I needed a bath, too, but I don’t think so.)
Having seen that she didn’t mind a friendly rub of water between the ears, I did it whenever I thought of it. Then I noticed that whenever I was at the kitchen sink, she seemed to appear out of nowhere. One day, in a hurry and deciding to dissuade her a bit from this baptism-like activity, I took a whole handful of water and rubbed it down her back. Far from discouraging her, this increased the vigour of her bathing as she tried to use up every drop before it dried, energetically licking herself on one side and then the other.
That’s when things got out of hand. She discovered that I used the faucet in my bathroom even more frequently than the one in the kitchen — every morning, at the same time! One day, she arrived before I had soaked down my face for my morning shave, sat at my feet and watched expectantly. Not making any connection to past kitty water activity — humans can be so dense at times — I continued my shave until she let out a very loud “meow,” clearly wanting something.
As she is a fairly quiet feline, I knew something was up. Was it the water? I decided to give her the old water pat-down to see if it would placate her. It worked like a charm. She moved away a foot or two and happily bathed as I shaved. After a few passes over my foamed-up, stubbly puss, I looked down to find my expectant pussycat back at my feet waiting for a second soak-down. I ignored her, believing that she was still “wet behind the ears,” and continued my shaving. When she meowed again, I capitulated and gave her another soaking, stem to stern. Satisfied, she moved off and energetically went to work making the best use of the water. This continued until I had finished shaving.
This is now a daily ritual. Even if Angel is nowhere in sight when I turn on the bathroom faucet, I see the tip of her white tail in the bathroom mirror as she crosses hurriedly behind me to take her place at my side and wait for the first of many soak-downs, which she expects at regular intervals.
There has been one addition to this routine: She comes into the bathroom when I am in the shower and waits until I draw back the shower curtain. There is something very disconcerting about being naked and soaking wet and finding a cat waiting for you. Of course, I usually burst out laughing at the sight of my favourite feline anticipating my exit from the shower stall; it never gets old. And, of course, if I hesitate in the slightest before providing her with her customary watery pat-down, I hear about it. Loudly!
Cats have staff, and that staff better be quick about it!
~Kevin L. Dobson
