Cats' drinking habits

I'm not talking about alcohol here, of course, though my first cat, Sandy, had a penchant for sherry and used to lick out the glasses after my parents' guests had left, fall over and start snoring; no, I mean good old water.

I leave a bowl of pond water, renewed daily, by Flad's food bowl, but he only ever drank from it when snow was on the ground last winter. He prefers to drink from a plastic plant saucer full of rainwater, which I also top up from the pond. He shuns tap water and I can't say I blame him, because ours tastes foul. They seem to add extra chlorine on Sunday nights, so make sure I have some mineral water in. My friends in Ottawa used to stick a jugful in the fridge for a few hours, as they said it tasted better then, but if I tried that I would be bound to knock it all over my ham, lettuce and everything else.

Chi Mimi, though, is a different kettle of fish entirely - or rather, a different bundle of fur. She loves tap water, positively adores the taste of chlorine, and will only drink running water, from the garden hosepipe or the kitchen tap, as you can see from the photo. Wish I could curl my tongue like that. It would make scooping up ice cream a whole lot easier.