# Cat OK Drinking Fish Water?



## Xaltd1 (Dec 9, 2012)

Jax (my feline boss) loves drinking from my 5 gal. cherry shrimp "farm".
I use "Prime"; is Jax OK drinking it?? He will also drink from the fish tanks if I leave the top open; also "Prime"d.
Funny, the fish think he's a possible human w/food & swim right up to him!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

My cat tries to do this if I leave a bucket with some water (usually conditioned) laying around. Sometimes though I have a bleach solution in it to clean my items and he still tries to drink it! I have to be super careful when it comes to that.

I don't think conditioner will have any negative effects on the cat but I would still shoo him away when he does it....you may end up with a few less fishies.


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

I have actually heard of aquarium conditioner being used for human drinking water when our city was going through high levels of ammonia/chlorine (which made chloramine). So the conditioner part is fine. I would be most concerned for your fish!


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## Xaltd1 (Dec 9, 2012)

Well, they're his fish. He is Mr. Exalted one himself. He's the most wonderful and important thing in the universe, as far as he knows. I won't be the one to tell him any differently!!!
In my house that I owned (and lost in my divorce) I had a pond full of fish, frogs & tadpoles. He loved watching them from the waters' edge (I put some flat rocks in the water so he could get up close). He would drink the pond water & all the critters would splash away, much to his a-mews-ment (sorry)! He'd put in a paw to catch something, and would pull it out immediatly b/c it would get soaked. 
Now we have a TEENY apartment. I noticed he adores the fish at his vet's, so I got him his own tank(s). He's content to look at them & swish his tail. He does't want to get his paws wet, but the running filter outtake fascinates him.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Well that's good at least! I'm fairly certain my cats would eat my fish given the opportunity to do so!


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## Xaltd1 (Dec 9, 2012)

I have lids on my fish tanks, but they're no match for a determined cat. Nothing is. And if he is fast enough to catch a shrimp, he earned it!
If you tell your cat NOT to eat the fish, it encourages them. Just act like you don't care. Gets 'em every time.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah I've tried that....I also can't leave gravel around the floor to dry out either....one of my boys thinks it's an open litter box.....that was not fun. I do believe the other boy did drink from the bleach solution one though. For the most part though they do just sit and watch, all my tanks have lids except my 10 gallon but that's up on my bureau and they wouldn't dare go up there.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

I was honestly going to say, "there's fish in 90% of the water that everything drinks". Then saw about your concern over the prime and well.... "Fish drink it!" lol

I wouldn't worry about your cat, he'll be fine!


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## registereduser (Jul 30, 2010)

One of mine will even drink brackish tank water


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## percyfyshshelley (Feb 26, 2013)

Well, I've even drunk fish water (accidentally) when siphoning!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

percyfyshshelley said:


> Well, I've even drunk fish water (accidentally) when siphoning!


Same here lol opps


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

lilnaugrim said:


> Same here lol opps


I did earlier... not very tasty... :-(


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## Xaltd1 (Dec 9, 2012)

Yeah, it finally occurred to me that fish "drink" Prime, so cats, privileged or not, are probably OK drinking it. MAYBE he prefers it to tap water for the fact that chlorine, etc aren't in it.
I know predators & scavenger animals saliva can kill most potentially harmful bacteria, so I'm not worried. If it were poisonous, he'd barf it up right away!


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## Destinystar (May 26, 2012)

I dont have a cat but my dog Barkley tries to sneak a drink when I do my water change and sit my old tank water bucket on the porch if he is outside. I always empty it before he gets more then a couple of licks....lol


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## percyfyshshelley (Feb 26, 2013)

Lol my Rottweiler Blossom ate $50 worth of water sprite that I had qt'ing in a bucket.... And a few minutes ago I caught her walking around with my fihs tank cleaning turkey baster in her mouth. She would drink the fish water if she could reach it.


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## Xaltd1 (Dec 9, 2012)

I've had cats and dogs; dogs win the "destroy everything" paws down. They just barrel into everything- plants, furniture, doors- I had one Dalmatian eat her way through wallboard and into the insulation within an hour or two unsupervised! I can't imagine what one would do to my tanks! Jax only weighs 12 lbs!


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