Cats and water usually don’t mix. Most cats hate getting wet, so when it’s bath time, they try hard to escape. A small cat can suddenly seem like a fierce lion, at least in their own mind.
But one clever cat found a way to avoid getting soaked. He’s already wet when he decides he’s had enough, and he calmly shuts off the faucet. He lets his owner wash him, but then he stops the water.
One viewer joked, “At least he isn’t violently scratching and murdering you all.” This cat handles the bath calmly, despite not liking it.
Not all cats hate water, but it’s hard to tell which ones will stay calm during a bath. Cats evolved in dry places, so water isn’t in their genes. Purina says that cats have a strong sense of smell. “Smell is a cat’s most reliable sense. Even though we might not detect them, the chemicals in the tap water give it a particular odor that a kitten’s sensitive nose will pick up straight away. It’s fine for dipping a paw in every once in a while, but having their fur submerged in a liquid that smells nothing like their coat should smell, is enough to put them off bath time.”
Would you want to bathe in water that smells bad to you? Probably not. This cat, puzzled by the fuss, looks around before using his right paw to shut off the faucet. You can hear a lady calmly telling him not to, but he keeps doing it.
Cats usually groom themselves, so they don’t need many baths. Only when they get very dirty do they need a good wash. It’s not clear how this cat learned to turn off the faucet, but he knows what he’s doing.
The National Park Service has a plan to potentially euthanize up to 170 feral cats under the guise of nuisance control. Demand a policy that protects these cats!
This smart cat deserves all the views and likes he’s getting. If he can shut off taps, he might learn other tricks too.