One of the neighbourhood cats is thirsty, and has discovered that there is water in our pool. Several times now I’ve seen it jump up on the pool edge to drink. Its thirst has got to be pretty bad if the pool water – which is clean for a pool, but chlorinated and not sparkling fresh – is the best it can get.

I don’t like this much. I worry that the cat will slip and fall in and won’t be able to get out. At first I also worried that its claws would puncture the pool edge, which is made of rubber and already has a few (non-cat-related) leaks that we’ve patched. But if it hasn’t done so yet, it’s probably not going to, and in any case, we could probably patch those holes, too.

I’m also impressed that it found the water. It must have smelled the water with enough precision to realize that jumping up on that blue/gray thing would help it reach the invisible water.

Anyway, I bought a bowl for the cat – and for any other thirsty cats or creatures. I forgot to fill it up since the weekend, though, and it was mostly empty today, so I found the cat back at the pool. Now I’ve filled up the bowl again.

If you have an outdoors cat, make sure you provide it with water during the day, and preferably in a shaded place!