Why do some cats flick water out of their water bowls?  Why do they sneeze?  Do cats have a sixth sense?  I will answer all of these questions and more as I take an in depth look into a cat's psyche.

I love to watch my cat.  He is a constant source of entertainment, but sometimes he can be so baffling.  Because of this, I did some pretty thorough research.  What I have found proves to be very interesting.

 Sometimes, when I am watching my cat, I could swear that he sees something alarming.  His little ears perk up and his eyes get all big.  I turn to what he is looking at and I see nothing unusual.  Well, every once in a while a bug, but usually nothing out of the ordinary.  I'll look at him and say "What?"  He just stares back at me like - don't you know?

Then, a while back, I hear a story on the news about Oscar.  Oscar is a cat who lives at Steere Nursing Home in Providence, Rhode Island.  Apparently, this cat has the uncanny ability to predict the deaths of the patients there.  He has only missed one so far and that is because there were two simultaneous deaths.

What he does is snuggle up in bed next to the patient and within hours the patient is dead.  He is either predicting the deaths or killing them himself!  Since there haven't been claims to the latter, it is assumed that he is predicting the deaths.

I know that whenever I am not feeling well my cat, Kirby, will hop up next to me.  When this first happened, I thought - how sweet...but then thought - Wait a minute!  Are you trying to tell me something? and.. Could you kindly go rest someplace else? 

If it was my time to go, I wasn't so sure I wanted to know about it!  Whatever sense cats have, I do think they seem to know when you need comfort.  Their supporting purr and snuggling nudge certainly does the trick!

 This is a question that baffled me about Kirby.  Why was he always sticking his paw in his water bowl and throwing the water all over the floor?  Instead of drinking the water, he was perfectly happy with making a giant mess.  Not only was the mess a problem, but I was worried he was getting enough to drink.

Here is what I found out.  It could be because water bowls are just not appealing enough for some finicky cats to drink out of.  Cats instinctively recognize that running water is fresher than still water.  This is why they become fascinated with a running faucet.

A good solution is to buy a fountain style water feeder for your cat.  These can be found at most pet supply stores.  The continually running water is also healthier for your cat so bacteria doesn't settle in.  It is essential for cats to drink enough water for good kidney and urinary tract health.

 I thought it was funny to find out that cats can have allergies.  Since many people are allergic to cats, I found it ironic that cats can have allergies too.  Of course cats are not allergic to people, which would have been more funny.  They are allergic to things like mold or food.  If your cat is sneezing alot and you know you have mold, keep your cat away from that area or fix the mold.

A more serious reason for frequent sneezing is complications from a feline herpes ailment such as nasal polyps.  If this is the cause, your cat should have a bout of frequent sneezing for about three weeks.  Once the herpes virus subsides, your cat should stop sneezing.  There can be long periods of remission between the herpes flare-ups but if not this warrants a visit to the vet for antibiotics.

More commonly, occasional sneezing could simply be an inhaled irritant or dust.  Another common reason is from dental problems.  Complications from dental disease can affect the nasal passages.  If your cat has bad breath and is sneezing, this could be a sign.  A vet could prescribe an antibiotic for a nasal infection.

 If you have an indoor cat especially with an endless supply of food, weight gain is just a natural result.  Try portion control or a weight control dry cat food formula.

Some things to watch for along with weight gain are excessive urination, excessive thirst, and lethargy.  These could all be signs of diabetes.  Probably the easiest thing to notice as unusual is excessive thirst.  This comes as a result of the excess urination caused by high glucose levels pulling fluid from the body into the urine.

Since cats typically take many naps throughout the day, it may be harder to notice lethargy.  But, if your cat is suddenly playing less or not taking the stairs, this may be cause for concern - especially if combined with excessive thirst.

 If your cat suddenly starts eliminating outside the litter box, this could be a sign of stress.  I had a cat once with just this problem.

She was about ten years old when we moved to a new house.  We had to move to an apartment first while we were building our house.  She did fine with the first move but a second move withing four monthes must have been too much for her.

Jasmine had always been a timid and skittish cat anyway.  Unfortunately, the two moves were too much for her and she started showing signs of stress.  I didn't realize at the time what the  problem was and had her back and forth to the vet.

I wasn't getting answers from the vet and started researching online.  That's when I realized that cats can get very stressed out with change and eliminated outside of their litter box is one of the signs.  Sadly, nothing we did for this cat helped the situation.  The humane society said our only option was to put her to sleep.  It was a very sad day.

Now I know that we should have let our cat get used to her new surroundings slowly.  We should have confined her to one room at first, surrounded with familiar items such as her toys and a blanket.  After a couple of days, we could have let her start exploring, giving her lots of praise and comfort.

Remember that any kind of change can stress out your cat and changes should be brought on gradually if possible.  Some other signs of stress are excessive grooming to the point of losing hair, eating less and yowling.