Max discovers what happens to his drinking water

My tub faucet is leaking, very slowly. I have a bucket under it to catch the leaks. It took me months to figure out that, duh, I can use that water to refill the toilet tank when I flush it, but never mind that. 

Max does not appreciate being interrupted with a camera when he's trying to drink out of the bucket

Anyway, Max loves to drink out of the bucket (he is less pleased when I use it to fill the toilet tank because then the level gets out of his reach, and believe me, he will go to great lengths to extend that reach. I'm afraid he'll fall in one of these days!). But he's never seen me actually do that.

The giraffe holder

Today (Jan 30, 2014) he happened to still be in the bathroom when I used the bucket to fill the tank. This involves taking the toilet paper holder (a metal giraffe) off the back of the tank and putting it on the floor, taking the tank lid off and putting it across the toilet lid, and then flushing the toilet and pouring the bucket contents in.

This was absolutely fascinating. Not so much the bucket part. He got that. But he didn't know the toilet came apart like that! I'm beginning to be able to read him, and I could tell he wanted me to undo it and let him take a longer look. So I did.

First off came the giraffe. He jumped up on the toilet lid and sniffed the giraffe's tiny head. (It has to be tiny for the toilet paper roll to slide over it.) But his attention quickly turned to the lid of the tank. Which I helpfully removed, making a big deal of how heavy it was. I don't want him trying to remove it himself (which he probably will try, but hopefully he'll give up faster). 

He put his front paws on the edge of the tank, his back paws still on the toilet lid, and proceeded to investigate very closely. Including putting one paw down into the water. He has no fear of water, even standing water, and finds it lovely to play with. He tasted the edge of the tank (where the metals deposit so I think it's like a salt lick to cattle). He patted the bit that makes the lever work on the inside part of the tank. 

He took forever, and me there holding the heavy tank lid waiting for him to satisfy his curiosity! Finally he seemed to allow that there was nothing more to be seen or tasted or touched, and got his head out of the way to let me put the tank lid back on. But once the lid was on, he had to get on it, and see about investigating the bottom of the wall cupboard above the tank. This proved far less interesting and was quickly abandoned. 

When he got down onto the toilet lid again, I slowly picked up the giraffe (so he could see what I was doing) and put it back on the tank lid. I told him "and that's the way things are supposed to be." Cats are big on things being the way they are supposed to be, so I'm hoping that he got some idea of what I was talking about. He sniffed the giraffe and then lost interest, so I left the bathroom and he followed shortly after.

I try very hard not to laugh out loud at my cats ever since I embarrassed Pizza by laughing at him. I was hard put not to laugh out loud when Max has his shoulder fuzzy "wings" sticking up and his head disappeared into the depths of the tank!

I have discovered one of the keys to dealing with Max is to allow him to satisfy his curiosity. He rarely has to satisfy it again on the same object, so giving him that little bit of time initially saves a lot of trouble later.