I have a 19-year-old cat. He's one-of-a-kind. Even people who don't like cats like this guy- we've joked in the past that he never learned how to be a cat because he grew up with a dog. He's very warm and affectionate and has always been talkative. He's also good at letting people know what he wants. i.e. I used to feed him on top of the refrigerator to keep the dog out of it. He'd go up to the top and bat people on the head as they walked by if he was hungry. He'll meow by his food dish at the floor if he wants to eat now.
A week ago, he developed an abscess and half his face swelled up. The vet couldn't tell if it was a tooth or some kind of external wound that caused it, but ended up doing a pretty major surgery on him- opening and draining the abscess, then pulling a couple teeth that could have caused it. The cat's surprisingly doing amazing. He came home and wanted food right away. He gets mad at me when I force his antibiotics and pain meds on him, but is otherwise behaving like himself. At present, he's got multiple stitches across the side of his face (will likely be removed in another week or so) and a drainage tube (will likely be removed this week). So, it is serious business.
The thing I can't figure out is that, starting almost as soon as he got home, he took to meowing at his water dish. I thought maybe it wasn't fresh enough for him- he previously liked to drink straight from the tap when I'd let him. I scrubbed the dish and replaced the water. No change. My daughter thought maybe he wanted "better" water, so I gave him chilled filtered water in a different dish. No change.
He's eating on the floor (has a good appetite and now demands to be fed 4+ times per day, which I let him get away with for now because he's super thin), and he will eventually drink the water, but it's the same thing each time. He goes up to it, meows at it (a very sad meow) and then eventually drinks.
I've tried swapping the dishes just in case he's weird about the potential of bumping his face. I've really tried everything I can think of to help the poor guy. I know he wants something different but I have no clue what it might be.
Any ideas, Muggers?
Baba 