The vet had opined that she "wanted a fountain." I was a little resistant to that idea: another electrical appliance? For my pet? Come on. Next we'll be taking her for acupuncture. But, as the hydration problem dragged on into the summer heat, I decided it was finally time to cave. Who knew what drinking apparatus Elsie might have become used to during her childhood in another, fucked-up home? Perhaps she didn't even recognize a water dish as being a normal means of obtaining water. So I purchased the device pictured above.
She was curious immediately, and hung around the fountain peering at it and listening to its music (my apartment now sounds like a babbling brook at all times), but did not dare to drink out of it for the first 24 hours. I had to get out the Bowl of Frustration again so she would not just up and die. But, finally, she took a timid lick. And the rest is history. I'm off to buy another bag of cat litter.