Our feline friends are a complicated bunch. While cat enthusiasts will shower their four-legged friends with all the love and adoration they’re capable of, they’re also quick to tell you the times their pets show their wild sides. The moments that reveal that, deep down, cats are still wild hunters meant to be tearing through the wilderness and ruling their own pride of adorable kittens.  A recent Simon’s Cat video set out to explain some of these instincts. Especially their behavior as it pertains to water.

The appropriately titled “Do Cats Really Hate Water?” was brought to our attention via an article on Laughing Squid, and answers some questions about some common cat habits. With the help of cat expert Nicky Trevorrow from cats.org.uk, it’s explained that cats tend to gravitate toward faucets due to an instinct that moving water–like streams and rivers–is safer to drink. Combined with the adorable cartoons from British animator Simon Tofield, it makes for one of the better educational videos we’ve seen in quite a while.

Trevorrow also offers some tips to keep your cats happier when it comes to their food and water. As it turns out, cats favor metal or ceramic bowls over plastic (which can alter the taste of water) and do better with wide dishes in order to keep their whiskers from hitting the sides. What’s eye-opening for us is the fact that cats prefer some distance between their food and water sources due to how they’d act in the wild. Being the hunters they are, cats normally wouldn’t drink near the latest meal they happened to kill.

What are your favorite Simon’s Cat animations? Any other feline facts people should know? Let’s discuss in the comments right meow!

Image: Simon’s Cat