My 3 year old cat loves to splash the water out of his bowl. He still drinks out of the bowl, but loves to play with the water. He also comes in and drinks water from my bath when I'm in it. He will play with the bath water too, no matter how hot it is. If I'm soaking sore muscles I have it as hot as I can stand.
I also have 2 dogs who will eat the cat food more than their own if they can reach it, so I learned many years ago to keep the cat dishes (and litter box too, altho that's in a separate room) up out of the dogs' reach. I have my cat dishes on a "sofa table". It's higher than a coffee table and is perfect for feeding him on. It has a glass top so I don't have to worry about the wood getting ruined when he plays with his water.
To keep his dish from sliding around, I put some rubber shelf liner under it. Then I just lay a dish towel on top of the rubber to absorb the water. I simply replace the towel every morning. Now he's able to have fun playing in his water bowl, and I don't have the mess I used to have!
