It is the best way to "train" a cat, the only way I ever kept the cats away from a loaded Christmas tree. An extra trick is to put just a scosche of white vinegar in the water, they hate that.
Ferrets don't care for that either. My scofflaw, Bianca, was the exception- she liked water. I occasionally called her 'Flipper' because she was probably a dolphin in a previous life.