How to reproduce
Go to the middle of an ocean (without islands or landing places nearby) or build a pool so mobs in it cannot escape this body of water.
Put short mobs that can drown in it (I don't have a precise hitbox height to tell, but tested mobs are baby cats/chicken/pig/wolf/ocelot/ and silverfish)
It looks like they are swimming, but if you look carefully, they are a bit darker (more obvious for baby wolves), which means they are "submerged" in water according to the game engine.
Wait for them to drown
Note: This does not depends on water depth, they will try to float to the surface but still drowned just below the surface. It is not because they cannot swim, but they failed to float high enough to avoid drowning, which makes it an important distinction from another bug described below.
This bug should not be confused with MC-9388 Baby mobs cannot swim. I also originally thought that bug had reoccurred. However, there are several important distinctions:
It depends on the hitbox height, not whether the mob is a baby or not
For example, some tall babies will not drown, such as baby polar bears
The baby do float, and seems to be swimming above the surface, but is actually considered submerged by the game
A list of affected mobs as of 19w11b (before the reopening of this bug) can be found in the comment https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MC-134755?focusedCommentId=515912&page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels%3Acomment-tabpanel#comment-515912
A list of affected mobs as of 1.14.3 (after the reopening of this bug) is:
BABY Foxes only
BABY cats only
Endermites
Silverfish
Pictures
1.12 (Expected behavior)
[media]1.13 (Actual behavior)
[media]Related issues
is duplicated by
MC-133852
Puppies sometime drown in 1 bloc high water
MC-134635
Some baby mobs having swimming issues
MC-135748
Silverfish immediately begin suffocating when moving against a flowing water current
MC-136110
Baby wolfs drowned when they swim.
MC-136143
Extremely small mob babies (chicken, wolf, etc) drown whilst swimming in water.
MC-136395
Baby Animals Drowning when swimming on surface of water
MC-136817
Baby chickens drown in 1.13.1
MC-137285
Silverfish spawned from spawners immediately drown in water.
MC-138543
tamed cats drown even when on water surface
MC-138639
Cats randomly drown in water
MC-138664
Cats are drowning
MC-138843
Swiming Cats dying
MC-139144
Cats and other small mobs drown at water's surface
MC-139296
New cats drown even floating in the water
MC-140255
Kittens Drowning
MC-141620
Cat NATURALLY get drowned in 18w50a
MC-141696
Cats take drowning damage while swimming.
MC-142313
Cats Can't Swim
MC-142986
Small mobs die in water
MC-143310
cats drown when swimming in water where as other mobs dont
MC-143703
Baby chickens moving from water to land drown/suffocate
MC-143875
cats cant swim efficiently
MC-144109
Baby foxes drown themselves when swimming
MC-144192
Foxes Drown Themselves in Water
MC-144787
New cats still drowning
MC-144839
mobs 1 block high of shorter drown when swimming at the surface of water
MC-145000
cat always drown them when they swim!
MC-145434
Baby wolves drown when swimming
MC-146300
While taming a cat in water will drown to death
MC-146685
Cats will drown in water while swimming
MC-147677
Cats drown in one and 1/2 block deep water
MC-158937
Baby foxes drown when they swimming
MC-175910
Baby Cat Drowns
MC-183657
Cats sit underwater
relates to
Attachments
Comments
migrated
Orbic
Full grown cats and ocelots are doing this now too in the recent snapshot.
migrated
The only mob I can confirm is doing this now (in 18w45a) is the silverfish. This is only for adult mobs though. I haven't tested it with babies.
RobinDinVienna
The cats still do this in 18w50a.
Would it be possible to add that version to the report?
Orbic
Still happens in 19w02a, more specifically with cats which is very concerning considering they've been updated recently. (More people will be messing around with them)
migrated
Baby chickens die when swimming in water in 19w03c, don't know if this is intended.
migrated
Please add a list of all affected mobs, and whitch state they are in. Example: Mob: Dog, State: Young puppy
Orbic
Full list of every affected mob
--Tested as of 19w11b. Note that a mob being tamed does not affect this.
ADULT and BABY Cats
BABY Chickens only
BABY Ocelots only
BABY Pigs only
BABY Wolves only
BABY Foxes only
Endermites
Silverfish
The problem appears to be that these smaller mobs can't keep their heads above the water. Their swimming positions seem to have been somehow altered. Both adults and baby Rabbits probably would be on this list but their swimming methods are an anomaly; their whole body bounces out of the water.
migrated
Confirmed on 19w07a and affects Baby Foxes
Orbic
Still in 19w08a
RobinDinVienna
Also still in 19w08b. Tested with cats.
Orbic
Still in 19w09a.
migrated
Can confirm in 19w09a, and this is total bullshit. I finally managed to find and tame 4 cats, and of them fully 3 managed to drown themselves.
Orbic
Still in 19w11a. Perhaps the list I commented earlier should be added to the main report so it's clear about what mobs are affected.
Orbic
Confirmed for 19w11b
Mitko1239
Just happened to me in 19w11b as well
gaspoweredpick
Still happens in 19w12b
gaspoweredpick
Still happens in 19w13b
migrated
All of my pet cats drowned. 19w14b
migrated
yep, still going on in 19w14b
Its frustrating. the pet doesnt even have a chance to try getting out of the however shallow water they have zipped into. youd think if they hated water, they would avoid jumping into it in the first place.
I had an adult cat drown in a single block of water before i could even reach it some 4 blocks away. It was right next to land too.
migrated
Could this issue be reopened? Baby cats drown again.
Test with version 1.14.3 Pre-Release 4.
migrated
@hkniberg Can confirm that baby cats are still drowning even in the latest version (1.14.2 by time of this comment) This issue need to be re-opened.
migrated
Confirmed for baby foxes in 1.14.3. This needs to be reopened, it's a big problem again!
pokechu22
Reopened, since it sounds like all mobs are still affected. (If some mobs were fixed but others were not, please comment)
migrated
@pokechu22 I put a list of affected mobs after the reopening of this bug (as of 1.14.3) in the description of this bug. The notable differences between the 2 lists (1.14.3 vs. 19w11b) are that the drowning issue for all (adult and baby) wolves, pigs, ocelots (not domestic), and chickens and adult domestic cats are fixed, BUT the issue of baby foxes and domestic cats are not fixed.
migrated
Just recently watched some baby foxes drown last night when i was playing, still not fixed!
migrated
Confirmed on 20w13b
migrated
Affects 20w19a
migrated
Baby foxes still drowned in version 1.16-rc1
[media]
migrated
Confirmed in 20w27a
migrated
Still affects baby foxes in 20w27a
This should be reopened.
wobst.michael
Please create a separate issue for this.
coschevi