Cat drinking fountains - any opinions?

[Flaxbee]

Seems several of our cats now greatly prefer running water to fresh water in a bowl -- and I'd like to buy one of the kitty water bowl fountain thingamajiggies. We're moving to a much smaller place and I want to streamline the water / food situation.

Anyone prefer one brand / style over another?

Recommendations welcome! :hi:

[REP]

1. I've got two Drinkwells; cats love 'em

We have the largest ones, with the big reservoirs. Have one on each floor; the cats seem to really like them.

[Seedersandleechers]

15. My problem

with the drinkwell is that they are so hard to clean.

[GoCubsGo]

18. Get some bottle brushes.

Drinkwell sells their own cleaning kit, but I clean mine with the bottle brushes I use for cleaning my homebrewing equipment. Much cheaper. If you have a kitchen store, like Bed, Bath & Beyond, I'm sure they'll have them. Or, check out your local homebrewing supplier, if there is one around. Amazon.com sells them, too. You can get into the nooks and crannies real easily with them.

[Jamastiene]

2. Sunday Girl has me trained to come turn the bathroom faucet

on for her now. I was looking into getting one of those at one point, but since she has me trained to what she really wants, I've decided to stick with that.

I still want to watch this thread too, in case there is any kind of consensus on which one is both cheap and good. I'm sure Yogi would appreciate it. He hasn't learned to drink out of the bathroom faucet yet.

[Lasher]

3. Buddy drinks from the bathroom faucet too.

But then he discovered it's easier to drink from a little bathroom cup I leave for him on the sink. So he's graduated to that but it's gotta be up on the sink.

[GreenPartyVoter]

36. Pretzel is the same. Any faucet, anywhere, though thte bathtub is preferred.

[zanne]

4. Doesn't it just spurt out the same water over and over?

I prefer the fresh water method. It involves a human to change the water in the bowl several times a day, but my cats like it.

[Demoiselle]

9. Yes it recycles...but through a pretty good filter.

[zanne]

32. That sounds good then. nt

[jobycom]

26. In the big picture, that's all your faucet does too.

:)

[nuxvomica]

5. I strongly recommend the Hagen Catit small drinking fountain

It's easier to maintain than the more expensive models, quieter, has a smaller footprint and is less likely to cause messes because there's no large reservoir for the cats to jump into. At around $25 it's also cheaper than most other models. I replaced the more expensive Drinkwell Platinum with one because the former would often stop running and was awkward to replenish. And the cats seem to prefer the new one. The only down side is that the filters are proprietary.

http://www.hagen.com/usa/cats/product.cfm?CAT=5&SUBCAT=524&PROD_ID=05500530020501

[stray cat]

6. My cats like the Drinkwell Platinum - I also use its filter

[Bertha Venation]

7. We had one for a long time.

We gave it up because it was a bitch to clean.

[Flaxbee]

17. wondered about that... as I was reading up on them last night,

and came across all kinds of stuff about filters, etc., I wondered about the true 'convenience'.

[Bertha Venation]

23. I believe it's good for the cats because some cats

will drink running water more readily than still.

I was just too lazy. :shrug:

[Demoiselle]

8. I've got 4 Drinkwells...(Lots of cats, big house) They're great.

When they get low on water, they growl and gritch. (Best representation I can make of the noise.) Refill them quickly or the little pump motors can burn out.
Changing the filters every couple of months is a good idea too.

[Bertha Venation]

12. May I ask . . .

. . . how many cats? I have eleven.

[Demoiselle]

20. You beat us by a bit.

We have 6 indoors, and one outdoors. The indoors are all formerly feral kittens,grown now, who exhibit varying degrees of tame-itude. (They all love me, some have lingering doubts about my husband.) Outside lives the Mother of Them All, aka Nicole Kitman (so named because she is a lovely strawberry blonde) who hangs around for good meals and allows me to pet her while she eats. She was just one of many breeding females in the harem of Sir Thomas Grey, a handsome (grey) Tom who set up his home under and on my porch three or four years ago.
I managed to spay and release all the ladies, rescue and find homes for all the kittens. He left when there was no more action to be had, but Nicole stayed, and is clearly contemplating coming inside. We'll see. In the meantime we have set up two heated cat homes for her outside, sturdy little structures that have those waterproof heated whelping pads affixed to floor and ceiling for a radiantly warm experience, and feed her liberally.
And we have two Great Pyrenees rescue dogs who put up with all the cats. Actually, they more than put up, they're really quite sweet to them. Nuzzling, etc.

Yes, I am a crazy cat lady. Wouldn't have it any other way.

[Bertha Venation]

22. You're a woman after my own heart.

Things are similar out here at the Waldorf Cat Haven. :toast:

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. If they're minimum 1400 psi, then I'm all for them.

[LynneSin]

11. You probably have at least one cat drinking fountain already in your house

No that's not my cat but if I left the bathroom door open and toilet lid up - he'd be in there drinking it.

[Flaxbee]

16. lol, yes, our late beloved Tommycat taught several of them to

do this...

And then Marilyn has taught me to turn the faucet on as soon as she yowls.

[GoCubsGo]

19. My dearly-departed dislocated her jaw doing that...

It was back in early 2002. I had watched the Animal Planet special on the rescuing of animals in the 9-11 aftermath. The toilet was the only source of water for many of those animals whose owners couldn't get back home for days. Before that, I had been leaving the lid down to prevent mine from using the can as a drinking fountain. Being afraid that my kitties would wind up like the 9-11 animals, I started leaving it up. On morning, I woke up, and Her Royal Highness had a dislocated jaw. I believe my youngest ambushed her while she was having a toilet cocktail, and she caught her jaw on the seat. It knocked one of her canine teeth loose, too, which eventually broke off and required a second surgery to remove the root. The seat cover went back down after that.

[LynneSin]

25. I feel awful laughing but "Toilet Cocktail" made me spew carrots on my monitor

I would think the solution would be to leave the toilet lid and seat up if you were to do this. But I always have a big bowl of water out so hopefully they could survive a few days.

[GoCubsGo]

29. Don't feel bad.

I wouldn't have called it a "toilet cocktail" if I weren't trying to add some humor to the situation. One reason I used to leave the lid down is that my old man found it easier to go from the toilet to the counter top for a drink from the faucet. He's old and arthritic, and can't jump straight up. (He also missed a few times and lost his nerve.) He no longer takes that route, because he slid off the cover a on a couple of occasions, and once again, he gave up on it. He has no problem jumping from the side of the garden tub to the counter top, however. Go figure. Cats are so funny.

The main reason I used to leave the lid down was that I was afraid they'd get sick from bowl cleaner residue. That was before I learned about baking soda and white vinegar. :-)

[joeybee12]

13. Got one for my CRF cat since she likes running water...she completely

ignores this...none of mine go near it.

[ThatsMyBarack]

14. I got one for my sister's cats.

They LOVE it! :D

[GoCubsGo]

21. I have an original model Drinkwell, and my cats like it

I bought it when my dearly-departed oldest cat became hyperthyroid. She was borderline for a while, and her levels were not high enough for treatment. Meanwhile, she drank incessantly. She loved the faucet, but I wasn't always around to turn it on for her. So, I got the fountain. It's not that bad to clean if you have the right tools. As I said in a post above, one just needs some bottle brushes. I often scrub the nooks and crannies, and then run it through the dishwasher.

Filters can be pricey, but Drs. Foster & Smith usually have some great deals on them. I will rinse mine and re-use them, replacing them when they don't come clean.

I see they now have a stainless steel model out now. That's on my wish list when this one goes.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

24. If you have a cat prone to UTI or crystals they're essential

He's only had one bout and everything I read said it was crucial that he drink more and the fountain promted just that. I think they're very convenient and they hold a ton of water. I have the drinkwell Platinum. We had the Cattit blue ball globe one first, but it just stopped working one day and we replaced it with the Drinkwell. They were both fine. The Cattit lasted about a year, the Drinkwell is well into year 2.

[GoCubsGo]

30. My original is ancient...

It's six or seven years old. The pump is essentially the same one used in Whisper brand aquarium filters. I have one of those that is still functioning after about 15 years of straight use.

[deucemagnet]

27. I bought a Petmate about a year ago.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=cat+drinking+fountain&cid=32494258176459912&sa=title#p

It's quiet and easy to maintain, but the little bastard never looks at it.

[tosh]

28. I've had Petmates but have switched to Drinkwell Platinum.

I really liked the quiet and the looks of the Petmate better, but even with regular cleaning the pumps didn't last.

The Drinkwell Plat has a pre-filter that seems to help with that problem. Like others, I use a bottle brush to clean it.

When I bought it (Drinkwell), I noticed that it claims to be dishwasher safe. The Petmate does not. I haven't put the parts in the DW yet, but it's good to know that I can if I have to.

[tonekat]

31. The cats who live with the ex love it

I think the one that's there is the second one we've had, just clean them once in awhile with a toothbrush and the aforementioned tools. Cat spit can form a really hard cement like substance that seems to be particularly impervious.

Good for their kidneys to drink whenever they want to. Also, you can sometimes spot health problems that aren't manifesting in other, more obvious ways (frequent drinking).

[applegrove]

33. My cat was definitely afraid of the whole contraption.

[ornotna]

34. My cat prefers the old school model

This is Mieko.

[huskerlaw]

35. Another vote for the Drinkwell

It is a pain in the ass to clean, but bottle brushes or Q-tips will do the trick. With 3 cats, I refill the water about once a week (more in hot weather) and clean it about that often as well. Sometimes every 2 weeks if I'm lazy. Oh, and get the extra reservoir. The actual fountain doesn't hold that much water.

I have 3 snobby cats who won't drink still water in a dish, no matter how fresh it is. :eyeroll:

[davsand]

37. I tried a couple different brands then just gave up and made my own.

I live in an area with EXTREMELY hard water, and the first two fountains I had didn't last longer than six months before they died. The cat loved them, but I just had a real issue with having to replace them so quickly. I refuse to give the cat bottled water--I don't even drink it myself--so the outlook for long term cat fountain was getting kinda grim.

I finally took a little field trip to the local Lowe's Home Center and bought an outdoor water garden pump, some clear tubing and a short sided plastic storage tub for something like $25. Each part can be replaced cheaply and the cat has running water all the time. You DO, however want to put some kind o filter into the thing because they get really nasty pretty quickly. I find the carbon filled aquarium filter packs work great for that and they are not terribly expensive to replace.

YMMV, but I find my cat drinks a lot more water with a running fountain.


Laura