He's a good boy, and he has been making it clear that he's not a fan of the water here, and that it sits and goes stale. Sneaks into the shower after either of us get out, and I think if he figured out he could lift a toilet lid, I'd catch him doing it. I dump it out and give him fresh almost daily, but still.

There's myriad choices online. I know they're all made in China. I'd prefer something stainless steel I think, but I don't know, maybe it's bad because it'll probably still rust. My primary criteria are that it isn't the top draining dish and reservoir style that could conceivably go dry if the power goes off and we're not home for a day or two, leaving him without access to what's there. Some of them say they don't fully drain, but in that situation, what's the point of 3 liters of water if he can only get to several ounces? Whenever we leave for more than a day, I put out a few gallon's worth in some big bowls anyways in case of emergency, but that style seems like a "nope" to me regardless. It would also be good if it's not a total pain to clean. The idea is to keep him supplied with clean water that's continually moving and if it builds up cat spit slime in places I can't get to, that defeats the purpose.

Has anyone here found one that's a clear winner? Did you try a bunch and go back to a plain water dish? Do you have an OK unit that you have to put a new pump in once a year or something like that? Maxwell wants to know.

I use a Pet Safe water system. My cat likes it and drinks plenty. He's a healthly (but round) 13 yr. old bugger.

I tried several but found the cat did not like the noise the pump made. And the pumping system became full of scale and/or lime deposits pretty quickly. There were filters to change too.
They did not work out for me. YMMV.
I just went with stainless steel bowls in the kitchen and both bathrooms, changed daily.

My cats thrived on this fountain. The alpha female had very "thick" concentrated urine from not drinking enough water so the vet suggested a fountain. Both cats drank a lot of water afterward, and the alpha female's urine thinned out to normal.

When they got a few years older, I had a 2-story house and they became too lazy to change levels to get a drink of water so I bought a 2nd one to have on both levels.

By the time the last one passed at age 20, I think the older fountain was 9 years old and the newer fountain was 5 years old. It's powered by a simple little aquarium pump that is super reliable, and both were reliable the entire lives of the cats.

quote:

My primary criteria are that it isn't the top draining dish and reservoir style that could conceivably go dry if the power goes off and we're not home for a day or two, leaving him without access to what's there.

The one I linked is pumping out out of the back bottom basin and has a connection to the front bottom basin (i.e. the drinking portion). In other words, access to all of the water even in a power outage.

When I moved to Houston, the house was arranged such that one of the fountains was next to something on UPS so I plugged in the fountain too which kept it pumping and filtering even in a power outage (i.e. more appealing to the cats).

Our cat drinks from a stainless water bowl in the kitchen, and a gravity feed water thingy in the bathroom. She doesn't seem to have a preference.

A friend's cat gets up on the kitchen counter and has learned how to press the spring-loaded lever for their drinking water spout.

Hope you find something that works. Water is very important for them.

My former feral will drink out of a couple bowls I have, one upstairs and one down. But I scratch my head when I let her out on the deck (former feral) and she drinks out of some nasty retaining dish under a plant that has puddled.
I've removed them from plants that I add small amounts of fertilizer, but wth?

My cats are very water-oriented, and they love the $28 Catit fountain I got them.
It has an easy-to-replace filter that lasts a month or so. Holds 3 liters (about 3 quarts) so is good for almost a week.

Now, we have a backup generator so power outages aren't a worry. That said, both cats know what those oval things in the bathrooms contain, and if we were gone long enough that the 3 liters in the fountain ran dry, and the folks who watch our house/cats forgot to refill it, the cats'd know just what to do to get by.

I looked into those fountains some years back, they make a lot of sense. I was put off by potential hygiene/health issues but have no memory as to the problems. I'd say do enough research.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
My cats thrived on this fountain.

I second the Drinkwell Platinum. Our cats weren't drinking out of a bowl and I had heard that a fountain can make a world of difference. After researching and looking at different ones, I settled on the Drinkwell as it seems to be the most popular and the most recommended. It took a couple of days for the cats to figure it out but they all drink so much more now. I clean the unit once a week and I have to partially refill the reservoir about 4 days later to get them through the next three days (we have 4 cats). We've had ours for 6 years now and it's still going strong.

As tatortodd mentioned, it runs on an aquarium motor. When I was researching, people all agreed that this is a benefit. If the motor should ever fail, it is widely available and inexpensive to replace. That way you don't have to buy the whole fountain again.

I've had 2 of the cat-it fountains (first one was lost in a break up) and all 4 cats I've been affiliated with loved them. They're easy to clean and both were very reliable. They are the top draining reservoir kind however, so that doesn't seem to be what you're looking for. I always had the same fears as you about losing power or the pump dying, so my solution was to always leave the guest bathroom toilet seat up. Little shits always loved drinking out of the toilet whenever they got a chance anyway, so leaving the seat up always gave me the peace of mind that they would have access to water for a couple of days regardless of what happened to the fountain.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
There's myriad choices online. I know they're all made in China. I'd prefer something stainless steel I think, but I don't know, maybe it's bad because it'll probably still rust. My primary criteria are that it isn't the top draining dish and reservoir style that could conceivably go dry if the power goes off and we're not home for a day or two, leaving him without access to what's there. Some of them say they don't fully drain, but in that situation, what's the point of 3 liters of water if he can only get to several ounces? Whenever we leave for more than a day, I put out a few gallon's worth in some big bowls anyways in case of emergency, but that style seems like a "nope" to me regardless. It would also be good if it's not a total pain to clean. The idea is to keep him supplied with clean water that's continually moving and if it builds up cat spit slime in places I can't get to, that defeats the purpose.

Thanks for the input! Really appreciated, seriously. There's a zillion choices online and after reading through reviews for the first half dozen that looked good and finding some critical flaws with each, I figured I should just ask.

I just ordered the Drinkwell, that looks the most like what I'm looking for, and the aquarium pump is a big bonus since that's an easy replacement. I also think the next time we go out of town, I'll put the extra large water bowl down... and leave the hall bathroom toilet lid up lol. I don't want to teach him to drink out of the toilet, but I also would rather he knew where to find water if the situation got dire.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
A friend's cat gets up on the kitchen counter and has learned how to press the spring-loaded lever for their drinking water spout.

Ok, that's pretty funny. Smart cat. Wouldn't work for us as we don't have that under-sink filtration here, and Maxwell is a 20lb Maine Coon and not as graceful as your average cat. He isn't a jumper per se, he likes to find places to burrow. I've never once seen him on a counter.

Interesting thread. My cats drink out of stainless bowls, set up with a continuous slow drip from a faucet. Seems to work for them.

flashguy

Well, it arrived yesterday. I cleaned it and set it up. We put his old water bowl away. This morning, my wife told me he was begging her for water and she showed him the new water dish, but he wouldn’t drink from it until she unplugged it. The instant it stopped dripping, he drank water like he had t had a drop since yesterday. So this one at least so far is not working for us.

Did you guys have an adjustment period or have to “teach” them what to do? He’s a Maine Coon for chrissakes, they’re fascinated with water. I thought for sure he’d be all over this thing.

Late response here, but if the 'Drinkwell' doesn't work out so well, you might give this one a try...

https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer...indrop/dp/B0037NKDSG

We had two cats at the time when we got it, Luna and Loki (still do, but we lost one to cancer last fall, and got another rescue, Maggie in January). They seemed to take to it right away, and liked it. It's stainless steel and provided a 'stream' of running water, rather than a fountain/waterfall. It was easy to clean, quiet (think aquarium pump) and has a replaceable charcoal filter. It gives two options for drinking, either directly from the stream, or from the well/pool of water on the other side of the bowl.

One caution...We have one cat (Loki) that likes to put his paw(s) in the water and he was regularly knocking the cover w/ the attached pump ajar. He seems to want to test the water for some reason initially, but then uses it to clean his front paws...Weird I know! Anyway, I put a thick rubber band over the whole thing to keep that from happening, but he was still able to do it. I kinda think he was doing it on purpose, as it was happening more and more often. Maybe he didn't like his whiskers touching the cover when drinking from the well (his whiskers are kinda straight/wide), not sure, but the issue was that a couple of times, he did it just right and the stream of water was pumping onto the floor! It was caught quickly because of the noise it made when he did it, so no harm, but we had to retire it. YMMV

My wife gives the cats fresh water twice a day, sometimes more if Loki decides to make a mess of the water, and we also put ice cubes in the water sometimes as well, both for amusement, or to add a chill to the water. If the fountain(s) don't work out, maybe up the frequency of the fresh water changes and add in some ice cubes, just for fun.

What about putting it on a timer so it goes on an off.

I don't know that it is the water in the bowl gets stale, I just think cats are weirdos and won't drink the water in the bowl because you want them to.

Ours wouldn't drink the water in the bowl, but drank the water out of a vase with a "hydroponic" ivy growing in it. That water was much nastier than the bowl water.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
Did you guys have an adjustment period or have to “teach” them what to do?

This is quite the memory test for me as original purchase was ~2012.

I'd do 3 things:

Leave it turned off for several days. Let them get used to drinking water from this odd shaped water dish.

Don't pressure them. My smart cat was as stubborn as it gets and wouldn't do anything if it felt pressured.

Once you do turn it on, the lever in front of the grate controls the flow. I tinkered with flow as there was an optimal flow (about half-way) as far as being quiet. I can't remember if it affected the cats, but I do remember lowest flow setting being loud enough that it made me piss all the time.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
Late response here, but if the 'Drinkwell' doesn't work out so well, you might give this one a try...

Thanks, that looks like a solid choice if this one doesn't pan out!

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
I'd do 3 things:

Leave it turned off for several days.

Yeah, that's the conclusion my wife and I came to. It's unplugged for now. I figure I'll plug it in occasionally over the next few days just to cycle the water.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
I can't remember if it affected the cats, but I do remember lowest flow setting being loud enough that it made me piss all the time.

Ok, that's funny.

I had it turned off most of the day today, plugging it in here and there to cycle the water. Someone, I'm not sure who, plugged it in this afternoon and let it run. I came around the corner and it looked like I caught him drinking out of it. Trust a cat to not want to be seen doing something they're unsure about, he walked away licking his lips. My wife told me just now that he went over and had a long drink out of it with it running, so I think he's adjusting to it. I'm glad.

It's starting to look like a winner. I'll update if something changes for better or worse in case someone has any interest in trying one of these out. Thanks, guys.