Water fountains for cats
Discussion
Yes I know, we spoil our cats. 
Ours never seem to drink water out of their bowls, they've taken to jumping up into the kitchen sink or bathroom wash-hand basin and demanding one of us turns the tap on for them. In fairness we should never have allowed this in the first place.
So we've seen some of these water features/fountains in pet stores and wondered if anyone has one and rates theirs? Are they all mains-powered or can we get battery-operated ones?
Ours never seem to drink water out of their bowls, they've taken to jumping up into the kitchen sink or bathroom wash-hand basin and demanding one of us turns the tap on for them. In fairness we should never have allowed this in the first place.
So we've seen some of these water features/fountains in pet stores and wondered if anyone has one and rates theirs? Are they all mains-powered or can we get battery-operated ones?
Following iwth interest! One of ours has takento dragging his waterbowl across the floor (no matter where we put it), and they've both always drunk out of toilets and baths, and anywhere else really ! Have wondered whether a fountain would be preferred by them, but we're open plan so not sure about the noise. The water spot is also nowhere near an easy to reach plug :s
Drinkwell Platinum here.
Holds about 4 litres, so I can't see one of ours dragging it accross the floor, frankly.
Noise? Well, I occasionally notice ours, usually when the top cover is loose and rattles slightly; I usually just tap it with my foot in passing, then. Apart from that, it's like any light ambient noise, you get used to it. It's actually very quiet, the only reason it gets noticed at all is it's a quiet house, and only then if it's 'different' from normal.
Power cord is about 6', so plenty of length to position it.
Recommended.
Holds about 4 litres, so I can't see one of ours dragging it accross the floor, frankly.
Noise? Well, I occasionally notice ours, usually when the top cover is loose and rattles slightly; I usually just tap it with my foot in passing, then. Apart from that, it's like any light ambient noise, you get used to it. It's actually very quiet, the only reason it gets noticed at all is it's a quiet house, and only then if it's 'different' from normal.
Power cord is about 6', so plenty of length to position it.
Recommended.
We bought a CatMate water fountain for our cats, it seems to work OK and I think they drink more from it than they the bowls they used to have.
They still seem to like licking water from puddles or off cars when outside but seem happy to drink from the fountain when inside.
Ours is mains powered and makes a bit of a humming noise. It also gets scaled up quite easily and I often have to take the motor apart to clean it out as it stops pumping the water.
There is also a replaceable filter but I have only changed it a couple of times, it works fine with the filter removed also.
They still seem to like licking water from puddles or off cars when outside but seem happy to drink from the fountain when inside.
Ours is mains powered and makes a bit of a humming noise. It also gets scaled up quite easily and I often have to take the motor apart to clean it out as it stops pumping the water.
There is also a replaceable filter but I have only changed it a couple of times, it works fine with the filter removed also.
jimmyjimjim said:
Drinkwell Platinum here.
Holds about 4 litres, so I can't see one of ours dragging it accross the floor, frankly.
Noise? Well, I occasionally notice ours, usually when the top cover is loose and rattles slightly; I usually just tap it with my foot in passing, then. Apart from that, it's like any light ambient noise, you get used to it. It's actually very quiet, the only reason it gets noticed at all is it's a quiet house, and only then if it's 'different' from normal.
Power cord is about 6', so plenty of length to position it.
Recommended.
I've tried heavy bowls, and the daft thing still tries to drag them, and ends up tipping them over Holds about 4 litres, so I can't see one of ours dragging it accross the floor, frankly.
Noise? Well, I occasionally notice ours, usually when the top cover is loose and rattles slightly; I usually just tap it with my foot in passing, then. Apart from that, it's like any light ambient noise, you get used to it. It's actually very quiet, the only reason it gets noticed at all is it's a quiet house, and only then if it's 'different' from normal.
Power cord is about 6', so plenty of length to position it.
Recommended.
Daft moggy !!!Thanks for info, I might give it a go !
Thanks for all the replies The cats' food, water and boxes are in the sun porch at the back of the house so a little noise isn't really an issue. I'll take a look at some of the suggestions but sounds like a few folk have cats with similar habits to ours and they seem to use their fountains etc. OK so we'll probably go for it.
Those chrome ones look nice, quite like the other one on Amazon too:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pioneer-Pet-Drinking-Fount...
The cats' food, water and boxes are in the sun porch at the back of the house so a little noise isn't really an issue. I'll take a look at some of the suggestions but sounds like a few folk have cats with similar habits to ours and they seem to use their fountains etc. OK so we'll probably go for it.Those chrome ones look nice, quite like the other one on Amazon too:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pioneer-Pet-Drinking-Fount...
I'm actually looking at stocking these in the very near future, both stainless and ceramic versions.
Thread resurrection
My other half had an idea. Since the cat's food and stuff is in the sun porch which has no power, getting a mains-powered water fountain would be a bit tricky. She remembered that her dad has a solar-powered water feature thing in his garden and wondered if this would be suitable for the cats.
I guess the potential issue would be that these don't tend to have filters of any sort, and we'd also need to make sure we got one that's made of a material that won't react with the water and leave unpleasant chemicals in the water. If we can get a regular ceramic fountain and change the water every day (as we do with the bowls they currently don't use) then would this be an issue?
My other half had an idea. Since the cat's food and stuff is in the sun porch which has no power, getting a mains-powered water fountain would be a bit tricky. She remembered that her dad has a solar-powered water feature thing in his garden and wondered if this would be suitable for the cats.
I guess the potential issue would be that these don't tend to have filters of any sort, and we'd also need to make sure we got one that's made of a material that won't react with the water and leave unpleasant chemicals in the water. If we can get a regular ceramic fountain and change the water every day (as we do with the bowls they currently don't use) then would this be an issue?
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