Water fountains

[Desley (booktigger)]

Lynn, my vet thinks dog bowls are better for getting cats to drink, so he might be OK with just that. I couldnt' get a water fountain before, as I didn't have a spare plug socket in the front room - I do know so might get one, but Molly and the fosters would still have to have normal bowls.

[Millys Mum]

Taz has licked it!! 
It was turned off but its a start 

[Mark]

re the mineral water price

In Lidl, you can get 2L bottles of yorkshire spring water for 17p or 2L bottles of french mineral water for 25p.

I know they sell "table water" for 17p in Tesco but I bet its just tap water 

I was using filtered water but the Brita leaflet says there can be "elevated levels of pottasium" in filtered water.

I couldn't drink a glass of tap water as it has a bitter, metallic taste but will drink filtered or bottled so I'm sure the cats have the same problem but even more so as they are more sensitive. We are getting a water butt soon so I will try them with rain water.

[Millys Mum]

I got one because of Tazs bladder problems, anything is worth trying!
I think that as more people drink bottled water for better taste it makes them question what their pets must think of it, and also just to spoil their pets.

Do you change the dog bowl more or less often? Is his bowl plastic and the dogs ceramic? Plastic can make water taste nasty.
I swapped awhile back to a glass fruit bowl and they deffo prefer that to the old plastic one.

[CurlyCatz]

Hope they take to it soon millys mum after you shelling out.

Out of interest to all of you who have them, why have you got them ?  I recommend them for people trying to encourage more drinking but wandering if i should think about one ?? Cody drinks fine so as do the other boys so never thought it was necessary ?

On drinking subject also i was going to start new thread but will just ask here..Cody has his own water bowl which gets fresh water usually twice every day and put up on the draining board or table through the night beside his food.  He used to drink his water often (normal often i mean) but lately he doesnt touch it and i only see him drinking from the dogs bowl which obviously is always kept full.  Do you guys think i should still put his own water out (which i often spill LOL) or just accecpt he and the dogs share water ??

[Millys Mum]

I got a cat it in the end and so far it has only recieved glares! Tabitha sniffed it and then ran off!

The mat appears to bother them more than the fountain so have removed that for now, it may end up in the swap shop! Lucky i got it free 

[scattycat]

... well best to try use filtered water, though is best to every now and again take the motor out and give it a clean.

You can pop the side of the case off, and you'll see the little wheel that goes around - here where the gunk usually forms, we found toothpicks were very handy at cleaning this (in very hot water).

[Millys Mum]

   scattycat, we have very hard water here 

[scattycat]

We've got to buy our three a new one at some point - we did have the CatIt dome fountain, but found that if we didnt put filtered water in the dome the motor would often sieze up (due to hard water in our area) and had to buy a new motor (as we found out the hard way!), but we found that the plastic of the dome got brittle and cracked (and then caused us the problem of the dome not being air tight and not letting the right amount of water out.

We also found that the dome got rather 'slimey' if we didnt give it a wash every 2-3 days due to the dust etc that would fall on it - anyway it is a good one, rather nifty looking, but think we'll buy a drinkwell when we can afford it.

[Millys Mum]

Ooo a pink one! Shame it wouldnt match the kitchen 

Thanks for all you inputs, hopefully the mob will appreciate their new gadget 

[Liz]

We have 3 catit fountains and the mats are great and our mob love them and so does Jazz the dog, we also have Breeze's waterbowl in the lounge somehow didn't move it and now everyone drinks and wahes their paws in it so ours are well caterd for!

[Mark]

I have never seen a catit but it looks like they are 1/2 the price of a drinkwell - I am happy with the drinkwell as it is lasting so well.

There is a pink one on ebay - with a donation to breast cancer research.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pink-Drinkwell-Fountains-Donation-To-Cancer-Research_W0QQitemZ150097891065QQihZ005QQcategoryZ20747QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

[Tan]

I had both and me lads couldn't get the hang of the fountain from the Drinkwell one so i got the dome one from Cat-it and liked that better. Preference of choice mes finks 

They both have a small hum (not smell  ) but i found the drinkwell a little noiser cause of the fountain running down. The dome one can be difficult to sit right in the center so the water runs over equally over the dome but i put it down to our floor not being exactly level solved that by the handy bit of cardboard under one side. 

The cat-it one is better fro multicat households as you can drink from all round it and the drinkwell one has a stronger fountain waterfall.

My lads tend not to use any now but choose to drink from the pond, their water glass in on my bedroom table and the water bowls i have outside.  Typical eh!!! 

Have a look on ebay for both makes they are cheaper on there and i know quite a few online pet stores that do them too if ya want that info.
 

[Mark]

My Drinkwell has been running 24/7 for over 2 years. I don't use the filters but wash it as you can get a biuldup of black slime over time. The control thing broke off but it doesn't seem to make any difference. There is a constant hum that you get sed to. You only seem to otice it when its off. Ithink the carbon filters are just a money-spinner for the makers.

[JackSpratt]

I have a cat-it fountain that someone kindly gave to me from the forum (You know who you are Thanks again!) and my cats love it. All of them use it, and Parsley did too when she was around.

[Team Svartalfheims]

I've got a Drinkwell water fountian and it's brilliant. I bought the cleaning brush set to go with it which makes giving it a thorough clean very easy and I also purchased a large additional reservoir because the team drink rather a lot of water between all of them and it saves me constantly topping it up.

The Drinkwell isn't that loud and the amount of water spilling out of the fountain bit at the top can be changed using a twisty knob thing.

[Millys Mum]

Im going to buy one but have noticed a large difference in price between brands.
What do people reccommend?

Are they noisy? The cat im buying it for is scared of most things bless him, if it whirrs loudly he would hide!

Any accessories that are a must? Extra canisters etc

I dont want to buy a cheaper one if its likely to break quickly and need another