Cat Water fountains - are they any good?

[maddercow]

Catit small water fountain has been a great success. Neither of the cats were scared of it and were interested in it straight from the off.

Cashie loves it, is drinking really well and his urine no longer smells strongly of ammonia.  Izzy drinks from it too.

It is pretty quiet too, I hardly notice it, my bedroom window opens directly into the conservatory (we have a weird house!) and the fountain is less than 4 feet from my bed and it doesn't disturb me.

A brilliant buy from zooplus for £15.90, got some replacement filters too and got free delivery. If any of you are worried your cats are not drinking enough I can heartily recommend it.

[emmmy_lou]

Good luck with it!

We did get a new one, but denzel still prefers the bath tap, or drinking out the bird bath 

we got this one http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_bowls_feeders/cat_fountains/drinkwell/146826

thinking it would be much like them drinking from the tap, but Dexter just laps it up from the bowl 

Oh well.....

[maddercow]

Just read this thread as I have been thinking about ordering a fountain'  cos my Cashie isn't drinking enough this summer.


Two things...

1 - Liz... glad somebody else plays "drippy tap" my bathroom basin is covered in cat prints every morning after they have been playing it all night.

2 - Mymblesdaughter - I would pay very good money for a video of you pretending to lap water from a cat fountain.

Have ordered one anyway and am willing to bet my two will be terrified of it... We shall see.

XXX

[lornab]

The Drinkwell one does look like the best jet of water would no doubt appeal to Moses, if yours has been going for 5 years Snarf then they must be OK!

[snarf]

im sure someone worked it out ages ago  and it was pennies. will try to find the thread..

see this site http://www.ukpower.co.uk/tools/running_costs_electricity/

google gives 9 watts running a 2 watt motor

24 hours x365 days /12 =730 hours a month.

my initial leccy rate is  17.670kWh (£13 82 after so many units)

using 9 watts , 730 hours and higher leccy rate cost to run is £1.161 per month, if its 2 watts its 26pence per month
mines been running all day every day for best part of 5 years and no trouble- i think they scale up quicker if they are on in fits and starts?

[Mymblesdaughter]

I actually heard one of the cats drinking from it last night, so looks like they are going to get into it eventually.

My OH did mention the fact that it was on all the time and how much did it cost to run. Does anyone have any idea? I wouldn't have thought it used much. 

[emmmy_lou]

we had a petmate one, but it only lasted about 9months til the motor packed in. We changed the water & filters regularly, but think it still gunked up with cat hair etc.

They did like it although it took a while for them to get it. We didnt replace it cos OH complained about the electric being on constantly  now i just have to put the bath tap on whenever they demand it!!!

[snarf]

i have a drink well too- really quiet unless its low, mine love it - i took it away to try a foster with it once, after about an hour, spare cat was sat where it normally lives howling 

all 3 of mine (and the fosters that have had access) have started off playing with it, but mostly just drink from it now, although it does occasionally gain a cat toy

[Rosella moggy]

Boris likes the Drinkwell one.  He usually drinks from the flowing part now.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3jpU5xw4RE

[Mymblesdaughter]

I got my cats one of these last week http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_bowls_feeders/cat_fountains/67700 They haven't shown much interest in it so far. I've tried to show them how to use it by putting my head in and pretending to lap the water. Buffy pawed the water a bit but I haven't seen either of them drinking from it. I'm going to give them a couple of weeks and see how it goes.   

[lornab]

Has anyone got the pioneer pet raindrop one? It looks quite nice but the only review is not very complimentary, there's just too many different ones to choose from.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003YI2HPQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

[Liz]

We have the mats and the warped solid wood floor so went to grit boxes and no more soggy floors right enough I do have more cats than most

Ours love all of them and they really only make a noise when they need topped up, I also run the bath and pop icecubes in the water and Star NFC and some of the others love it - I have tiled bathroom floors, Jester plays drippy tap in the kitchen and Sherbet in the downstairs WC and at times like this I am so glad we aren't on a water meter

[bunglycat]

I have a cat it one and all my 5 love it . Not much splashing from them , but got the mat that goes with it too.

[lornab]

Using a litter tray is a really good idea Liz, I can just imagine Moses diving in head-first! Do the cats show any particular preference between the different makes, and which would you say is the least noisy?
The boys seem to either drink freshly poured water or else filthy water from the washing up bowl, i've even caught them drinking from the ducks pond 

[fluffybunny]

I've got a petmate one and my two love it, I'm sure they drink more from it. I chose the petmate one because the water runs down the side of a plastic slope rather than splashes into the bowl so it's quieter, but with hindsight I would have got a splashy one - much more catty interest I reckon! When I go to replace this one, I will probably get one with a more obvious tap-like flow.

[Liz]

We have all of the listed ones and I place them in litter trays so any paw playing water is easily captured ours love them and the 14 water bowls we have about the Clan homestead

[lornab]

I have been looking at water fountains for cats as the boys seem to prefer to drink freshly poured water, plus moses loves playing with running water so it could double up as a toy.
There are a few different types I have been looking at on Amazon, ( made by Cat-it, Cat mate, and Drinkwell) but I have also seem a fair few nearly new ones on eBay as some cats presumably didn't take to them.
Just wondered if anyone has one and what they think of it (or rather what their Cat thinks of it  ) any recommendations would be great.
Thanks  x