[OsnobunnieO]

I don't think my cat drinks enough water. His dish always seems to be full and I rarely see him drink from it. I'm wondering if its worth it to buy one of those fountain type bowls for him to drink from. The only hesitation I have about buying it is that he's kind of afraid of everything and I'm not sure if he would ever use it.

How many people have them? Does it seem like your cats drink a lot more from the flowing water?

Thanks!

 

[Socksipuss]

I don't have one - I thought about getting one 'cause Socks really likes to play with water but I decided it was too much of a hassle... You can check how if your cat is drinking enough by checking if he is peeing enough... And what is enough? I am not sure... I guess 3-6 clumps a day is the usual for Socks... :roll: Hope it helps!

 

[Lori]

We bought a fountain for Velvet about two years ago because she is so fussy about drinking water. She would only drink water running out of a faucet and it was really becoming difficult making sure she got enough to drink. She has nearly twice the urine output now compared to before we got the fountain. If you have a fussy cat, I would definately recommend the pet fountain.

 

[Miss Meowkins]

I also have a fountain for my cats. It really is amazing how much more they drink when the water is moving.

I, too, was afraid that my cat would be afraid of it. My thinking was, if he gets splashed one time, that's it and he'll never use it again. So, I did some research and found one made by Petmate called Fresh Flow Fountain. It actually has a ramp that the water runs down so it won't splash the kitty. I placed his old bowl near the fountain and was gradually, over several days time, moving it closer when I realized he was only drinking from the fountain. He really liked it and adjusted to it better than I thought he would.

I now have 3 kitties all using the fountain. So I upgraded and got the larger one and only have to fill the built-in reservoir about every 5-6 days or so. I gave my smaller one to my veterinary office and my vet commented on a later visit that this fountain was much easier to clean than hers at home and that all the clinic kitties really liked it.

It comes apart so easy for cleaning. Just a minute or two with a toothbrush and water and it's all clean again. The filters that go in the top keep it really pretty clean and only need changing about once a month or so depending on how many kitties are using it. It's silent unless low on water and very compact with everything built right in. It also has a control lever so you can adjust how fast it flow according to the kitty's preference.

I've provided a link below to take you right to the fountains so you don't have to search for them, but if you have any problem with the links, you can always look for them on the Petsmart website. I hope your kitties like it as well as mine.

Smaller Fountain:
http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bf ... =hardgoods

Larger Fountain:
http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bf ... =hardgoods

 

[Padunk]

Buy it from a reputable store with a good return policy. Therefore, if the cat is afraid you should be able to take it back for a refund.

 

[OsnobunnieO]

Thanks so much! It looks like as soon as I get paid and finally have some money to spend, I'll go out and buy him one.

 

[jvan71]

Spaz is a pretty jumpy kitty, but I've had the one with the ramp on it for about 2 years now and she does fine with it. Only took her about a day to get used to the difference and now if it starts the noise that says the resevoir is low on water, she comes looking for me and takes me to her bowl to fix it.

 

[AddFran]

Just curious...did you end up buying the fountain? We bought one a few weeks ago and they've loved it since we turned it on. Very quite too, so not too much to be scared of I don't think.

 

[catobsessed4]

I got a fountain and it broke within the month It was a cheap one, though.

 

[OsnobunnieO]

I did buy the fountain. The Fresh Flow one, from Petsmart.com. I think it was $20. It was on back order, so I went to the store... they wanted like $35! So I decided to wait and a few days later it shipped. Should be here in next week. I'll update when I get it

 

[AddFran]

Jessie,

It's so funny that you brought up the price discrepancy at Petsmart. I bought it from the store for $35.00 and then noticed that on the website it wa only $19.99 the next day. Bummer!

In any case, my cat's love it. It's really a great idea. I've seen some posts where some cats were scared of it, but it seems very subtle. It makes next to no noise at all and the stream is steady and slow. Though, my cats are pretty fearless. When we got our littermaid, my Franny kept jumping back in and staring at the machine as though she was trying to figure it out each yo,r the rakes went throught....she'd make it reset over and over again.

 

[kitty_kisses]

I just had to add my two cents worth... I'd never heard of these fountains until I was reading about them on this site. Otis was always drinking from the toilet, and I really want to bleach it but just can't with it being the main kitty watering hole... Anyway, just bought one and plugged it in, and Jazz and Otis are both drinking away as we speak - probably5 minutes after the power started... Can't ask for anything better - just hope it lasts....

 

[Superkitties]

My kitties LOVE their fountain, and we've had it for over a year now. *Previous fountain thread*

 

[OsnobunnieO]

ok, so I FINALLY got mine in the mail yesterday. Put it together and its set up in my room now. So far, he's kind of ignoring it... he'll sniff at it but doesn't run away (good sign!). I haven't seen him drinking from it, but doesn't really mean he isn't. He may drink when I'm not looking.

The only question I have... maybe I'm not filling it up enough, but I did as the directions said, filled it about a half inch below the rim. then I filled the water reservoir and as soon as I put it on, it emptied into the rest of the water. so I filled it up again, and it was practically empty again! The water isn't overflowing, but just below the edge. I was afraid to fill up the reservoir again to risk it actually overflowing... Do I have a problem? Too much water or do I not have enough in it to keep the reservoir full? I'm really bad at gestimating my measurements

 

[AddFran]

Mine did the same thing. I can't remember how many times i had to REfill the reservoir, but I had to do it atleast once after the intial filling to top it off. I think of it like a water cooler. You turn that 5 Gallon bottle upside down and put it in the cooler.... the little bubble's run through and a 1/4 of the bottle is gone. Same concept I think.

 

[AddFran]

Ever since this post, I've been paying more attention the the fountain and I can not believe how much water my cats are drinking now. For days the water bowl would seem untouched, and now that we have the fountain it seems like all they do is drink. I have to fill the reservoir every other day! Amazing. I'm so glad i bought this thing! Now I know my kitties are hydrated!

 

[OsnobunnieO]

I still haven't seen Addison drink from it, but I'm almost positive that he does. By the end of the first week the water level was down to half of what it started out as. I HOPE it doesn't evaporate that fast. I filled the reservoir the other day so hopefully I can monitor this better.