Hi all,

I recently got my kitties a Drinkwell fountain :clap: and was just wondering how often do you change the water and clean the whole thing? Also, does anyone know if you can use a liquid teeth cleaning product in the fountain or will it just get filtered out?

Don't know about the teeth cleaning stuff but when I had mine I added water as needed. About once a week I'd dump it and give it a good rinse and scrub. Then ever few months (as hard water built up) I'd soak it in vinegar water over night. It get's all the deposits off easily.

i clean ours once a week. i use hot soapy water. if it's really yucky i add vinegar to the water. i also use a munchkin baby bottle brush (it's actually 2 brushes in 1) to clean it. the baby bottle brush was much cheaper than the drinkwell cleaning set.:nod:

I clean mine when the water level drops to the point of the pump making noise (usually once a week).
I only use bottled water in it, so no hard water build up to date.

Thanks for all the input, so it looks like cleaning it out once a week is the thing to do. Good idea about the baby bottle brush Littleraven --I did notice that the accessories were quite expensive. I also hadn't thought about bottled water, but they are definitely worth it! :nod:

My wife and I clean it about once a week, just like the owner's manual recommends. We also change the filter about every 6 weeks; again just as stated in the manual. We use the Drinkwell cleaning kit, which consists of 3 wire brushes that I guess are appropriately sized for cleaning the fountain. But I'm sure that generic wire brushes or small sponges are fine as well.

I've used both the cleaning kit (it came with my fountain) and the munchkin bottle brush. Both work pretty well. I have the additional resevoir, so it hardly ever runs down all the way before I clean it.

Be sure to take the impeller out of the motor as well...I have found hair and nasty gunk in there.:sick:

I've used both the cleaning kit (it came with my fountain) and the munchkin bottle brush. Both work pretty well. I have the additional resevoir, so it hardly ever runs down all the way before I clean it.

Be sure to take the impeller out of the motor as well...I have found hair and nasty gunk in there.:sick:

I need to do that... I think thats why my pump quit on me a few months ago.

I wondered about putting the dental stuff in a drinking fountain also. I called the manufacturer
of the stuff I was thinking about using and they said it shouldn't be used in filtered water fountains. I don't remember what brand that was but it probably holds true for any of the dental stuff. My cats wouldn't drink the water after added that stuff anyway so I stopped using it.

I also clean mine once a week.

I need to do that... I think thats why my pump quit on me a few months ago.

That'll do it...I remember from my aquarium days...I find a q-tip works pretty well to get the gunk out of the motor, but the hair can get wrapped around the impeller and is a you-know-what to get out.:rolleyes:

Stanley makes sure we have lots of gray hair in our fountain :lol3:

I clean and refill every Saturday. I also used bottled spring water and I do still get a lime build-up. The safest way to get rid of the lime build-up is with straight vinegar. I just put vinegar in the lower portion of my CatIt, let it set about 1 hour and when I come back to it the lime is all dissolved. Just rinse well and refill.

So it looks like a no-go on the teeth cleaning stuff, I kind of suspected that. If you use the vinegar to clean it, do you run the pump or just let it sit for a while?

So it looks like a no-go on the teeth cleaning stuff, I kind of suspected that. If you use the vinegar to clean it, do you run the pump or just let it sit for a while?
When I had the CatIt and Fresh Flow fountains I would run the vinegar. With the Drinkwell I've been able to just soak it for a while and it washes right up.

So it looks like a no-go on the teeth cleaning stuff, I kind of suspected that. If you use the vinegar to clean it, do you run the pump or just let it sit for a while?

I just let it sit for awhile. We took the bottom portion of the pump casing off (CatIt) and the gunk in there was unbelievable. I'm sure most of the pumps are the same. It works much better once the pump is cleaned.