Fountains

debskats · Mar 22, 2007

Does anyone use a water fountain for their cats? I took Katy back to Iowa State yesterday for a recheck because she didn't seem to be recovering from her pancreatitis. Well, as it turns out, they're not even sure she's got pancreatitis. On ultrasound, her pancreas was smooth and small with no signs of inflammation. In fact, her entire abdominal ultrasound and x-rays were normal other than small kidneys. That's kind of concerning to me, but her kidneys were smooth and normally shaped so the radiologist thought this might just be normal for her.

Some of her lab studies came back kind of "odd" though. Her BUN was slightly low and creatinine was normal which is good. Some of her electrolytes were abnormal and her albumin was low which indicates dehydration, even though I've been giving her fluids. Her urine was dilute which could be due to a UTI or just the fluids I've been giving her.

She had a UTI in January which was treated with Baytril, but a UA wasn't rechecked, and the vet at Iowa State wonders if it wasn't cleared up so they're doing a urine culture.

Anyway, she recommended that I get a fountain so that the cats might be inclined to drink more water. I keep fresh water in 3 different rooms in the house, and Katy seems to be drink plenty but she only eats dry food so she drinks more than Chloe or Bailey.

Anyone have any good suggestions as to what type and brand?

cococat · Mar 22, 2007

Glad you are working with your vet.

Do you feed wet food to the others? Katy needs to be supplemented with wet food in her diet to help her keep hydrated. You might want to research the benefits of canned being a part of the overall diet. It contains a lot of water and can help.

I use a water fountain but also have several other water bowls around the house.

debskats · Mar 22, 2007

Chloe and Bailey both eat canned. I've done a lot of reading about how much better canned is than dry, but Katy will not eat canned food!!!!! She won't eat treats. She won't eat tuna. She won't anything but her dry food, one specific kind of dry food! I've tried to give her canned, but haven't had any luck. It's very frustrating because I know she'd do better on canned.

kerryv · Mar 22, 2007

That Katy! She's just a little trouble maker making meowmy worry.

I hope she starts feeling better soon.

gingersmom · Mar 22, 2007

I have a Drinkwell, my cats and I all LOVE it. They each drink about 6-8 ounces per day.

white cat lover · Mar 22, 2007

Well, the best type of fountain depends on your cats.

The Petmate Fresh Flow I hated. It broke on me like a zillion times. The Drinkwells I loved, but our water burned out the motors in both. The free falling water in the Drinkwell attracts cats & I noticed all the kits drinking more(which is a good thing). I bought a dishpan(the plastic type) in the dollar store & then a Whisper fish filter for tanks 2-10 gal. I put those together & made my own fountain this time. I found the filter in Wal Mart. I plan on making more of my own fountains as soon as I get to Wal Mart again! Esp since a Drinkwell is almost $40, the one I made cost me $11.

debskats · Mar 22, 2007

Yes, Kerry, Katy's definitely a troublemaker!

And she keeps me on my toes!

Originally Posted by white cat lover

Well, the best type of fountain depends on your cats.

The Petmate Fresh Flow I hated. It broke on me like a zillion times. The Drinkwells I loved, but our water burned out the motors in both. The free falling water in the Drinkwell attracts cats & I noticed all the kits drinking more(which is a good thing). I bought a dishpan(the plastic type) in the dollar store & then a Whisper fish filter for tanks 2-10 gal. I put those together & made my own fountain this time. I found the filter in Wal Mart. I plan on making more of my own fountains as soon as I get to Wal Mart again! Esp since a Drinkwell is almost $40, the one I made cost me $11.

It sounds like the Drinkwell is the most popular so far.

White Cat Lover, do you have really hard water? Is that why it burned out the motors? Could you give me a little more info on how you made your own fountains? Aren't the plastic dishpans kind of deep?

jiazzi · Mar 22, 2007

I've had both and Drinkwell is the winner.

illusion · Mar 22, 2007

I was going to post a topic on fountains as well! I see a new one in the Drs Foster and Smith catalog called the "Cat It Fountain."

I have two cats and was wondering about how long the filters lasted, what size reservoir I need, etc.

White Cat Lover, very interested in your scematics for the homemade fountain!

Please, do tell us more...

x-ta-z · Mar 22, 2007

I have the "Cat It" and I am really happy with it. After about a day of playing with it, singa finally understood it was for drinking.

Both cats drink from it and I have the feeling it makes them drink more.
I change water every three days. Not too sure how long the filter last as I just exchange it when it looks dirty. Every 1-3 months maybe? But don't wuote me on that....
Good luck!

kitytize · Mar 23, 2007

I have the Petmate Freshflow and my cats love it! And so far no problems with it. But I would really like to try the Drinkwell since the water in that one is free falling. The Petmate one the water slides down a ramp. But I can't complain because my cats really like it.

yosemite · Mar 23, 2007

I just got a Catit and our kits love it. I had the Petmate but the motor went on it.

I buy bottled water for their water fountain. I don't drink tap water and don't expect the babies to either.

thumper · Mar 23, 2007

Thumper and Cosmo love their Drinkwell I got for them last week. Def get the add on for more water. that way you can just pull it off to refill. Give it a rinse out once a week and a good scrubbing every other.

Cosmo has always had alot of water but Thumper never drank that much. Now she is drinking a whole lot more and cosmo also

lovinmom828 · Mar 23, 2007

I have not hear of these fountains do you have a link to where we can find them? Are they just like the big containers that have the bowls attched to them?

white cat lover · Mar 23, 2007

I don't know what it is about the water we use, but it left horrible build-up in the fountains. The motors just up & died one day. Not surprising. My kits now drink Spring or Drinking water bought from a store. I will take pics of my fountain & hopefully post them later.

illusion · Mar 23, 2007

Drinkwell

Petmate

Cat It

There is also one called "The Bubbler"

You can get these at Petco, Petsmart, Drs Foster and Smith catalogs, etc.

rolling thunder · Mar 23, 2007

We just got the Bubbler. They seem to like it. We had the petmate but it didn't have a big reservoir and we have a lab that liked to drink out of it and so we had to fill it at least 5 times a day. We were afraid it would burn out the motor if it ran on empty so we got the Bubbler. The only thing is it doesn't have a filter, but the 1 1/2 gallon reservoir was a plus.

thumper · Mar 23, 2007

Im re-filling the drinkwell about every 2 days with 2 cats. I fill it from the fridge filter since the water up here in Maine does the same thing to my humidifier. It gets all nasty. I picked the drinkwell cause it looked easy to take apart and clean.

The only problem I had is I had to move the dry food dish farther away since cosmo was sitting eating dry food with his tail floating in the fountain

carolpetunia · Mar 23, 2007

1. We just bought a PetMate fountain, and our cats took to it right away! Our kitties drink Ozarka bottled water, so maybe the pump will last longer than it would with our hard tap water.

2. Rolling Thunder -- your babies are beeyooootiful!

AbbysMom · Mar 24, 2007

We are very happy with the PetMate Fresh Flow fountain.

Fountains

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