drinkwell fountains

Shoot that looks NICE. I may need to get one of those one day. I have never tried one, I have the Petmate Fresh Flow deluxe and it's a pain to clean and Chickster only ever played in it and Boo never drank out of it. So it sits unused. I'd like to hear if anyone else has one and how well they like it. Or their kitties like it.

I currently have the Drinkwell Platnum that is shown in your link. I used to have the original Drinkwell with the attachment for the extra water.

My Original Drinkwell had to be replaced because the motor died after about 3 years. I was never able to get the plug out of the bottom to clean the motor area on this one. The one comes out more like water flowing down a platform. All the time I had this one only one of my cats would use it. My seniors were scared of it and my young cat loved it.

I have the Drinkwell Platnum for about a year now. It is much easier to take apart and clean than the Orginal Drinkwell was. All three of my cats will drink out of the new one. Claude takes showers and prefers to drink water by sticking his head under the shower. He will also drink out of the sink too. It took some time for Claude who is 15 to get used to the new fountain but he will use it now. He would not go near the old one. I think the Platnum is quieter. It does run all the time but it much softer. I don't even hear mine anymore. My young cat loves to play with the water. The Platnum does not have a ramp so it is closer to how water comes out of the sink.

The filters are a little more expensive for the Platnum. The water container for the Platnum is a little harder to get back in place when you fill it. The Platnum seems to go through water faster than the Original with the extra bottle. That could be because all 3 of them use it.

I have had both the Original Drinkwell and a Petmate Fountain and I like the Drinkwell Platnum the best.

Hope this answers some of your questions.

I have the drinkwell original I guess with an extra water jug. Frankly, it is a very loud fountain.

I much prefer my little blue one from Petco. Totally silent. I don't even know it's on.

My guys love their fountains. Luckily the noisy one is in another room. But it has a very loud hum.

I have several Drinkwells including the Big Dog. I am waiting for a pet fountain to arrive that only delivers cooled water. The Glacier Point. The advantages for a cat's health by giving them running water far outweigh giving them a bowl of still water daily. If they don't take to the fountain immediately, put a floatable toy in the pool or a ping pong ball. That pulls them over right away.

Here is the glacier point website. My review on pet fountains is in the works right now. It will be interesting to see if the cat perfer the colder water over the room temperature water.

http://www.glacierpointforcats.com/p...t_fountain.php

Autumn is terrified of the Drinkwell these days so we don't use it as much, although I think the boys prefer it

We use Cat It Fountains now, we get the big ones that have the bowl attached for Autumn who isn't a streaming water drinker
http://www.hagen.com/usa/cats/addinf..._fountain.html

I find its quieter than the Drinkwell and I don't end up with as much across the floor from Boomer flicking the water as it pours out

We have the Drinkwell Platinum, and 3 of our 4 cats LOVE it! Our most senior guy is still thinking it over, so we keep a regular water dish right next to the Drinkwell, which he drinks from as he watches the fountain with one eye .

We have to clean it about once a week, but it's pretty easy to do. The filters have to be changed out about once a month. We have Saltillo Tile floors, which aren't exactly even, so depending on where I set the fountain after I've cleaned it, depends on how much humming we hear. Sometimes none, sometimes some. But we always hear the water falling, which is quite pleasant to us. And the water is much cooler in this fountain than in their water dishes...guess because it's constantly moving around.

I bought the Drinkwell Platinum a month ago. I can hear a water flow noise but it is not annoying. Which was a surprise since I am sensitive to things like that.

Unfortunately Chester is afraid of it and will not use it. I had it running less than two weeks. Some times it will make a gurgling sound when the water level adjusts.

Apparently this scared him even more and he then reused to drink from his regular dish that was sitting near the fountain.

I caught him drinking from the toilet one day. His water dish was full but when I tried to get him to direct him to that he wouldn't go near it. After I turned off the fountain he finally drank from his regular dish.

I would send it back but I threw out the original boxes. If you weren't so far away I would offer to send it to you.

Those of you with Drinkwells- do you find your kitties flip the cover off so they can lap the water up faster? I am so tired of trying to find the darn cover, because everytime it goes missing, it also plays and active game of Hide N Seek from me! I have found it under the stove, under the couch and even in the litter pan! I wrote the company suggesting they find a way to fasten it down- but never heard back. I also have one Calico kitty Fiona who gets absolutely indignant if I dare unplug the unit. She sits by the unit and caterwauls until I come back with it all cleaned and refilled and plug it in again! Silly kitty!

I have the catit fountain and the cats all love it.

However, Stella still loves to drink from the faucets - I think she likes the fresh water She will sit in the sink until someone turns on the tap.

In response to removing the cover, I, myself, have a hard time removing it come cleaning time (I'm talking the platinum model, don't know anything about any other models) so don't think my cats could possibly get it off! So far they haven't, anyway

I had the platinum and really liked it - although I dropped the reservoir one day and cracked it. The Company is in the US so it wasn't too hard to get a replacement from them. Do they sell the 360 in Australia? I got that about a year ago and like it even more - easier to fill and even easier to clean - although both drinkwells were easy to take care of. Just remember to clean the the little motor as well once a week. I use the Drinkwell brushes, but I think any baby bottle brush would work as well.

Mine run on electricity, but there's an outlet in my kitchen that works well for it. I'm told the only time you'll really notice a noise is when the water is running low. I do hear the trickling when I'm in the kitchen, but it's not major and my kitties love it - Dharma especially likes when I put a few ice cubs in the pool.

PS - from what I've read the Platinum is easier to take apart and clean than the original - but your mileage may vary.

Let the "Drink-Off" begin. I have just received the last pet fountain today. In the running: The Drinkwell Big Dog, Glacier Point Pet Fountain, Catit Fountain, and the Petmate Deluxe- Let the Drinking Begin!

The Petmates don't seem to be available here anymore, I got one on clearance several years ago and haven't seen them since.

We've got a couple of Cat-It fresh flow, a cat-it dome, petmate deluxe and the drinkwell platinum.

None are especially difficult to clean, and my cats like them all.

I've ordered quite a few things from that website, always very fast shipping Though you may find better prices on Ebay.

I don't have this problem, because that's where the kitties sit to get the best drink!

Petco has their own brand of fountain, which someone else & I both bought. They both were shot within 6 months.

Petmate Fresh Flow - if your kitties like to play in water & prefer the free fall of a faucet, this isn't the fountain for you.

Drinkwell original - like someone said, the battery is a PITA to get out. I just replaced my drinkwell originals with new drinkwell originals, as the old ones died. I think next time I'll be getting 3 platinums instead of 3 originals.

Cat it - I've heard of many people saying their cats paw the dome, so the water runs off on the floor b/c of the tilted dome from kitty playtime. Never owned one myself, though.

Purr-sonally, I'm a drinkwell lover. Actually, my cats are. Paws down it is the fountain of all I've tried they prefer the most. Except for the kitchen sink, that is.

The 360 comes with a number of changeable 'tops', if you would, so you can change the stream coming from the top from one to five. You can also adjust the flow of the streams from fairly strong to just a trickle, depending on what you and the cat like, no matter which ring you're using. I just happen to use the four stream ring. I just have the two cats, and they really only drink one at a time, but they both seem to enjoy coming at it from various directions. Oh, I do keep a placemat under the fountain - did with the other version as well. My little girl loves it when I put ice cubes in the pool - she'll watch for hours waiting for the cubes to reappear . But both cats do drink more than they did when I had just bowls of water for them.

For me, I did like both fountains, but if my current one broke, I'd probably get the 360 again before the platinum. It seems a bit easier to clean to me, and when water gets low I simply pour in some more. I do clean it weekly. Both were simple and easy to clean, so not a deal breaker.

I think that's a great idea about asking the vet (mine love fountains, where economically feasible). I'd ask the vendor about return policies, though, just in case - most cats do love them, but if you have one who doesn't, it'd be nice to return it for refund.

BTW, can you keep the water pretty well away from the litter box? A lot of cats simply do not care to eat or drink too near their boxes - a couple of feet away should work. The transformer cord is maybe 4-5 feet in length - there's a place in the middle where you can disconnect the cord, so the transformer stays in the wall, while you can take the fountain, and the little motor, to the sink to wash it. The little motor is underneath the volcano cone - honestly the whole thing is easy to take apart, and I'm the least mechanical person in all the world.

Good luck with the vet visit!