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Water fountains - Page 2

post #31 of 42
8/26/10 at 10:54am
can't believe all of the cats who won't use it/are afraid of it! never occurred to me it would be a problem for anyone - i just set it up, turned it on, & that was that! i don't even think i left their old water dish down.
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post #32 of 42
8/27/10 at 6:44am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by CheshireCat View Post
My experience with a fountain was a failure.

It was located next to his regular food and water dishes.


The first week I turned it on and left water in his regular dish. He wouldn't go near the fountain. He looked at it from a distance but would not drink from it. He did drink from his regular dish.

The second week I let the regular dish go dry. He sat next to it and cried till I filled it. I did use the fountain to fill it. Thinking he would make the connection.

The third week I caught him drinking from the toilet. There was water in his dish but apparently the fountain had made a noise that scared him. (I did notice it would occasionally gurgle when the water level adjusted)

He would not drink from his regular dish until I turned the fountain off.

I left the fountain off for a week. I refilled the fountain and turned it back on. Two days later Chester ended up at the emergency vet with a blockage.

They said it could have been caused by stress and asked if anything had changed in the household. The only major change had been the fountain.

I did get it on sale. But it's now in a box looking for a new owner.
I did worry about the fountain causing Mazy stress, but it hasn't seemed to. At first she looked at it a lot, but now she pretty much ignores it, except when she watches Queen Eva use it. I'll keep it going though, you never know, she may decide to use it someday. I'm sure she would like it if she tried it. And Queen Eva likes it.
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post #33 of 42
8/27/10 at 6:45am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by laureen227 View Post
can't believe all of the cats who won't use it/are afraid of it! never occurred to me it would be a problem for anyone - i just set it up, turned it on, & that was that! i don't even think i left their old water dish down.
I know of others who have had that kind of easy transition experience too.
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post #34 of 42
8/27/10 at 11:33pm
That frustrates me so bad to hear that most everyone has a good experience. Chickster hates the Drinkwell I bought, and it's sitting around. I started using it again and put it by her food bowl, but am only noticing her putting food in it. She plays in it and won't drink out of it. Then again, she never did learn how to drink out of the tub or sink, only plays in it those unless the drain is plugged and the water is sitting. I am thinking of selling mine, no one uses it. I guess it's the running water that messes her up, even though it's not spraying everywhere. *shrugs* Glad other people have had good experiences though!
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post #35 of 42
1/5/12 at 11:10am

I find that my cats are more concerned with the temperature of the water rather than the source. At first, I thought Mowzers just wanted to be like me, since she was always sticking her head in my pint glass. But when I'd leave a pint glass of water by her food dish, she wasn't interested. Turns out she just loves cold, cold water. Can't blame them, who wants warm stale water? Maybe tossing a few cubes in the fountain would help...

 

mowzers.jpg

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post #36 of 42
1/7/12 at 11:45am
Quote:
Ootay was a great one for splashing in the water bowl, just for fun and yes, she used to to wash her paws in after using the litter box too. She also enjoyed just dipping her paw in the water and licking the water off her paw.
 

 Cindy drinks a lot of the times by dipping her paw in the water and licking it off.  Occasionally she'll actually drink normally.  Swanie will approach the bowl (not the fountain), and dip his paw in a bit.  I think he's just trying to make sure there's actually water in the bowl?

 

I used to have 2 fountains, but one of them stopped working and I haven't replaced it.  One was the kind that flows down, that's what they use upstairs.  I had one down here where the water pours out.  Swanie liked that one, so I know I should get another one, but it kept attracting ants.

 

By the way, I introduced them by bringing them home, filling then up, and plugging them in.  Never had a problem.

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post #37 of 42
1/7/12 at 12:05pm

When we adopted Jasper- he came with a Drinkwell fountain LOL.  We had a Christmas party here and one of the guests mentioned "the fancy water filter for the cats" LOL. So when I first got it home and turned it on (dh and I had to try to figure it out since there was no box/directions etc), none of the animals wanted anything to do with it.  Jasper was still in his hiding mode anyhow.   

 

What I did first is just put it out there and not turn it on.  After about a week of them getting used to it, I turned it on.   And I haven't turned it off since. 

 

My question is- does anyone else's cat "play" with it?  Jasper will drink the running water.  Sneaky will drink the water from the bowl.  Holly, well she lives up to the name "mayhem".  She sticks her nose under the cover on the very top of the Drinkwell fountain- pushes the cover off and drinks the water from the resivoir LOL

 

And her newest trick.  When the plastic container that holds more water (it's on the back of the unit- it comes off) is empty- she'll push it off the base and roll it around laughing02.gif  Like she's saying "Um guys- you know this thing needs to be filled"

 

I've never seen her drop toys in there- I'm figuring that's going to be her next trick laughing02.gif

 

Cheryl

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post #38 of 42
1/7/12 at 6:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by otto View Post

If your cats have a water fountain I'd like to know how you introduced it, and how long it took for individual cats to use it.

Did you leave other sources of water down besides the fountain? (so far I still am)

Did you get down on the floor and use the fountain yourself, to show them how it's done (I have done that, every day)

It's only the third day for it to be running (before that it was sitting, not running, next to the other water bowl for five days)....and I have read it can take several weeks for a cat to start using it.

Just wanted some actual stories of experience.

Thanks

One more thing. It's a stainless steel fountain, and if it is approached a certain way, there is one side of the fountain that gives a reflection. I was thinking of putting some masking tape over that area to remove the reflection (it's not a part the water cascades over)

 

Otto, I have a double stainless steel sink in the kitchen and one of my cats, Swiffer, constantly tries to drink out of it agree.gif  So when I bought the 2 fountains I introduced them to it right at dinner time. All of them had to sit and look at it.  Swiffer of course was the first to investigate it. The others soon followed.  I was a bit concerned about my senior girl, Hoot so I left her stainless bowl filled and next to the fountain.  I kept an eye one the fountains for a few days and began to see all of them drinking out of the fountains in about a weeks time.  How long have you had the fountain?
 

 

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post #39 of 42
1/7/12 at 6:46pm

I got a Pioneer Stainless Steel Raindrop fountain as a Christmas gift. My cats came to sniff it as soon as I set it up, they weren't afraid or anything... It's really quiet though. I haven't actually seen them drink from it but I put it upstairs and I am not up there very often. They do stick their faces in it whenever I refill it though.

 

Unfortunately they seem to either be playing with it when I'm not looking or running into the mat underneath it when running around and knocking it around, because I keep finding the top part knocked partway off.

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post #40 of 42
1/8/12 at 7:16am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nekochan View Post

I got a Pioneer Stainless Steel Raindrop fountain as a Christmas gift. My cats came to sniff it as soon as I set it up, they weren't afraid or anything... It's really quiet though. I haven't actually seen them drink from it but I put it upstairs and I am not up there very often. They do stick their faces in it whenever I refill it though.

Unfortunately they seem to either be playing with it when I'm not looking or running into the mat underneath it when running around and knocking it around, because I keep finding the top part knocked partway off.

That was one of the things I liked about it, so quiet.

This thread was started in early August 2010. To update, the fountain, with two extra filters, is now tucked away in a cupboard, because I can't find the box it came in. No one used it, and I got tired of tripping over it, and doing the up keep on it when no one was using it. The canned fed cats don't drink anyway, and Mazy, the one I wanted to use it, refused. That may have been because of her fear of stainless steel, but I refuse to let my cats drink out of plastic, especially plastic from China, so....no fountain here.
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post #41 of 42
2/1/12 at 2:08pm

I have tried a couple of fountains but they both threw water out of the water basin onto the floor faster than I could fill them.  Nothing scares Smokie, and she loves it when I let the water run in the bathtub so she can play in it.  I'm afraid something with a reflective surface wouldn't scare her, but as she can spend 10 or 15 minutes at a time in front, pawing  at 'that other cat back of that glass' she would do the same thing with the fountains.  I wouldn't mind the water if she was doing it in play, but not all the time when she wasn't around! 

 

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post #42 of 42
2/2/12 at 2:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by otto View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by kitty2cat View Post
3 of my cats took to the fountain right a way. One didn't. We bought this wheat grass packet made to grow in the fountain and that caught his attention right away. Unfortunately he became obsessed with the fountain and started moving all his toys to the basin. This clogged the fountain and made the water gross. The other cats were not happy that their favorite water source became so disgusting and even less happy that their toys were always soggy.

No matter how many times we moved his toys, he continued to relocate them to the fountain. After about a month, we gave up on the fountain.

Moral of the story: Wheat grass might work & be careful what you wish for.
Hilarious!

Mazy has decided that since I want her to drink from the fountain she is going to ignore it, and ignore me any time I try to get her to show interest in it.

I know how to manipulate her though. I am going to pick it up for a few days, then put it back down and this time ignore it myself and let her come to it in her own time.

She's still batting at her still-water bowl, trying to make it move like the fountain water does.


I too have a water playing cat. I can't have a water fountain He will never leave it alone and I will have water everywhere.
 

 

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