cat fountain help!

chickadee123

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My cat has never been one to drink from the faucet...but he usually does paw at his water bowl & move it.

I tried the small "catit" fountain...The bubbling seemed pretty aggressive for him and he wouldn't go near it.

I recently got him the petmate freshflow fountain.

He sort of just looks at it and walks away.

I'm wondering has anyone had any ways, tricks, coercion tactics to help get a cat to drink from a fountain?
 

ducman69

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New fountain: First, if dishwasher safe, you wanna toss it in there for a cycle to get rid of any funky smell. The first thing your cat will do is smell it, so any weird smell, fugedaboudid. They also come with filters generally that have loose carbon dust all over them from the factory, so wash that off with fresh water or it makes the water smell funky. In fact, you may just run it a bit the first time, and then put in some fresh water.

Location: What I've read and works for us is to put it in a place they like to hang out, that they can feel safe putting their guard down to drink.

And some cats are just cautious and will just take a while before trying it out, which is fine. For ours I just laid down next to our new fountains and they sniffed em and tried em out and we were good. The more wet food you feed though, the less they are going to drink, and if the air is humid and they are indoor only and chillaxing a lot, their water requirements are pretty minimal.
 

natalie_ca

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I also have a petmate. I bought it for my RB kitty Chynna. However, she wouldn't go near it for a few months. However, my other cat Abby, the one I thought would be terrified of the fountain, took to it immediately.

I kept a bowl of water out in the bathroom for Chynna to drink from and she used that exclusively. Abby used the fountain.

Then one day a few months later I heard a noise coming from the direction of the fountain. It didn't sound like Abby drinking, so I looked over and there was my baby Chynna
drinking from it. From that day on she used the fountain and I took away the regular water bowl.

I now have 3 cats and they all drink from the fountain. However, the kittens have started me on a bad habit! When I'm in the bathroom they want to drink from the bathroom sink and play in the water as it's lightly running. I've also put another bowl of water in the bathroom that I change every time I go into the bathroom so that the water is continuously cold and fresh. I do that mainly for Abby because she likes really cold water and the fountain circulates it but does nothing to keep it chilled.
 

kit e cat

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Leave it out but dont plug it in for a few days. That worked for mine. Once they got used to drinking out of it, they were much more inclined to still drink from it once I turned it on.
 

vbcguy

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I think catching a cat drinking is almost like finding a leprechaun. ;-)

I have read on many sites to have multiple water opportunities for cats.
I have a small catit fountain in the kitchen and a bowl of water in the bathroom.

I think it is super important to make sure the water is always fresh.
 

kittica

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We have a Petmate Freshflow and... it sits in the corner.

It's pretty new, though, so I guess for now I'll just hope she'll eventually use it.
 
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