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Cat Water Fountains???

post #1 of 21
8/22/11 at 6:12pm
Thread Starter 
Can anyone tell me their experience/success with cat water fountains? I purchased a Drinkwell's Platinum Pet Fountain. It has not arrived yet, but I figured I would get other peoples opinion before I open it.
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post #2 of 21
8/22/11 at 7:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by petguy78 View Post
Can anyone tell me their experience/success with cat water fountains? I purchased a Drinkwell's Platinum Pet Fountain. It has not arrived yet, but I figured I would get other peoples opinion before I open it.
While I do not use that item with my personal cats, I have worked in many shelters that employed the device you descried. The cats sure loved them. I am not sure all the cats drank more water or played with it but you get the idea .

Some cats are scared of it at first, so do not be discouraged. It just seems to take some cats longer to acclimate to said product.

The item itself is very well made and does need to be cleaned on a weekly basis (taken apart).

Hope that was somewhat helpful.
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post #3 of 21
8/22/11 at 9:03pm
OMG, I googled it, my cats would love that.
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post #4 of 21
8/23/11 at 2:13am
Drinkwell Platinum vs Pioneer Big Max

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG3jmlWTm2M

I've tried the Platinum, 360, and Big Max, and like the Platinum and Big Max best. If your cat prefers the fountain, the Platinum is the way to go. If your cat drinks from the bowl of the Platinum and ignores the stream, then the Big Max is better IMO. Really hard to decide though, so I leave both out at all times, in different parts of the house.



Edit: BTW, the two Platinums I have are both fine, and out of their 1-year warranty. The Big Max also has been fine so far, but is only 3-4months old. DO NOT wash the water reservoir of the Platinum in the dish washer, but the rest minus the motor obviously is dish washer safe. Frankly though, the Big Max is easier to clean and I like that its ceramic. The capacity of the Platinum is realistically MUCH higher though, not only does it have a static higher capacity, but half of the water in the Big Max is wasted since you can't let it get below that point or the pump can start to suck in air. Its like Mercedes vs BMW, can't lose either way.
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post #5 of 21
8/23/11 at 7:43am
I have the Drinkwell 360 version and my cats LOVE it. We used to have a Cat-It one.....but we didn't like the plastic because it would get so nasty so quickly. The 360 is stainless steel. And the set up of it is much better. It also comes with several different waterfall heads to use- so the streams can come out differently and there is a control on it as well as to how much water flow comes out. The kitties LOVE it. My two pugs enjoy it as well!
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post #6 of 21
8/23/11 at 10:45am
We have the Cat it dome style and the gang loves it. Going on 3 years and no problems. I take it apart and wash the parts about every 10 days. Easy to clean the motor as well. It has lasted much longer than I thought it would.
Marty
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post #7 of 21
8/23/11 at 2:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kaikrishna1111 View Post
OMG, I googled it, my cats would love that.
Yes the Savannah mixes and Bengals maybe in it .
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post #8 of 21
8/24/11 at 6:42am
I have the pioneer pet ceramic fountain. Both my cats like it and use it. When I was researching them I read a lot of stuff that said that the plastic ones have problems with bacteria growth.
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post #9 of 21
8/24/11 at 7:16am
I am going to get my kitties the Pioneer ceramic one also. I know they will love it, they love drinking from the faucet when I have it running .
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post #10 of 21
8/24/11 at 9:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Melesine View Post
I have the pioneer pet ceramic fountain. Both my cats like it and use it. When I was researching them I read a lot of stuff that said that the plastic ones have problems with bacteria growth.
Yeah, having both, the ceramic is slower to develop slime. The slime can't grow well if it doesn't cling to something, and if you look at plastic under a microscope you'll see its actually micro-porous, whereas the ceramic is very smooth and should remains so since it is difficult to scratch.

BUT the Pioneer still has a plastic motor and little clamshell thingy in there, so I still clean it every week on the same schedule as the drinkwell. Much easier to clean, especially if you want to hand clean though.

BTW, don't use it on plastic, but for the Pioneer if you get those "mr clean magic erasers", they are great for cleaning the bowl/tower every now and then. Gets them spotless in a snap, and there are no chemicals its just melamine which is like an extreeemely fine sandpaper.
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post #11 of 21
8/27/11 at 11:48am
I had this Cat-It one:


But it leaked after 9 months.

I now have the Drinkwell Platinum and my two cats LOVE it. I've had it for at least 6 months and have had no problems with it at all.
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post #12 of 21
8/27/11 at 3:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by xcourtney3 View Post
I had this Cat-It one:


But it leaked after 9 months.

I now have the Drinkwell Platinum and my two cats LOVE it. I've had it for at least 6 months and have had no problems with it at all.
I have the same one, my two dogs and our cat use it. The only time it leaks is when it needs to be cleaned and the filter needs to be replaced, or if we fill it up too full. Ours has been going for a good 3 years now with no problems.
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post #13 of 21
8/29/11 at 7:59pm
I had a Drinkwell Platinum for about a year. Held up well and all 3 of my cats loved it. No one was "scared" of it, never had any problems. Whenever I took it apart to clean it they would follow me and pace like they were afraid they wouldn't get it back

That being said - I would never have another and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It is TERRIBLE to clean - I never felt that I really got all that gunky build up really out of it. And filling it up is a real pain in the butt! I hate those stupid and expensive filters! I use filtered water!! But you still have to use the filters or the fountain is really loud

I did a happy dance when I took mine down and got a new one that a breeder recommended to me! I would HANDS DOWN get a fountain from Keith at the site I'm including a link from. I love it - so much easier in every way, no plastic to worry about, easy to refill, easy to clean, easy to replace a motor in if it ever breaks

He has new ones all the time so just watch, or he'll make what you ask him for. I have one that is a 13 cup size and I fill it about once a week for my 4 cats accounting for what they drink and what evaporates.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/CatFountain...ion_id=7389761
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post #14 of 21
8/29/11 at 9:33pm
I am sorry but to me, water, and electricity should never be mixed...especially with cats. For cleanliness and convenience you can beat having a few large butter tubs (45oz size). We have several that we rotate. We keep two out at all times and dump and refill them twice a day. Every few days or so (when we have room), we put those in the dishwasher and pull out two more that were previously cleaned. This makes it very easy to keep clean, very large capacities, and if one breaks or needs replaced for any reason, just save the next butter tub you empty. These are also great for left overs you may have from your dinners.
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post #15 of 21
8/30/11 at 1:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScottP View Post
I am sorry but to me, water, and electricity should never be mixed...especially with cats.
These pumps run under 4 watts of DC, and are originally designed for aquarium use IIRC, so perfectly safe.
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post #16 of 21
8/30/11 at 5:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScottP View Post
I am sorry but to me, water, and electricity should never be mixed...especially with cats.
oh come on, so you are against aquariums, outdoor fountains ect? My cats love their drinking fountain and I have had an outdoor display fountains for years, none of my pets have ever been harmed by them.
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post #17 of 21
8/31/11 at 1:32pm
Well we just recently got the cat it. My female cat liked spilling the cat water bowls and this one she likes. Something to do with water spilling interests her so we got this and tiger likes it too.
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post #18 of 21
9/3/11 at 9:32pm
I've had the drinkwell fountain for over a year now. The cats love it and I believe they drink alot more because of it. It is a pain to clean as the grimy stuff gets in hard to reach places. I soak it for about an hour, then scrub it using a combination of a sponge and a bottle brush to get the hard areas.
I also hate buying the filters as they are expensive, but I reccently found out that the whisker city brand from petsmart has filters for their fountain that fit the drinkwell and are much cheaper, I wonder if a plain aquarium filter would work, the ones for small aquariums. I think I remember using something similar when I had a small tank of fish.
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post #19 of 21
9/4/11 at 3:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by petguy78 View Post
Can anyone tell me their experience/success with cat water fountains? I purchased a Drinkwell's Platinum Pet Fountain. It has not arrived yet, but I figured I would get other peoples opinion before I open it.
I've not used one for George, but my work have 2 devon rex's with renal problems and the drinking fountain has made a big difference to the amount of water they drink, they love it!

Can anyone direct me to some information about water fountains and health effects for cats?
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post #20 of 21
9/6/11 at 1:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScottP View Post
I am sorry but to me, water, and electricity should never be mixed...especially with cats.
I thought the same thing. But the motor runs on a transformer which is plugged in several feet away, and only puts out a couple of volts (like 2 AA batteries). There's really nothing to worry about..
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post #21 of 21
9/8/11 at 2:39am
We have a Drinkwell (the original one), and every single one of the cats LOVES it. Everytime I empty, rinse, and refill it, they crowd around to be the first to drink. It was a great purchase.
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