I've read a lot of the water fountain threads so I know the general comments...but which would be best specifically for cats like Nano?
She does not drink stagnant water out of a bowl. If she does anything, she nudges the bowl and then dips her paw into the rippling water. The water must be "moving" for her to trust it.
Nano primarily drinks out of a faucet in a spare sink. I leave the water on a trickle and Nano hops up whenever she is thirsty. She crawls into the basin, swats her paw through the trickle a couple times, then puts her mouth under the stream. You can hear faint slurping sounds as she laps in the water with her tongue. She will take drinks anywhere from five seconds up to 30+ seconds -- one time she drank for nearly a minute!
If I have a can or bottle of cold beverage, she will come sniffing up and try to start rubbing it. I always pick it up because I am worried about spill. One time my girlfriend caught Nano licking the condensation from the side of a water bottle. I've never really let it happen because I don't want her knocking stuff over, so I don't know if she actually prefers licking condensation to drinking from the faucet.
She will occasionally get into the bathtub and put her paw in the small puddles -- don't know if she is just exploring or trying to drink. Sometimes in the sink, she will stay out of the basin and will just stick out a paw into the stream. Then she licks the wet paw and starts grooming a bit. Don't know what that is about.
Here are my human constraints:
1. No more than $250 a year on purchase/parts/filters
2. No more than 1 hour a month in maintenance or cleaning
3. Fountain and all parts/filters should be available at large pet stores or at the very least consistently available through internet
4. No more noisy than a regular refrigerator or air conditioner
It doesn't need to be a water purifier. I have filters set up on the faucets I normally use so I can just get her water out of that.
Anyway, based on what I've described, which water fountain would she like best?
She does not drink stagnant water out of a bowl. If she does anything, she nudges the bowl and then dips her paw into the rippling water. The water must be "moving" for her to trust it.
Nano primarily drinks out of a faucet in a spare sink. I leave the water on a trickle and Nano hops up whenever she is thirsty. She crawls into the basin, swats her paw through the trickle a couple times, then puts her mouth under the stream. You can hear faint slurping sounds as she laps in the water with her tongue. She will take drinks anywhere from five seconds up to 30+ seconds -- one time she drank for nearly a minute!
If I have a can or bottle of cold beverage, she will come sniffing up and try to start rubbing it. I always pick it up because I am worried about spill. One time my girlfriend caught Nano licking the condensation from the side of a water bottle. I've never really let it happen because I don't want her knocking stuff over, so I don't know if she actually prefers licking condensation to drinking from the faucet.
She will occasionally get into the bathtub and put her paw in the small puddles -- don't know if she is just exploring or trying to drink. Sometimes in the sink, she will stay out of the basin and will just stick out a paw into the stream. Then she licks the wet paw and starts grooming a bit. Don't know what that is about.
Here are my human constraints:
1. No more than $250 a year on purchase/parts/filters
2. No more than 1 hour a month in maintenance or cleaning
3. Fountain and all parts/filters should be available at large pet stores or at the very least consistently available through internet
4. No more noisy than a regular refrigerator or air conditioner
It doesn't need to be a water purifier. I have filters set up on the faucets I normally use so I can just get her water out of that.
Anyway, based on what I've described, which water fountain would she like best?