Drinkwell Original Pet Fountain

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List Price: $49.99
Sale Price: $29.99
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My aging cat, like many others, needs to be encouraged to drink as much as possible. I read lots of reviews for cat fountains, and decided on this one (there are basically two other options that I know about.)

I have a pergo floor that isn't impervious to water, so I varnished a thin 2'x2' piece of plywood to set the fountain on, to catch any random splashes.

Maisie wasn't sure about the thing at first, though maybe the smell of the varnish was putting her off. After a few days she has taken to it fine. I don't know if she LOVEs it, as other owners have claimed, but she does use it, which is all I could reasonably expect.

Good:

It is quiet. The motor is virtually inaudible. I don't know why some other people complain about the humming or buzzing noise. I don't hear a thing, and mine is sitting on a hard floor (on top of a sheet of 1/16" plywood.) It can make a trickling watery sound at the high setting, but apparently some people like the sound, and anyway turning down the flow almost eliminates it.

It holds a fair amount of water. I don't have to worry about it going dry every few days as I did with the old water bowl. So Maisie always has water to drink.

Doesn't splash water everywhere. In fact it doesn't splash at all. The water has a landing ramp that lets it down easy.

Stable, not easy to tip over.

Not so good:

It does need to be refilled every few days, not because it will run out of water, but because the impeller pump sits a fair distance above the bottom of the drinking bowl, so there has to be a fair amount of water in the bowl so the impeller (like a little paddle wheel) isn't spinning in air. The pump will complain then, making a sucking, thrumming sound. If the water level falls too low, the pump will run dry and possibly burn out, even if there is still water in the bowl.

It isn't that easy to clean. I clean mine every week or so, which seems to be often enough. It doesn't take me 30 minutes as it does another reviewer, more like 10. I don't have the problem with cat hair (I brush Maisie twice a day) but I do get a bit of brown or pink slime (just as I did with an ordinary water bowl.) That is anaerobic bacteria, just like you get on the lower edge of your shower curtain, and it isn't dangerous to your cat. But it is icky.

The fountain was designed with absolutely no thought to making it easy to clean. There are several nooks and crannies that are hard to reach and would have been easy to eliminate. For example, in the water reservoir there is a deep, round cavity about 1/2" in diameter and about 4" deep, closed at the bottom. It serves no purpose other than to align the reservoir assembly with the base, and it is continuously filled with water. To clean it well requires something like a test tube brush (long thin round brush with bristles on the end.)

So instead of cleaning it with a brush, I am experimenting with simply rinsing it with white vinegar, which should kill most of the bacteria, and unlike dishwasher detergent or spray cleaners, it leaves no residue and especially, no odor (once it is rinsed away.)

Or I may just use the dishwasher. The fountain is top-shelf safe, but a different plastic would have made it anywhere-safe. Also, it would be hard to position it so that it won't collect dishwasher water (with little bits of coffe grounds, etc.) somewhere inside.

For those reasons, I give it four stars. The water filter is nice by the way, but it is quite thin and I don't know that it does very much. Nor do I know if it is really necessary. It is supposed to remove tastes and odors, but there wouldn't be much in tap water, and Maisie certainly doesn't mind when she drinks from the faucet. Also, it filters water that has already passed through the pump. It would have made more sense to put a screen or filter in the water flow in front of the pump where it can keep hair out of the impeller.

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Some of the negative reviews indicate that the Drinkwell is noisy. The truth is, it's only noisy if it doesn't have enough water or if the intake valve is clogged (which so far hasn't caused the pump to burn out for me). There's a slight hum from the pump when it's working correctly, but it will be much quieter than the other appliances in your kitchen.

Cat hair and cat food can both clog the intake. So to keep it in top condition, check the water level once every day or two (or get the add-on reservoir), place the Drinkwell several paces away from the food dish (so your cats aren't tempted to moisten their food with it), and break down and clean the Drinkwell regularly, perhaps once a month when you change the filter cartridge.

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Every cat owner knows their pet(s) must drink plenty of water for good health. Fresh water is as necessary to your cat's well being as good, nutritious cat food. My two certainly drink lots of water especially in hot weather. However, stagnate water in bowls loses its freshness fast. It also accumulates cat hairs, dust and debris not very appetizing. Drinkwell Pet Fountain for Cats encourages pets to drink all the water they need because there's always a supply of clean flowing water. Re-circulating water, with greater exposure to oxygen, provides fresh-tasting, cool, filtered water with lots of health benefits. Encouraging cats to drink more water helps ensure proper kidney function and may decrease the incidence of urinary disease.

The charcoal filter, which is a feature I really like, absorbs bad tastes and odors. The fountain has a six cup capacity, and you can purchase an additional six cup capacity with use of a refill accessory. The additional water supply is wonderful, especially if you go away for the weekend frequently.

The weather has been really warm, recently, in my neck of the woods. I bought my Drinkwell Fountain at the end of April and my cats, Dapple and Max, love it. I still change the water every two days or so, wash the water dish, and I check the water level daily but that's me. Also, be sure to remove any pet hair that has accumulated near the intake propeller every few days. When the water level is kept above the intake valve, there is no noise except the soothing sound of flowing water.

The cats are also fascinated by the running water, and just hanging out by the water fountain encourages them to drink more. Who knows what they gossip about.

JANA

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The pros are that if your cat likes to drink from a faucet then your he will go crazy for the Drinkwell Fountain. It is also healthier for the cat because the water falling into the bowl helps to keep the water oxiginated.

The cons are that if your cat doesn't like to drink out of the faucet then they may not like the splashing water. Yes, you can adjust the flow but even with it on low my cat was getting splashed in the face when he tried to drink from the bowl. My other cat simply refused to go near it. Also the instructions claim that due to the filter and the circulating water you would only have to clean it once a week. I found this to not be the case. Even with emptying the water and putting in fresh water every day the bowl was getting slimy after only 3 days and had to be scrubbed out.

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I bought one of these Drinkwells through Amazon. I got the optional resevoir and cleaning kit and with shipping it cost me $70. The Drinkwell has a relatively loud pump noise that comes from under the bowl part which spooked the cats the first few days (ands drives me nuts so I have to unplug it at night even though it's three rooms away from my bedroom). Once they got over the noise, the cats loved it so much that I would have liked a second (I have multiple food/water stations) but the price made that impossible.

The other day I was at my local grocery store and they had a similar product called the Bubbler for $14.99. I couldn't believe it and snatched one up.

Let me say, the Bubbler is not only considerably cheaper, but holds more water than the Drinkwell, is easier to clean than the Drinkwell and is quieter than the Drinkwell. I so regret spending that much money on the Drinkwell now.

The Bubbler air pump is not in the bowl, it connects to it by a hose so the little bit of noise from it is far enough away as to not spook the cats. All you really hear from the Bubbler is the bubbling water which reminds me of those water fountains people put in their homes now.

The Drinkwell pump is in the back of the bowl and it recirculates the water so you hear the pump itself and then the running water sound. As it pulls water from the bowl and recirculates it, any pet hair or dropped food that goes into the bowl gets pulled into the inlet and clogs it. Some hair goes right through these little pieces and then clogs the pump. I pulled a big hair clog out of the center of the pump already. Plus it uses filters so there's that extra cost. I have run it without the filters, so that is an option.

There's only three pieces to clean in the Bubbler, the bowl and tank/lid, and they go in my dishwasher. The Drinkwell has 4 major pieces, 2 lids, three small pieces, and the pump itself which need to be cleaned with the brushes by hand.

The Drinkwell is great and the cats do like it, and I would have gladly given it 5 stars prior to owning the Bubbler, but that would have been based soley on cats loving it and not because I had any true basis for comparison. Now I have two to compare and so my Drinkwell is no longer all that great. Even if they dropped the price in half, I'd still get another Bubbler just for the ease of cleaning and the water capacity it holds.