# Are the Drinkwell / Water fountains worth buying?



## cat1001 (Feb 2, 2010)

I have 2 cats, currently use a water bowl with attached jug, usually fill it up weekly. Ive been looking at the Drinkwell / Water fountains whenever I goto the pet store. The price ranges from $20 to $60. Are these worth getting? One of them says to replace the filter every 3 weeks, about $2 per filter. My cats are finicky about certain things, Im not sure they would even drink out of something has moving water.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

If your cats like to drink from your faucets I would bet theyd like the fountains. I like the ones that have a bit of water sound. It seems to attract the cats. But you wont know until you give it a try. Cats are finicky!


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## Olivers-Slave (Jul 25, 2010)

I don't even use the filter on my drinkwell and it works great. I always add filtered water though already to it. my cats refused to drink out of normal bowls and when I went to the usa I bought a platinum fountain. it holds 168 fluid ounces of water and within a week they already drank most of it. 

a large difference from the one small bowl they barely touched and would be begging at the sink or sneeking into the toilet for water. 

The only thing is maintenance. I clean it once a week, and I did buy their cleaning tools. But if you're doing it once a week all it really needs is a good rinsing and drying. I try to not scrub to much so as not to wear out the plastic. 

The noise level for me is practically nill during the day. I'm pretty annoyed by anything at night though so sometimes I will turn if off if I can hear it. But even the fridge bothers me so thats not saying much. Its not noisy unless you don't clean it. if you don't clean it or the water level is to low then...it will let you know

So if you have time once a week to just do a quick 5 minute cleaning and let it dry, then I'd say its worth it. my cats get MUCH more water, love it to pieces.

oh, once your cats figure out how to take off that top piece though, good luck with stopping them. Some people say they use tape or suchness to keep the top from being the cats new toy.
(if I turn it off they show their displeasure by flipping off the lid and sulking till its back on)


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## Susan (Mar 29, 2010)

My girls love their Drinkwell. I clean and refill it once a week, including rinsing the filter. I replace the filter about once a month. I would never go back to still water in a bowl and, now that they're used to the fountain, I doubt they would either.


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## Momto3boys (Nov 10, 2009)

I have heard AMAZING things about the Drinkwell. It's the one that is highly recommended.

Alot of people say the real evidence is in the litter box, their cats are drinking soooo much more. I haven't been able to find them in any pet stores around me yet though but I keep looking...if I can't find it soon I'll probably order it online


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## Janis (Aug 26, 2010)

I have one a friend gave me recently as she just had her 21 yr old cat8O put to sleep. I've been afraid to use it because we have only pergo & carpet in our condo, and I wonder if they ever overflow. The water standing on the pergo can ruin it after about 20 min. Anyone ever heard of overflowing being an issue?


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Janis:
Just get a plastic litter rug to put under it. Problem solved


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## Des_Esseintes (Nov 27, 2009)

I bought one of these for Artemisia and she basically ignored it.

Of course, she's on a wet food diet and hardly drinks any water anyways.


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## Olivers-Slave (Jul 25, 2010)

Janis said:


> I have one a friend gave me recently as she just had her 21 yr old cat8O put to sleep. I've been afraid to use it because we have only pergo & carpet in our condo, and I wonder if they ever overflow. The water standing on the pergo can ruin it after about 20 min. Anyone ever heard of overflowing being an issue?


mine doesnt overflow but I keep it on low because oliver cant keep up with the stream if its higher so he wont drink. So perhaps keep it on low and its all good


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