How often do you change/clean your water fountain?

[Mac and Cats]

I tried searching for this question in various ways and didn't find a thread. Maybe I was looking up the wrong words. How often do you change the water in your water fountain? Do you fully clean it every time you change the water? Do you only clean it sometimes and change the water more often? Tell me all about your fountain habits!

We have a ceramic water fountain, but I admit I am not the greatest about cleaning it because it's just another item on my long list of household chores. I usually manage to fully clean it once a week and change the water out a couple times a week. Is this enough or should I be doing this way more often? I'm guilty of just adding water to it when it looks a little low instead of fully changing the water out. I do change both filters every 3-4 weeks. We do have about 5 other additional cat-only still water bowls around the house and I fully change those out every couple of days. For the record, our youngest apparently loves the dog water bowl second to his fountain. That one gets changed a couple times a day, but I guess he's not turned off by dirty dog water.

 

[Silver K]

I change the water out of mine every second day, give the fountain a wash one a week (and rinse the filter) and replace the filter once a month.

I knew a girl who never cleaned hers or replaced the filter. When she moved out of her apartment the fountain had rotted the hardwood floor beneath it and there was some bugs living in it. I felt so bad for her cat. I can only imagine what else she neglected.

 

[Mac and Cats]

I change the water out of mine every second day, give the fountain a wash one a week (and rinse the filter) and replace the filter once a month.

I knew a girl who never cleaned hers or replaced the filter. When she moved out of her apartment the fountain had rotted the hardwood floor beneath it and there was some bugs living in it. I felt so bad for her cat. I can only imagine what else she neglected.

Thank you for your response! This makes me feel much better about my weekly cleaning. I remember searching on reddit and saw some people say they cleaned it daily which seemed crazy to me. But maybe what they meant by "clean it" is subjective. I probably should aim to fully change out the water (and rinse the filters/pump which I do already do when I change the water) 3 times a week. Right now I do it probably twice a week.

Yikes about that girl you knew! Now I do it twice a day. I do admit, I didn't realize I could take the pump apart until I had already had the thing for a few months. It was slimy inside and had some cat hair inside the "spinny" thing. I had been scrubbing the outside with a toothbrush and dishsoap, but I didn't know I could take it apart and clean some of the inside. I felt AWFUL about it, btw. But once I learned that I could take it apart, I do that every time I clean it out now.

Thanks again for your response!

 

[IndyJones]

I do it once a week. Take it appart and put everything except the pump in the dishwasher.

Mine is ceramic and has no tubing or crevices just the pump is a bit tricky to clean the well where the propeller sits. Please remember to disasemble and clean your pumps when you wash the fountains or it can get super gross and full of algee/slime.

 

[IndyJones]

I change the water out of mine every second day, give the fountain a wash one a week (and rinse the filter) and replace the filter once a month.

I knew a girl who never cleaned hers or replaced the filter. When she moved out of her apartment the fountain had rotted the hardwood floor beneath it and there was some bugs living in it. I felt so bad for her cat. I can only imagine what else she neglected.

Unfortunatly some people belive "has a filter" = self cleaning. This is definatly not the case. The filter provides filtration for taste it does not wash the germs and slime/algee out.

Remember to disasemble and clean your pumps when you wash the fountains. Many people forget the pump and it gets really nasty and gross.

 

[Silver K]

Unfortunatly some people belive "has a filter" = self cleaning. This is definatly not the case. The filter provides filtration for taste it does not wash the germs and slime/algee out.

Remember to disasemble and clean your pumps when you wash the fountains. Many people forget the pump and it gets really nasty and gross.

Exactly that's why I said I replace it every month. And I wash the pump too. Usually I just buy a new one after about a year, we have hard water here and the calcium becomes impossible to remove.

 

[Alldara]

I pull everything apart and clean it weekly as well..

 

[Mac and Cats]

I do it once a week. Take it appart and put everything except the pump in the dishwasher.

Mine is ceramic and has no tubing or crevices just the pump is a bit tricky to clean the well where the propeller sits. Please remember to disasemble and clean your pumps when you wash the fountains or it can get super gross and full of algee/slime.

Yep, I learned this after a few months of not taking the pump apart. I didn't realize that I could! The little propeller was slimy. I disassemble and scrub it with dish soap with every washing now.

 

[louisstools]

Every two days I replace the water and rinse off the filter. Once a week (every third re-fill) I scrub everything with soap as well. I take apart the motor and use small brushes to get into all the areas. Once a month or so I change the filters. I have re-occuring calendar events to remind me so I don't forget

 

[amethyst]

I clean mine about once a week, but I have two and don't always clean them on the same day so they often have at least one clean fountain every few days. I also tend to just top up the water through the week rather then change it out unless it visibly has something in it. The pump gets cleaned when I clean the rest of the fountain. I also normally have a sink tap dripping (and some of my cats know how to turn on taps) as well as a couple water buckets for the dogs around the house that the cats like to drink from as well, and a couple small water bowls that only the cats can access.