The Cat Drinking Fountain Poll

[ugaimes]

OK, I need to entice Eppie to drink more water to help curb her frequent UTIs. We already have a Petmate Fresh Flow water fountain, but neither one of the girls use it often (they prefer the ceramic bowl of water I keep in the bathroom, though Eppie does not think enough from either).
So, I want to order a different drinking fountain. For those of you who have drinking fountains for your cats, which type do they seem to prefer? Got any gripes about using drinking fountains?

Thanks for participating y'all!

 

[rosie0708]

My kitties love the Petmate Fresh Flow...I know others who have a Drinkwell Fountain and their cats love that.

The only downside to the drinking fountains are having to replace the filters frequently, but my cats have been drinking More water since I got the fountain...so it's really not a "downside"....(does that make sense?)...lol

 

[jcat]

I think you have to look at what attracts the cat(s) in question. I had a choice between the Petmate and the Drinkwell, and chose the former because Jamie doesn't like to drink from faucets. The Cat It came out later, and is perfect for cats who tend to slop water, or turn over their water bowls.

 

[wellingtoncats]

They are still WAY too expensive here for us to buy! I want one.

 

[ugaimes]

Originally Posted by jcat

I think you have to look at what attracts the cat(s) in question. I had a choice between the Petmate and the Drinkwell, and chose the former because Jamie doesn't like to drink from faucets. The Cat It came out later, and is perfect for cats who tend to slop water, or turn over their water bowls.

Eppie could care less about splashing around her water or doing anything else with her water except occasionally drink it. I really need to entice her to drink more but am stumped

.

 

[jean-ji]

We have a Drinkwell fountain, and Sam's not in the sink as much (he loves drinking from a faucet). The noise is a low hum if you keep the water level high and you can adjust the "splash" of the fountain to suit your kitty.
Cleaning the fountain is key to their longevity. I have 3 different size brushes to clean the parts and do it every other week. Keeping the pump clean will make the fountain last a lot longer. One more "love" chore I do.

 

[laureen227]

before i got the fountain, i used to put ice in their drinking bowl. it got to where whenever i had the freezer open, Pixel would sit there & meow at me to put in ice. she still likes ice, but she's no longer asking for it since the fountain. so you might try adding ice to the bowl of water.

 

[valanhb]

Was Eppie ever an outside kitty? MA says that especially for ferals, putting some rocks (like aquarium rocks) on the bottom of the bowl can help ferals understand that it's water, and that there is actually water in the bowl.

 

[ugaimes]

Originally Posted by valanhb

Was Eppie ever an outside kitty? MA says that especially for ferals, putting some rocks (like aquarium rocks) on the bottom of the bowl can help ferals understand that it's water, and that there is actually water in the bowl.

That might be worth a shot Heidi. I adopted Eppie when she was almost a year old and her history before the shelter found her was a mystery, though we are all convinced she wsa freal at some point.

 

[abigail]

my kitten from the pound originally had smooth river rocks on the bottom of her water bowl while she was getting accustomed to the fountain, she wouldn't drink plain water either. Now its not a problem at all. I also give her wet food twice a day.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

My girls have the fresh flow fountain. They seem to like it. They both also love playing with the dripping water in the tub too. So I guess my girls just aren't picky. Good luck finding one for her!

 

[pushylady]

I bought the Catit fountain to encourage Pushy to drink more for his UTIs. He didn't touch it for over a week, but finally he came round and now drinks from the bowl. Still doesn't drink a lot though. What we do is add a tablespoon of water to his wet food to make it a very liquid consistency. He prefers solid, but does lap it up because he's fond of his food. That might worth trying for Eppie too.

 

[icklemiss21]

Mine have only ever had the CatIt but now that the 2nd one we bought is also broken - we are going to try a petmate - they all loved the CatIt though!

 

[momofmany]

I have both a Fresh Flow and a Drinkwell. Some of the cats like one, some like the other and some like the plain old water bowls. If you have multiple cats and can afford it, buy more than one!

 

[neely]

No matter how enticing we make Neely's water bowl she only wants to drink out of the dog's bowl!

 

[zak&rocky]

I have 2 freshflows. The only thing I don't like is that the smaller one runs out of water really fast!. I have never tried the others. My cats seem to like them. At first it was hard for the kittens to use- one used to put her foot in the water.

But she has grown.

 

[katachtig]

We got the Drinkwell because Much has suffered from UTIs for the last 10 years. At first she wasn't too sure but then she started to play with the bubbles and now she will drink more frequently from the stream.

The only thing I don't like about the Drinkwell is removing the power unit to clean it. This can be sometimes difficult. The rest comes apart easily.

Good luck with Eppie's UTIs. They are a pain to deal with.

 

[coaster]

FreshFlow and Drinkwell are so similar that if you really want to try something different, the Catit is the only alternative.

I've been mixing warm water in my cats' food, because the boys have been ignoring the fountain lately. They like slurping up the "gravy"

 

[jcat]

How many water bowls do you have? I have three bowls and the Fresh Flow spread around, so that Jamie is reminded to drink when he walks past. Make sure the water is placed at least several feet away from the food, perhaps in another corner of the kitchen. Another trick you could try is freezing chicken or beef broth in ice cube trays, and flavoring the water with a cube. Have you tried bottled water? If you always give fresh water, try leaving it stand around for a day, or vice versa.
Also - and this is a strange one - some cats like to drink out of buckets while perched on the rim. We always used buckets for the dogs' water, and several of the cats we had preferred the buckets to their water bowls.