Drinkwell Multi-Tier Fountain

I used bowls for ages. Picked up a decorative fountain one weekend and the cats stopped using the bowls completely. Not exactly the intended use but the cats have spoken and they don’t take kindly to being ignored. They now have their own drinking fountain…

I know I feel left out. They do send me nice emoji art though.

It’s not the constant hum. It’s when the water level gets just that low enough that the filter isn’t fully submerged and then it makes a death grinding noise that wakes you up in the middle of the night. Add more water and it’s fine. But between evaporation & pet drinking it’s a ticking time bomb when the GRIND will come back. Plus, the constant rrrhhrrr it makes. Also, once it starting grinding about once a week, my cat was scared of it and wouldn’t drink from it. My plants also die from neglect, though.

Darn! Was just about to pull the trigger on this and the noticed the recommendation about pets less than 50 lbs. My dog is 70lbs. But between her Cushing’s, special food to endure her to drink to prevent bladder stones and her thyroid meds, she is a water drinkin’ fool! But washing her water bowl isn’t as apparently complicated as this thing anyway so maybe it’s best. :slight_smile:

Plus, we got her one that had the inverted large bottle once and she wouldn’t drink because the glub-glub-glub noise scared the bleep out of her so, who knows… This one might have been too noisy anyway.

I had one similar and my four cats adored it. They do require careful cleaning, and the one I had was somewhat difficult to put together. I was pleased with it, though, and with how much my cats loved it. The experience was positive enough, that I’m considering a new one for my new kitten.

The one I had several years ago had a low hum, that was (to us) simply white noise. When the water got low, it did make a louder noise because there wasn’t enough water to cover the parts. That’s a good thing in a way, though, as it signals that it needs water.

As others have said, my cats drink from it more often than they did the bowl. We still have a bowl out as a backup but they never use the bowl. One cat in particular likes to play in the running water. This is one reason we have to clean it a lot; she puts her dirty paws in the water stream.

FWIW, my cat preferred the toilet to a bowl even if i filled it fresh every day. I have gotten this model a few months ago, cleaning I use light scrub with dish soap and a long rinse. I do use bottled water as tap will clogged the filter fast, as my tap water is pretty hard.

Those of you who say that cleaning it is difficult, did anyone try using the dishwasher for it, as the product materials make a big deal out of you being able to do? Does that not reduce the difficulty, or increase it, or is it that it doesn’t do a good enough job?

Do they have one that looks like a toilet?

Beware! It conveniently doesnt tell you that you need to buy expensive replacement filters every so often!. Had a different one of these. It got slimy quick and you have to buy replacement filters which were 14.99 each! Its junk in our basement now and our cats are drinking from a good old fashioned dish… If they want fresh water they go to the bathroom sink and beg…

I say fill it with vodka and use it for drinking games.

Any reason this couldn’t be used for humans as well?

I don’t have this exact model, but I have other drinkwell fountains, and aside from replacing the motor every year or two (look on eBay), they work fine.

Only your dignity.

looks like replacement filters are $7.79 for a 3 pack on amazon and even cheaper in bulk on ebay

When we didn’t have a fountain, the cat would stand in the bathroom howling for the sink to be put on. He would attack his water dish like it was a mortal enemy, I’m thinking because he wanted to see the water moving before he drank it.

When we did have the fountain, he always rushed over for a slurp right after I cleaned it, usually drinking directly from the water stream. It was obvious he enjoyed the running water.

Not for dogs over 50lbs…but they show a dog over 50lbs (ok, a big dog) in the picture???

Reading this thread makes me grateful. I’ve had cats for pets for my entire life. From the 60’s through today, I have yet to have a cat that didn’t like to drink water from a plain-old water bowl. I’m interested to see the surveys of cat satisfaction that seems to accompany a flowing water arrangement…

I’ve had a round Drinkwell fountain for at least two years and never had any problems. It takes a few minutes to clean, but nothing difficult. The motor in the video doesn’t need to be cleaned every time; just flush it out while cleaning the rest of the assembly. The cats love it.

Tip: Pick up a baby bottle cleaner for much cheaper than their cleaning set.

For those questioning if the cats love the fountains, these are cheap enough to get one and put it beside the regular water dish. You will usually find them drinking from the fountain instead of the dish.

I have a different model than this, but as far as cleaning goes, it comes apart and goes in the dishwasher once a week with a cup of white vinegar to loosen hard water deposits (no soap). The motor soaks in a cup with vinegar and water in the meantime. Not hard or time consuming at all.

Yes it gurgles if the water gets low but I consider that incentive to keep it filled and fresh.

The filters are optional, at least with my model, I haven’t used one in over a year.