I have very hard water where I live, and don’t want to put in a water softener. When I had a cat fountain previously, it was a Drinkwell, and the hard water ruined the motor, literally. I saw a stainless steel one advertised - would that be better for hard water than a plastic one?
the motor would be the same.
You just have to get into the habit of cleaning the fountain, say weekly or so, with white vinegar!
A white dish would probably look nicer in the long run…but steel would remind you to do the deep clean. :)
Stainless because the deposits from hard water can destroy plastic - can make it fragile and besides, cats can do nasty things to lighter fountains. Don’t ask.
I’d opt for ceramic, like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-Ceramic-Drinking-Fountain-Big/dp/B004673GXQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=13K474OADA0AB&coliid=IKXB0VK5XQ08F
I had a plastic Drinkwell. Hated it, and I won’t have any plastic food/water bowls for my cats for many reasons. Only glass or ceramic.
[QUOTE=Liberty;6778098]
I’d opt for ceramic, like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-Ceramic-Drinking-Fountain-Big/dp/B004673GXQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=13K474OADA0AB&coliid=IKXB0VK5XQ08F
I had a plastic Drinkwell. Hated it, and I won’t have any plastic food/water bowls for my cats for many reasons. Only glass or ceramic.[/QUOTE]
I’m diggin’ the ceramic fountain. What are the issues with plastic? I’ve wondered about potential BPA issues, but what else? Thanks!
I did see the ceramic one, but wasn’t sure about it. Not enough “flowing water”, it appeared to me. My cats loved the Drinkwell because of the free-flowing stream. The stainless one I saw seemed to be the same way as the ceramic:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=23372&cmpid=01csegpl&ref=6111&subref=AA&CAWELAID=987938665&catargetid=1570181377&cagpspn=pla
Alagirl - thanks for the vinegar tip!
Plastic = dark crud in little notches. Not that you can’t get it in steel, but you can scrub steel. Steel will also take boiling water, which you need to get rid of dark crud (algae).
I use only glass bowls for drinking and wash them twice a day ( cat likes to eat over the bowl of water).
[QUOTE=Calico;6778127]
I’m diggin’ the ceramic fountain. What are the issues with plastic? I’ve wondered about potential BPA issues, but what else? Thanks![/QUOTE]
Issues with plastic other than BPA are harboring of bacteria, and some cats develop an allergy to the plastic.
A couple of informative links:
http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/bb/bybfoodbowls.htm
http://www.thepawsitter.com/blog/is-your-pets-food-bowl-creating-a-toxic-meal/
My cat gets his water in a ceramic bowl set inside a glass pie plate as he tends to play in his water and knock it over. This set up has solved that problem (so far).
Another fountain option is this one (although it’s a bit more expensive, it has the ability to have a much higher capacity), but with hard water deposits a problem, it might not be a good choice over the ceramic one I posted earlier:
http://www.glacierpointforcats.com/basicfountain.php
[QUOTE=Liberty;6778201]
Another fountain option is this one (although it’s a bit more expensive, it has the ability to have a much higher capacity), but with hard water deposits a problem, it might not be a good choice over the ceramic one I posted earlier:
http://www.glacierpointforcats.com/basicfountain.php[/QUOTE]
I’ve never seen that one before! It IS pricey. Interesting idea, though!
Look at THIS one! Pretty interesting idea, and stainless steel! Another pricey one, though.
I have this ceramic one:
http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-Pet-6022-Drinking-Fountain/dp/B00329RZFE/ref=sr_1_3?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1358121305&sr=1-3
I’ve had it over a year and it’s still going strong. The cats like it. Hard water does show up A LOT on black. I try to clean it regularly, but there are still patches where it’s built up and I can’t get it off. Doesn’t seem to bother the cats or the motor, though.
Nothing plastic for cats. Kitty acne 
[QUOTE=JumpQH;6778653]
Look at THIS one! Pretty interesting idea, and stainless steel! Another pricey one, though.
Definitely an interesting style with lots of “fountain” action. Thing is, I prefer to have a bigger reservoir for drinking, preferably large enough that my cat’s whiskers won’t touch the sides. When I had my Drinkwell fountain operating, he would drink from the “waterfall”, but after some time, he switched to just drinking out of the reservoir part.
If you do decide to buy a fountain, be sure to check out Amazon and eBay for the best prices.
As advised from our vet, we give our kitties distilled water to drink, due to urinary problems. Perhaps you could use distilled water in your fountain.? Its relatively inexpensive, and the cats seem to like it more. Not meaning to hijack a thread but just a thought.
[QUOTE=Hulk;6779365]
As advised from our vet, we give our kitties distilled water to drink, due to urinary problems. Perhaps you could use distilled water in your fountain.? Its relatively inexpensive, and the cats seem to like it more. Not meaning to hijack a thread but just a thought.[/QUOTE]
Excellent thought, for more than one reason!
[QUOTE=Liberty;6778773]
Definitely an interesting style with lots of “fountain” action. Thing is, I prefer to have a bigger reservoir for drinking, preferably large enough that my cat’s whiskers won’t touch the sides. When I had my Drinkwell fountain operating, he would drink from the “waterfall”, but after some time, he switched to just drinking out of the reservoir part.
If you do decide to buy a fountain, be sure to check out Amazon and eBay for the best prices.[/QUOTE]
Well, I decided to go with this fountain. My cats enjoy the “fountain” action very much, and although I’ll have to be refilling it often, it’ll be worth it.
Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and experiences!
[QUOTE=Hulk;6779365]
As advised from our vet, we give our kitties distilled water to drink, due to urinary problems. Perhaps you could use distilled water in your fountain.? Its relatively inexpensive, and the cats seem to like it more. Not meaning to hijack a thread but just a thought.[/QUOTE]
I don’t use distilled water, but did use filtered bottled water for my cat fountain. Cheap, & since it’s also recommended for my Keurig coffeemaker, no big deal to have on hand.
Update! My new Drinkwell 360 arrived. I spent some time and curse words putting it together, but finally got it up and running. The great: it holds a full gallon of water! The not-so-great: I tried the 5-fountains option first. One stream didn’t even work, and the others were pretty darned weak. I changed to the 2-fountain option, and have stronger streams, just not as many as I wanted. As Drinkwell directions suggested, my cats were afraid of this shiny, UFO-looking thingie! However, one finally got brave enough to drink - from the bottom, NOT the fountain! The one who loves running water won’t even get near it. The best she’ll do (and she’s sitting here next to my keyboard as I type!) is get a few feet away and stare at it. Sigh.
[QUOTE=JumpQH;6790590]
Update! My new Drinkwell 360 arrived. I spent some time and curse words putting it together, but finally got it up and running. The great: it holds a full gallon of water! The not-so-great: I tried the 5-fountains option first. One stream didn’t even work, and the others were pretty darned weak. I changed to the 2-fountain option, and have stronger streams, just not as many as I wanted. As Drinkwell directions suggested, my cats were afraid of this shiny, UFO-looking thingie! However, one finally got brave enough to drink - from the bottom, NOT the fountain! The one who loves running water won’t even get near it. The best she’ll do (and she’s sitting here next to my keyboard as I type!) is get a few feet away and stare at it. Sigh.[/QUOTE]
LOL, cats!
give it time!
