Water Fountain vs. Water Dish for cat?

Do you prefer a water fountain or a more routine dish of water for the cat? We used to always just use a regular dish placed beside the food dish but after we bought the first fountain, we kept with that. Our cat gets a lot more water into her with the fountain... she watches the stream for a while and then starts drinking. I think she likes the sound of the motor, too, because sometimes she falls asleep with her head lying on the edge of the fountain bowl.

One thing to keep in mind is that some of the fountain brands are quite loud which makes them annoying. They also have to be cleaned because even with the filter, the water "slimes up" in there. We do it about once a week and add fresh water a few times a week.

We never used a fountain or even a particularly special dish. We used to just use empty plastic boxes from margarine or other foods as a water bowl. There did not seem much point spending money on buying a fancy dish when the cat would not really notice the difference. Besides, it is more environmentally friendly to re-use materials as much as possible before sending them for recycling. Furthermore, it saves resources by reducing the quantity of new objects, which need to be manufactured. The cat had no problem at all with it or we would have noticed that she was not drinking and done something about it. With a lot of these things, we often transfer our own needs and assume the cat has the same ones. When we buy an attractive looking water dish for our pet, we are really (to some extent) buying it for ourselves. The pet is not concerned about the appearance of the dish so long as it is functional. We used old plastic tubs as food and water dishes for all of our pets and it seemed to do no harm while saving both money and (to a small extent) the environment.

We use a regular dish for our cats. I don't feel the need to buy a water fountain because I'm obsessive about changing the water in the dish several times a day so my cats have fresh water. I always think to myself, if I were a cat would I want to drink from water in a dish several hours old?

I use regular water dishes for my cats, but I would by a water fountain the first chance I get. My younger cat has no problem drinking from the bowl, but my older cat drinks almost exclusively from the faucet. I understand that cats prefer running water, because their instincts tell them it's fresh, but I really don't like that habit of hers, since faucet water really isn't the cleanest. So I really hope that getting a water fountain will solve this problem, and it will ease my job a little bit too. Does the water from the fountain stay fresh longer then water in the dish? It would make sense to me, but I might be wrong.

We used to have a sort of "water fountain" for my cat, it was just a water jug hooked up to some bowl thingamabob. I'm not sure how to describe it. Nowadays, we do one of two things: The first thing is get her a bowl of water, and give her that. She'll graciously accept that. The second thing, and we probably ought not to do this, but we let her drink from the toilet bowl. We keep it cleaned, and we obviously flush, but we'll just find her doing it. It can be prevented by closing the lid, but who has time to do that? That's like, an extra two seconds of our day! TWO!

We use a fountain, with about a half-gallon sized tank in the back. The veterinarian says that it's the best thing for the cats, since it keeps the water filtered. I believe the cats themselves like it better that way, plus the stream of water entertains them sometimes even if they're not thirsty. I find it is way easier to deal with water this way too, since I only have to refill the thing and thoroughly clean it out maybe once every two weeks. It makes an annoying sound if it starts to run low, so it's hard to just forget about it.

We use a regular bowl and both our girls seem to be getting enough water. (Litter box cleaning is needed consistently) We make sure to keep fresh water in the dish and clean it out completely about every other day so there's no build up in the bottom.

I've never tried, or considered trying a fountain, although it's always fun to see Internet videos of cats who like to drink at a running faucet, etc.

My cat drinks water out of a clean bowl, which I clean and fill at least once a day. I don't know if my cat would like a water fountain, but I don't think I would want the constant sound of running water in my home.

I find it interesting that a cat could fall asleep next to a fountain. Most cats do not like getting wet and I would have thought a cat would only approach the fountain when thirsty.

I can see how it could be healthier for a cat to drink moving water than water that has been stagnant for hours. I can also believe that it would encourage a cat to drink more water, which has to be good for cat health.

We used a regular dish, then we switched to a fountain when our cat took an interest in sink faucets and the shower head. We used that for a while, then when we moved we switched back to the dish. Our cat liked the fountain at first and would stare at it or paw at the water stream. But, after a while, she wasn't as amazed by it, so we figured we'd switch back to a bowl. She does love when I drop ice cubes in her water. She stares at those until they melt. Every time I open the freezer she comes sprinting into the kitchen.

We use a water bowl for most of our cats. We do have one cat that will only drink out of a coffee mug, or what she prefers a glass of water with a plant in it - such as ivy. She's twelve years old and has done this her entire life. She started drinking from the plants like this as a kitten. She went to live with my brother for several years, he never had luck keeping plants alive in a glass of water so she started just drinking it from a coffee mug. She came back to live with us recently and immediately switched back to drinking the plant water.

At this moment we just use a regular bowl for food and water. However, my cat has a habit of dumping her water as well as lapping from the faucet and tipping over our glasses of ice water. I've heard that cats tend to enjoy running water ( while she obviously doesn't like baths, she's curious while the water is running) so we've been talking about a cat fountain.

I have always been a fan of using a dish for water, regularly changing water through out the day, but I find my cats have differences for how they take their water and a fountain seems to split the difference. I currently use Petmate's Fresh Flow. It is extremely quite and has a reserve tank to make sure the water is always flowing. I do agree with previous comments about the filters they are a pain to perpetually replace and not environmentally friendly, but it is the price to pay I guess, I would love a better solution but am not aware of any. Overall I find the fountain keeps my cats happy and drinking water so the pros out weigh the cons.

While using recycled plastic containers to use as water dish for cats is environmentally sound, if these are left under the sun, these plastics break down under the heat. I am not an expert on what chemicals brake downs occur when this happens, but I believe there are consequences. We've had cats for the past 5 years now, and the maximum birth to natural death so far is only 2 and a half years. Noticing this, I immediately changed their water dish with ceramic pot made for pets. I'm guessing this has a more 'natural' feel to it.

Thankfully our cats aren't particular about only drinking from running water. We just keep stainless steel bowls full of water throughout the house for them. I suppose one thing that would concern me about these fountains is how easy/difficult they are to keep clean. Does anyone know if they have a tendency to develop mold inside the internal parts? I had a few decorative water fountains as well as a decorative humidifier (it would create a glowing bowl of fog), and both of these were a pain to clean. The nozzles would get clogged up with what I'm assuming were calcium or hard water deposits, and the water container was regularly developing a residue along the walls of it.

I had always just kept clean water in a clean bowl for my cats, for well over 20 years, without any reason to change it. Then last year at some point, our 6 year old male developed a UTI. Took him to the vet, got antibiotics, and, as I am prone to do, did exhaustive research on the whole subject after the vet mentioned that sometimes cats that are prone to UTIs aren't getting enough water, especially if they are fed even a partial diet of dry food.

And then I realized that the poor cat was telling me the whole time. Every time the wife or I were in the bathroom, he jumped on the sink, waiting for us to turn on the tap. So we bought a fountain. It's been over a year, with only that change, as well as changing to only foods with less filler, and NO CORN products, problem solved. So I am now a fountain fan, lol.

---

(08-22-2013, 12:43 PM)ohiotom76 Wrote: Thankfully our cats aren't particular about only drinking from running water. We just keep stainless steel bowls full of water throughout the house for them. I suppose one thing that would concern me about these fountains is how easy/difficult they are to keep clean. Does anyone know if they have a tendency to develop mold inside the internal parts? I had a few decorative water fountains as well as a decorative humidifier (it would create a glowing bowl of fog), and both of these were a pain to clean. The nozzles would get clogged up with what I'm assuming were calcium or hard water deposits, and the water container was regularly developing a residue along the walls of it.

Tom, after the events described above, I thought all the same things. The only fountain I found that I liked was the Drinkwell 360 Stainless Steel Fountain. I've had it for over a year now, and I love it. 90% of the thing is good quality stainless steel, so it is very easy to clean, can be scrubbed, etc. The top fountain bits are plastic, but comes apart into pieces for easy cleaning, and is easy to reassemble quickly after you've dome it once or twice. Plus, it actually has an active carbon filter, which is a plus, and, it runs just fine without the filter as well.

It isn't cheap, and the link above was the cheapest I could find it last year when shopping around.

Hello,

I have created a solution for cats wanting to drink from falling water which I call the AquaPurr.  See http://www.AquaPurr.net for details.

It is a platform that the cat stands on which triggers the flow of water through a spigot.  It attaches to a faucet in place of the aerator.  The faucet attachment includes a quick disconnect to allow regular use of the faucet.

It requires no electricity and never needs cleaning.

I build and sell these myself.

Thanks for reading.


Steven

I have used a fountain but my cats viewed it as more of a toy than anything else. They splashed water all over the place. It was fun though. Now, I simply turn the water on at the sink once in a while to let my youngest cat play in it. For drinking water, I use bowls and I change it frequently. They are metal bowls, not plastic.

We currently use a water fountain for our cat. We have had dishes before, but my father-in-law actually bought us a fountain, since he said it had worked well for his cats and seemed to encourage them to drink more. We also found with our cat that once we set up the fountain-style water dish that he seemed to be drinking a lot more. Something about the running water has always interested our cat, so it's been a beneficial change in my opinion.

The only real issue we have with the use of the fountain is that our dog loves to drink from it too, so we're constantly having to clean it out, far more regularly than the directions recommend (he seems to get it very grubby and dirty for some reason!) but really, that's a small inconvenience for the reassurance of knowing my pets are drinking enough water. Plus, I think they just look nicer in our home than a standard dish does.

Vote for regular water dish... It helps me with my "every thing must be clean" freakness.

Hello,

My name is Steven Chalmers and I have created a solution for cats wanting to drink from falling water. I call it the AquaPurr. See http://www.AquaPurr.net for details.

It is a platform that the cat stands on which triggers the flow of water through a spigot. It attaches to a faucet in place of the aerator. The faucet attachment includes a quick disconnect to allow regular use of the faucet.

It requires no electricity and never needs cleaning.

Thanks so much and let me know what you think!


Steven

I use a water fountain for my cats. They don't like still water in dishes. I found out really early that if they didn't have a source of running water they would find it elsewhere(the toilet). The fountain was relatively inexpensive( it only cost around 20) and I decorated the base of it with kitty stickers. I also figured out that my cats don't like it when I place their fountain next to their food, I have no idea why this is. I change the water every other day, and on hot days I add mini ice cubes to it so they can cool down. I also have a fish tank that I catch them trying to drink out of from time to time. Once upon a time they tried to catch the fish but they fell in and I never had that problem again.

Hey Marioposa, thats cute about how your cat falls asleep by the fountain! There's a lot of research on this topic and they all point to getting a water fountain as cats instinctively prefer to drink out of a moving stream! And perhaps your cat thinks its in a brook! The Miaustore fountain is the best ive seen & used but it's also got good information and articles about its design and purpose

Go for the regular water dish.It's mostly preferrable.

(01-14-2018, 02:43 PM)Gemma23426 Wrote: Go for the regular water dish.It's mostly preferrable.

I would go for the regular water dish as well. Though I would recommend getting not a simple bowl but a raised one. Here's the thing: a slight raise will prevent your cat's neck from bending down and barfing. I have two of these, one for water and the other one is for meals.

I have a water bowl for my cat (serving bowl from IKEA) but I'm thinking of switching to a water fountain. Not sure if I should do this