Hey Pet Parents & Pet Lovers,
Cats are known to be difficult when it comes to staying hydrated. It’s actually one of the main reasons why male cats develop crystals in their bladders. Even in extreme cases where cats are dehydrated, cats may choose not to drink over living. This is why it’s important to be checking whether your cat is hydrated or not regularly and monitor their drinking habits. If you start noticing that your cat doesn’t like drinking from their bowl or notice that they will drink extra water if you mix it into their wet food, or if you leave the tap on it might be time to change your tactics on how you supplement water into your cat’s life.
For us, we’ve noticed our cats tend to drink more when we have a fountain running. We’ve had up to four fountains in our apartment at a time and while most people think that that would be overkill, it did improve our cat’s hydration, while also making sure that we were providing filtered/fresh water to our cats on a regular basis. The following are some of our top favourite water fountains we’ve seen or tried out!
PetSafe Drinkwell Original Cat and Dog Water Fountain
I’ve been a huge fan of PetSafe for years. They have brought us toys such as the Slimcat Interactive Toy and Food Dispenser, which is still a top favourite toy/feeder for me, and the Bolt Interactive Laser Cat Toy, which recently made it to the Top List of Toys Kalista Loved as a Kitten.
What I love the most about this fountain is how high the spout for the water is. To me, this is one of the best fountains that will emulate the same experience as a faucet.
There is a con about this fountain, and that’s its size. Well, this can work for and against you. If you bought this fountain so you didn’t have to change your water bowls frequently, you’re still going to deal with this problem. While there is an attachment you can purchase that will add an extra 50 oz, this fountain is going to have to be refilled every few days.
Again, this isn’t the biggest con, especially because you’re going to want to make sure that there is no grime on your fountain, and since there is an open basin you’re going to want to make sure that no dust has collected inside of the filter.
For me, even though the water capacity isn’t the largest, this is a great starter fountain (especially for faucet drinkers!)
Catit Fountain
We’ve had every version of this fountain and have loved each of them. There is no wrong choice when it comes to the Catit Fountain. This style has outdone itself, giving you three different water flow settings to choose from. Beau liked the original basin style, while Kalista prefers the spout style, which is attained by using the flower attachment. I guess it was a good choice to buy the different versions of these since each of our cats likes different features they have.
I will say, this fountain needs to be cleaned thoroughly every few days/week. It is awesome for the summer though, because you can put ice cubes inside to help cool down the water and since our apartment is usually super hot the majority of it doesn’t get evaporated.
PetSafe Drinkwell Platinum Cat and Dog Water Fountain, Built-in Reservoir
This is by far my favourite PetSafe water fountain. It holds 168oz of water and has a smaller basin so there are fewer chances of it being filled with stray dust or debris. This fountain also features the spout style for all those faucet drinkers out there. This fountain also allows you to change the settings of the waterfall to make sure that it suits your pet’s desires. This fountain is for those extremely picky drinkers.
isYoung Cat Fountain 1.6L Automatic Pet Water Fountain Pet Water Dispenser
The pet industry is filled with fountains that look and act similarly. This is an example of a fountain is very similar to the CatIt fountain. The main difference is the size and shape. It’s worth a check out, especially if you like the style of the Catit fountain, but it’s way too big.
Cat Mate Pet Fountain
I think the most interesting part of this fountain is the fact that there are multiple tiers for your little ones to drink from. This fountain doesn’t necessarily focus on pets who like different forms of drinking, rather than focus on a home where animals are different ages, breeds or even species. I think it’s a definite winner for dog/cat homes and the only con for me, in particular, is the large open bowl area. Again, for me, I’m not as interested in basin style fountains as much as faucet/spout fountains.
2 in 1 Pet Water Fountain and Feeder for Cats
This is a cat fountain I really want to try. I feel like my cats would go absolutely mad over it, and it looks like it holds quite a bit of water and makes sure that it’s not all out in the open at all times.
My one worry would be that this fountain is similar to the catit grass planter which didn’t do so well with us a few years ago.
IPETTIE Ceramic Pet Drinking Fountain
Again this is an absolutely beautiful fountain that I would buy for decor. This would be great for those of you who’s pets knock around their bowls or fountains. Although not a top choice for me, it’s definitely a fountain that can solve a number of problems pet parents may be experiencing.
Pioneer Pet Swan Pet Drinking Fountain: 80oz Water Capacity
This fountain has taken the faucet to a whole new level. The Pioneer Pet Swan Pet Drinking Fountain is a must buy for those of you who’s pets will only drink from water faucets. Again, for me the basin is a bit too large to keep clean, but if it gets your pet to drink, it gets your pet to drink!
HoneyGuaridan Smart Automatic Pet Water Fountain Dispenser with infrared induction, designed for Dogs and Cats
This is such a cool idea for a water fountain, and I didn’t think that they had gotten so sophisticated. This awesome fountain has different settings that will allow you to change how the fountain works including a continuous working mode, a smart mode which detects when your cats are around, an intermitted working mode and also have a feature that will tell you that the basin is running low on water.
This is a great fountain that will make sure that your cat’s water is both filtered and stored in a safe place when they are not drinking it. Can you say amazing?
SUKI&SAMI Pet Fountain Cat Water Dispenser Healthy and Hygienic Drinking Fountain
Similar to the fountain above, this fountain has all of those awesome features including continuous cycling, paused, intermittent or induction and still lets you know when the water is getting low. Choosing between these two will be purely based on reviews and personal preference.
AIKOTOO Cat Water Fountain
This is one of the cutest designs and another fountain I want to try with my cats. It holds 2 litres of water (and the majority of it is hidden in the basin). It has the option for a spout and drinking hole, however, I don’t see much space for cats to actually drink from it. That’s my major con because I wouldn’t be able to guarantee that my cats wouldn’t be too afraid to use it (or worse, unable to use the part that they want to use.)
All in all, there are a number of water fountains out there right now. We’re still huge fans of the Catit Water Fountains, but there were definitely some on this list I’ll be saving to try out in the future. Which fountains did you like the most? Which ones have you tried? Is there one I missed in this list? Let me know in the comments below!