Cat Chat Feline Forum

Are they really that good?
I've never had one but now considering getting one? Is it worth it or just a lot of faff?

Little one was taken to the vets yesterday. He had a mild case of cystitis.

TIA

Unfortunately I think these are another item where every cat is different. We've had a few and had different reactions to them from different cats.

The Cat Mate one has a section the water runs down rather than a totally free flowing stream of water. It was certainly the quietest and the easiest to clean. However it didn't seem that popular, the cats would occasionally drink out of the upper pools particularly as they got older and a bit stiffer.

We then got the Petsafe Drinkwell Mini Fountain. While it seemed more popular, particularly with our Ragdoll Cat it was too narrow and the water had a tendency to go on the floor, we ended up putting it on an old baking tray to catch the water. It probably didn't help that Blue, the Ragdoll, liked to put his head under the stream and have the water run off him. We replaced it with the next size up the Petsafe Original and that is still the one we have going. It isn't as easy to take apart and clean as the Cat Mate one but did seem relatively popular with both Blue, and Saturn when we first got him, once Saturn had access to outside I think the options out there took preference.

Freyja and Tiggy both seem to prefer the ceramic bowl with water in to any off the fountains.

We still have the fountain and still clean and refill but rarely do i see a cat drinking out of it.

Unfortunately the most popular of my 'drinking fountains' isn't an option for most people. I have a fish pond and cascade system out in the garden and that is by far the most popular place to drink in the area, not only for my own cats but several of the neighbourhood cats come to it, and even a few brave birds have made use of the cascade pools. we can provide as much clean filtered water as we like, cats being cats will choose to go and drink out of a dirty puddle.

I had a Catmate one for years, and my two used to drink from the top pool regularly, but I needed the socket really, and so switched to a raised ceramic one from https://www.classycatdishes.com/ which they use just as often and it's easier to change the water every day than phaff around with a fountain

these dishes are very expensive though, because of the postage and import duty - I have bought several over the years because there's nothing like them in the UK, unfortunately

vanilla wrote:Are they really that good?
I've never had one but now considering getting one? Is it worth it or just a lot of faff?

Little one was taken to the vets yesterday. He had a mild case of cystitis.

TIA

As far as our cat is concerned, it is a lot of 'faff'. We were desperate to get him to drink plenty of fluids after a particularly nasty bout of cystitis 3 years ago and being told he had early stage CKD. Blackie looked at the water fountain as if it was something from outer space and never gave it a second glance. It was our vet who came up with the simple solution of mixing warmed tap water to his food as well as 1 daily Cystophan capsule. Solved!

I got one for Badger and Tilly. Badger used it about once a week, but Tilly never, so since Badger's death, I have junked it.

Jan wrote: As far as our cat is concerned, it is a lot of 'faff'. We were desperate to get him to drink plenty of fluids after a particularly nasty bout of cystitis 3 years ago and being told he had early stage CKD. Blackie looked at the water fountain as if it was something from outer space and never gave it a second glance. It was our vet who came up with the simple solution of mixing warmed tap water to his food as well as 1 daily Cystophan capsule. Solved!

That's what I'm trying to do, increase intake of water. How much water did you add to his food?? Might have to try this too. I presume Blackie is on wet food only?

Our previous two cats really enjoyed drinking and playing with water (taps, bath), so we got them a fountain and they loved it. Flo used to dip her front paws in and then lick them off - so cute. When they got old and drank a lot of water, the fountain became really important.

Our current two cats aren't interested in the fountain, so we've packed it away until they're older. We put out a fresh bowl of water down for them every day but they only drink if they have a hairball brewing. (They're on a wet diet and we often add a little water to it.)

The vet recommended 2 tablespoons of warmed water mixed in with his wet food. As we sometimes give him less than a full bowl (trying to stop him becoming overweight) we then just add 1 tablespoon. I reckon in a day he probably gets about 80-100ml of extra water. Never had any problem with him lapping it all up. Hope you have the same success with your little one as we have with our 'old one'

Jan wrote:The vet recommended 2 tablespoons of warmed water mixed in with his wet food. As we sometimes give him less than a full bowl (trying to stop him becoming overweight) we then just add 1 tablespoon. I reckon in a day he probably gets about 80-100ml of extra water. Never had any problem with him lapping it all up. Hope you have the same success with your little one as we have with our 'old one'

Thank you Jan. The vet said his cystitis was due to stress. I said there was a big older cat that comes to our garden. Just today I noticed an abscess on the base of the tail. He probably got bitten or scratched. No wonder he's stressed! Taking him to vets again tomorrow!! Arrgghh!!!

I'm mixing 20ml of water with his wet food each time I feed him throughout the day and he hasn't noticed it I on the other hand have noticed the litter tray becoming soiled more often!

Hi

We tried a water fountain when our male cat got cystitis, but we found that the water fountain didn't make any difference. We tried everything but to no avail. Our cat was three times 'unblocked' at the vet with a catheter and we were close to putting him down. There is an operation which involves removal of the male organ but its success is not guaranteed. Being at our wit's end and knowing that stress is a major factor of cat cystitis, we separated our two older female cats from our younger male cat so he was effectively on his own. His recovery was remarkable and the cystitis simply went away. Looking back we now realise that he was being bullied by one of the female cats and this was the problem. Reluctantly but necessarily we were forced to re-home our two older female cats. They were sisters and, in our opinion, the ones that would better cope with re-homing. This all happened 7 months ago and our cat hasn't had any signs of cystitis. In fact, he's the healthiest cat you could imagine.

All we can recommend is to find out if there is anything that is stressing your cat and do what you need to remove that stress.

Hope this helps. Best of luck and hope your cat recovers.

Anna & Jeff

akleinman wrote: Hope this helps. Best of luck and hope your cat recovers.

Anna & Jeff

Welcome to the forum Anna and Jeff. Thank you for sharing your story. I think the stress is caused by an older bigger black and white cat that comes to our garden. He bullied my other cat who died this year. Not sure how I can eliminate him

I've bought him some more toys to play with indoors but he prefers to go out.

I still use my Catmate fountain, and they like it, but are just as happy in the summer drinking from rain water.

Hi, I've owned the Catit plastic dome fountain and the Drinkwell Avalon ceramic one. The Catit is fiddly to clean and fill, and gets scummy quickly. I found the plastic deteriorated over time. The Avalon is much easier to clean, but it is HUGE and heavy when full. It's also quite expensive. As for Mr Cat - he just goes 'meh' and ignores the fountain most of the time, until he takes a one in a blue moon notion to drink.