Before leaving town last Thanks Giving holiday, we were preparing a list for our house and pet sitter. We have a 13 year old male tuxedo named Oreo that has only drank water from our bathroom sinks and has done so since a kitten. I told my wife instead of having the sitter deal with “watering the cat” 4X a day  I’d install a motion sensor valve, like the ones found in public restrooms. I wasn’t expecting a $300 plus price tag so 10 minutes later I narrowed down our search of “cat water fountain” to amazon’s Drinkwell Platinum Pet Fountain. Consumer rated at 4 plus stars and priced around $52.00 including shipping, that sounded like a p-u-r-f-e-c-t solution. There’s plenty of entertaining YouTube videos as well which sold me on this particular Drinkwell model.

.:Setup:.

 It takes approximately 5 minutes to install the charcoal filter, prime the bowl then fill the clear plastic tank and reservoir with filtered water from our tap. Finally we set the plastic top lid in place then plug in. Within a few seconds the pump primes with water then becomes almost silent and produces a steady stream. There is an adjustment lever inside the bowl which slows down or increases flow but I noticed very little to no difference in output.

The fountain itself takes up about the same amount of space as his regular feeding area or approximately 1 square ft and needs to be within 5 lineal feet of an electrical outlet. The power supply is very similar to wireless phone transformer and draws only 9 watts at 120vac. Last but not least, the “taste test”. Yup, tasted like bottled water which is sort of what I initially filled the reservoir with. Actually, charcoal filtered tap.

.:Ready for action:.

We placed the fountain near Oreo’s feeding area which thankfully was also near a 120 volt outlet. I wanted to see his reaction without letting him know I was observing. Within just a few seconds he takes one look, ignored the device and continued eating his dry food. I waited until his next “demand” for water when he leads us into the bathroom, jumps onto the sink area telling me to turn on the faucet. It’s quite a ritual. After a few days I decided to place the Drinkwell fountain on our bathroom countertop near the sink. Thinking this was the perfect spot he ignored it. Both my wife and I tried coaxing him, we even tried not turning the water on in the sink, nope.

I decided to let the fountain run for another week just to give him more time. It was time to unplug the unit and repackage it for a return. After 2 weeks of operation less than half of the 168 ounces of water remained in the system but that was from evaporation. After disassembling then letting the parts dry, it looks as good as new.

.:Final thoughts:.

I can’t blame the product and won’t give negative feedback either because of my cat’s watering fetish. It is not uncommon for a cat to have this preference but even more rare (based on product reviews) that the Drinkwell fountain failed to satisfy. I would still recommend buying this model. It might be a little oversized for one cat but I bought the Platinum model because of all the positive reviews. BTW: Amazon has a great return policy and I don’t mind paying the return shipping.

Product features courtesy of amazon:

·Innovative watering system features patented 5-inch free-falling water stream
·Holds 168 fluid ounces of water
·Keeps your pet off counters and out of sinks and toilets
·Includes reservoir, replaceable charcoal filter, snap-on lid, pre-filter, and submersible pump

Recommended: Yes