The Drinkwell Pet Fountain

When we got micio he was perfectly content to drink from a normal water dish. We read about other Ragdolls drinking from the faucet and we saw them sleeping in the sinks even. :) We thought this was very cute...

Well micio soon began to lounge around in the bathroom sink, which we thought was just adorable. Then, one day, when my wife was brushing her teeth, Micio decided he'd have a taste of the sink faucet. Awwww :)

Well, not so much... For some reason, now he wouldn't drink from his water bowl anymore! So he would constantly beg for water from the sink; he would even wake us up in the middle of the night! Being the ingenious one that I am, I started imagining a solution involving a fish pump and a waterfall of some kind. Luckily I searched the internet first :)

Low and behold! A pet fountain :)

Apparently this fountain has all sorts of other ancillary benefits, besides allowing my wife and me to get a full night sleep again. Cats seem to think that running water is fresher, something to do with water stagnating in the wild (when house cats ran wild and free). :) The running water also stimulates them to drink more. You and I it stimulates to pee, however...

So we love the thing... When byco joined our family we got the add on resevoir so we didn't have to refill the darn thing every day.

There is one small drawback with it, though, and that is cleaning. It is pretty difficult to clean it thoroughly, and my big hands don't quite fit in all the little nooks and crannies. They do sell a cleaning kit, but I find that a brillow sponge and a tooth brush work pretty well. I also run a vinegar solution through it every few months to dissolve all the nasty hard water deposits that collect all over the thing.

So, if your cat has taken a liking to faucet water and wont let you asleep at night, or if you just want a happier, healthier kittie, get a DrinkWell.

By the way, both micio and byco still seem to think drinking from the faucet is a treat. :)