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If you struggle to get your cat to drink water, you need to read this…

It used to be a nightmare to get my cats to drink enough water. I had toyed with the idea of a pet fountain, but I thought it would be too expensive to buy one. I’m more broke than a college student in their last semester of grad school – it was a concern.

However, after doing a lot of searching online, I found a pet fountain that I was willing to try. Heck, why not take a chance if it meant getting my babies back to health?

Whoa, Hold Up! Why Do I Need A Pet Fountain?

It’s not like I didn’t set out clean water every day. In fact, I made sure to change it several times a day and serve it in a new bowl each time. I thought maybe my fur babies were simply sensitive and didn’t like room temperature water. Maybe they were picky about which bowl it was served in. Who knows?

The problem was that they were experiencing symptoms of urinary tract infections or crystals, and I knew that this meant they weren’t properly hydrated. I ended up ordering the Drinkwell Platinum Pet Fountain because it looked big enough for two cats. It has turned out to be amazing.

Drinkwell Platinum Pet Fountain Review

The Things We Loved About It

You’ve heard of how cats like to drink out of the faucet, right? This meowtastic product is and was the answer to my prayers. Sure, other pet fountains might have worked, but this one is big enough to comfortably fit two cats without taking up too much space.

The fountain itself holds approximately a gallon of water, but the reserve tank at the back can hold and extra half a gallon. To be honest, I rarely have to use the reserve tank because I add fresh water to the running water every day, but it’s great for if you have to be gone for an extended period of time and you know the basin won’t hold enough.

Assembly is easy, and maintenance is simple once you get the hang of it. It can be somewhat confusing the first time you learn how to disassemble the fountain, but I was able to do it. No, seriously – I’m the type of person who needs for you to explain the thing like I’m a five-year-old, and I still managed it. Next week, I’ll learn how to tie my shoes! 😉

So, here’s the lowdown on the pros of having a Drinkwell Platinum Pet Fountain:

• It holds a ton of water (1.5 gallons in total) and uses BPA-free plastic
• An activated carbon filter and catch filter take all the junk out of the water before it gets to your cat’s tongue
• Dental additives for water are safe to use in it
• It’s quiet, but it does come with an adjustable water flow nozzle
• All you have to do is unplug it to turn it off
• Even finicky cats will drink from it; Tippy drinks from the basin, while Misha drinks from the running water on top

Cats instinctively drink more water when you provide running water for them, but let’s face it… keeping the sink running all night is hard on your utility bills. However, there are drawbacks to the fountain.

The Things We Weren’t So Happy About

Well, even if it doesn’t jack up the water bill, it does use electricity. You could always turn the fountain off, but then the water wouldn’t get filtered, and there would be no point to having a fountain. Fortunately, it doesn’t use a ton of energy.

Washing dishes is on my list of “Things I Really, Really, Really Hate To Do”, so I wasn’t thrilled about the prospect of cleaning the fountain. But, as any loving cat mom would do, I dug deep and summoned the will to disassemble the fountain and wash the darn thing top to bottom.

The washing went great. No complaints. On the other hand, there’s this thing where you have to wash it every single week. It’s really heavy once you fill it with water, so lugging it to the sink sucked big time (I’m about 90 lbs of straw twig person). If you don’t wash the pet fountain every week, it gets scummy and nasty.

That brings me to the filter. The recommendation for changing the filter is once every month, but we have hard water, so we have to change it every three weeks. The fountain comes with only one filter. That means an additional purchase of refills is necessary within the first three weeks, and if you’re smart, you’ll purchase the cleaning kit designed specifically for Drinkwell pet fountains.

Getting into all the nooks and crannies is easy for my small fingers, but I still have to use the smaller cylindrical scrubber brushes to clean the pipe that attaches to the motor.

To sum the cons up:

• Buying filters is an added expense
• You have to clean the water fountain every week
• You need a licensed cleaning kit to clean it properly
• The fountain gets really noisy if you let the water run too low
• Some water mess may occur if you fill the fountain too full – splashy, splashy!

How Many Meows Does This Fountain Get?

On a scale of 1 to 5, I would give this 4 Meows. The filters as an added expense doesn’t amount to much; each filter costs approximately $4 (but you can get a 12-pack of filters for only $20!) and lasts anywhere from three weeks to a month. If you take good care of the fountain by cleaning it when and how you should, buying replacement parts is a rarity.

We’ve had ours for several months, and we’ve had no issues other than a few splashes of water onto the carpet. The solution was easy – we just put a non-slip food mat under it. It catches water on the few occasions where it bounces out.

The best thing about the fountain is the price. It holds 1.5 gallons, but it’s still only $54.95. That may seem like a lot to some people, but this thing is built to last. Drinkwell also has quite a few other fountain designs that may be more to your liking, but the Platinum Pet Fountain gives you the best bang for your buck.

What did you think of the Drinkwell Platinum Pet Fountain? Would you buy it for your cat? Tell us why or why not in the comments section below.