Looking for a new cat drinking fountain for your adorable feline companion? You’ve come to the right place! The following represents the result of tons of research on the current state of the market, but boiled down into a no-nonsense guide for those of you who are new to the idea. Most of the issues are fairly common sense, but others might not spring to mind for someone who is shopping for cat drinking fountains. At the bottom of the article, you’ll find my recommendation for the product that represents what I believe is the best value currently available, along with a link to the replacement filter cartridges. You can skip to the end if you don’t want to read the details of my reasoning 
The Concept
A drinking fountain for a cat is a very different proposition than one designed for human consumption, with necessary attention paid to build quality and material to accommodate the common issues that come with an active pet.
Generally speaking, the fountain will take the form of a small bowl, usually containing some kind of additional reservoir where the water is deposited. Most fountains utilize a continuous-filtration system, cleansing the water that is eventually consumed by your cat. We’ll get into the important of filtered water later. There’s not much to a drinking fountain for cats beyond these simple parts, but what’s not so simple is picking the right unit out of the huge number of available models currently on the market. To this end, the rest of the article is dedicated to a simple, distilled (no pun intended) list of what you should be looking for in a new water fountain for your cat.
Your Pet’s Safety Should Come First
The first thing to be concerned with is the safety and well-being of your pet, so dedicate some of your attention to filtration and material. To put it bluntly: Never buy a fountain for any pet that does not feature some kind of basic water filtration! The most common type of filter built into these fountains is the charcoal filter, but there’s no reason that you couldn’t adapt an existing reverse osmosis system to hook up to your cat’s fountain. It all depends on how technically inclined you are. If you aren’t into complex hookups, the charcoal filter should be more than sufficient to keep harmful contaminants out of your cat’s water.
In addition to filtration, you should consider what material that the fountain is made out of. Much has been made out of the the quality of pet water bowls over the years, and this concern is definitely justified. Many pets can be especially prone to bacterial infection (UTI is a common issue) stemming from contaminated eating and drinking bowls. By choosing a higher quality water fountain for your cat, you can reduce the chances of such contamination by quite a lot.
Generally speaking, these fountains are made from one of four possible materials: plastic, glass/pyrex, ceramic, and stainless steel. Logic dictates that the more porous a material is, the more likely it is to retain harmful substances (the same goes for purchasing a water cooler). Therefore, make it simple on yourself and simply avoid plastic products altogether. Instead, opt for something made from glass or stainless steel, two materials that are nowhere near as likely to hold in all that nasty stuff that can wreak havoc on your pet’s health (and your wallet).
Convenience And Other Features
First, keep in mind that you won’t want to be constantly refilling the water reservoir, so find a big one! There are many fountains out there that can hold 50 to 70 ounces of water, perfect for the “set it and forget it” pet owner that needs to be gone for longer stretches of time. Combined with a dry food dispenser, you can go a long way toward making your cat self-sufficient when no one is around to check in on him.
Another great feature is the 360 degree fountain. With a fountain that is open and accessible all the way around, you can accommodate more than one cat’s water needs simultaneously. This can lead to a nice space savings, especially considering that these fountains can be a little bulky.
Additionally, you should look for something that doesn’t have lots of unnecessary moving parts. The last thing you need is a fountain that is too fancy for its own good; if the product is made cheaply, more moving parts usually means an exponentially larger chance of something getting broken. If your cat is particularly rambunctious, this danger is increased even more. There’s really no need to get something fancy – you really should opt to spend that money on high quality materials and well-reviewed products rather than a product that has all sorts of features you may or may not ever use.
Lastly, be sure to get a fountain that uses widely-available filter replacements. A simple search on Amazon.com for a specific model will also bring up a list of recommended replacement filters if any are available.
So What Do I Recommend?
Using the criteria that I’ve covered throughout this article, I believe the Petco Premium Ceramic Cat Fountain represents the best value currently available. It is made out of ceramic material, meaning that it resists nasty bacterial contaminants that can harm the pet. It features very few moving parts, consisting only of a replaceable filter and a 360 degree fountain which means flexibility for multiple cats. Lastly, it’s designed to entertain your cat with a little dribble of water at the top which flows down into the reservoir.
Here’s the link to the Petco fountain:
NOTE: If you buy the fountain through the link below, I get a couple bucks for referring you. The fact that this is an affiliate link has in no way affected the objectivity of my article, and is only there as a way for people to support my site and keep it running!
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