For our two cats we have a Platinum Drinkwell Fountain. We also live in a VERY hard water area. There is nothing about the fountain or the filters that will “soften” the water, that is not what they’re for. The idea is to get cats–descended from North African Desert animals—to drink more water. Its better for their kidneys; they’ll likely live longer. ( A high percentage of older cats die from kidney failure, it is very common. Many veterenarians now are encouraging the use of some canned or “wet” cat food in a cat’s diet to provide more moisture, since most cats aren’t big on drinking….thats in part what all this is about.)

As other posters have commented, my former cats always wanted the tap water on a “thin” drip or flow of water. It had to be “just so”…not too much, not too little…but they preferred drinking that water over their water in bowls, no matter how often the bowls were changed/cleaned. (Yes, I tried glass, ceramic, stainless steel, every recommendation about what type of bowls cats are said to prefer…)

When the cat water fountains first came out I was skeptical at first…but it made sense, obviously this re-created what the cats preferred. The running water, the sound….so I got one.

The critical element after buying the fountain is maintaining it. READ the directions! Change the filters “every 2-4 weeks depending on the size and number of pets using the fountain”. Thats from the back of the Drinkwell filter package. And please use Drinkwell filters if you have a Drinkwell fountain! They are made to work together.

CLEAN the fountain…including the little parts around the motor. We take it apart about every other week and put the entire fountain, minus motor, in the upper section of the dishwasher, and run it, with the usual dishwashing detergent, which works great. The motor area can be cleaned with q-tips or the special brushes sold by Drinkwell. If the fountain is not kept clean and the fiilters are not replaced, the whole thing will stop working, though long before that your cats will be drinking recycled dirty water.

This isn’t hard, just a bit of reminding yourself. Just like with your car, there is basic cleaning and maintenance required.

Also, reading some other posters: please don’t use BLEACH to clean the fountain…plastic of all kind (think Tupperware) absorbs odors, I can’t imagine a cat with his/her sensitive nose drinking water after the unit the cleaned w/ bleach, no matter how dilute. Also the vinegar and water thing….thats better than bleach but are you really cleaning the unit? Not that it has to be sterilized….just cleansed the way you would your family’s dishes and glasses.

BTW we also keep a bowl of water available too, “just in case”.

I have been using a Drinkwell water fountain for my cats for a couple of years now. I find the regular filters to be adequate but the design of these new filters are such that really makes sense to me that will much more adequately filter the water. I am completing my use of the regular carbon filters and will continue on with the premium filters. The design is most impressive. I purchased these through Amazon.com. They were well priced!

When I originally bought the cat fountain, I did not buy any extra filters with it. I just kept on rinsing out the old filter. I did this for so long that the filter totally stopped working. No water would flow through it at all. Finally, after way too long, I broke down and ordered these replacement filters. They look exactly like the original ones, and the price was great. One suggestion; however, before you use these filters, they ask that you rinse them out first. This will eliminate any fine carbon dust particles from entering the cat’s water.