Do cats need to drink water?
Today I will describe and show the cleaning of the Pioneer Pet Rainbow Oval Stainless Steel Fountain we purchased for our cat
We bought this fountain because of Kati’s picky eating habits. She disliked wet cat food more and more and wanted to eat only dry food. I am not happy about that, but at least we found cat food that was grain free. More to that on our cat food page.
Now eating predominately dry food poses a big health risk for cats and especially for feline cats that can develop kidney trouble, because of the missing the fluid cats normally take in when they either eat, let’s say, a mouse or wet cat food. So we need to make sure that our cat gets the required fluids from somewhere else if she eats dry food.
Before, Kati had 2 water bowls that were changed twice a day, but she was not drinking that
much. So we decided to get her a water fountain. After looking around and reading reviews we choose the Pioneer Pet Rainbow fountain. What attracted us to it was the stainless steel. It is easy to keep clean and does not get grimy.
Now there were reviews that were not favorable, because people experienced noise as well as discoloration. I had neither of those since I got the fountain 3 years ago. It still works like a charm.
There are just a couple of things you have to take care of.
Number one, clean the fountain 2x a week completely. And by completely I mean take it apart and clean with brushes. If you do not disassemble the motor it will eventually get blocked and stops working. I learned the hard way. I did not know that I can take the motor apart and just cleaned everything else very well.
One day the motor stopped and I thought it died. I immediately ordered a new one, but in the meantime I needed to see, if I could get it working again, because Kati was very upset that her water was not running. So I started taking the motor apart and I found that the magnet opening and the water spout were almost completely blocked with grime.
Sorry Kati, I did not know.
Once I cleaned out everything in that little motor, it worked again like a charm. So the most important thing is to clean every part of your fountain every time. You will find instructions for cleaning in the slideshow below. Check it out.
Number two, fill it up more than the manufacturer tells you. If you only fill it to the line it will make noise – trust me I tried. I always fill it until the water gets a little bit over the first rim. That way it does not splash, but there is enough water that the motor keeps quiet. And I top the fountain off every day, so the level is no less than the first rim.
I hope this review and slideshow helped. If you have questions, as always, please leave a comment or email me at Karin@healthycatdetective.com
