A good water bowl/fountain that cats want to drink from

Angela1572

I have 2 cats, and I rarely see them drink from their water bowl. One of my cats likes to drink from sink faucets (only in the bathrooms, as I've trained my cats not to jump up on the counters in the kitchen). Sometimes he also meows for fresh water in a bowl. I have a second water bowl upstairs that my other cat sometimes drinks from (and since I don't see her drink much, sometimes I wonder if she drinks from the toilets when I'm not looking).

So I've tried buying a  auto cat fountain or them, thinking they'd like drinking from that and it would help keep water fresh. It seemed they liked it, always saw them drink from it. 

TripleH

Ours love a washing up bowl filled with water.

The oldest and youngest like to splash around in it as well (by the wet paw prints on the floor).

[Deleted User]

We bought a Catit, 3 litre LED job and the elderly puss loved it. The young lad though, he prefers the hedgehog and bird water tray outside.

Mnoee

We have a couple of the plastic fountains, but I find them difficult to keep clean - a selection of bottle brushes in various sizes is a necessity and the pumps need taking apart and cleaning pretty much weekly. Maybe my cats just like putting their paws in them more than most. I've seen some metal ones that look easier to keep clean, I'll probably try one of them when these inevitably break. 

Drawingaline

We have the catit stainless steel one. They have always used it no issues and it's easy to clean.

anna42hmr

As daft as it sounds you may want to try moving the existing bowls elsewhere to see, as my two awkward sods would hardly ever drink from the bowls i have.  However a friend suggested moving the location to see (they were on the kitchen floor initially) And strangely enough when i moved them into different locations/rooms they started to drink from the exact same bowls.  

I now have one sitting in the corner of the spare bedroom window sill (where is the only place one will drink from) and the other is tucked into a corner in the bathroom floor by the airing cupboard -  the only place the other one will drink from).  

I tried moving them back to the original location on the kitchen floor at one point and both of them stopped drinking as much again.   but at least they are tucked out of the way in a corner or behind the curtain so doesn't bother me too much.  

Mrs_Z

Our previous cats had to have their water in an ordinary glass (tumbler).  One insisted in having it by the kitchen sink and would jump up to drink from it. The other was happy for the glass to be on the floor by her eating bowl.  In addition we had bowls outside too which they used on occasion. Thought it was a bit difficult for the cats to drink from a human glass, but it was very easy for us to see when the glasses needed filling. 
Now we have 2 new adopted cats, they came with a ceramic water fountain which they both use but it's really big and cumbersome to clean (heavy and the pump is temperamental). Would prefer just to leave them a glass or two of water but apparently the female cat only drinks from the fountain...

Brie

Angela1572 said:

One of my cats likes to drink from sink faucets (only in the bathrooms, as I've trained my cats not to jump up on the counters in the kitchen). 

That made me laugh.  As if cats can really be trained!!! (ok, I know someone has....)  Despite our best efforts we have never been truly successful on not letting cats on the kitchen counters.  Or the dining table.  Our recent cat Ariadne was the only exception as she never begged and was never on anything higher than our bed or lap.  Until I discovered her eating a warm banana loaf that I was cooling in the kitchen.  

Angela1572

Mnoee said:

We have a couple of the plastic fountains, but I find them difficult to keep clean - a selection of bottle brushes in various sizes is a necessity and the pumps need taking apart and cleaning pretty much weekly. Maybe my cats just like putting their paws in them more than most. I've seen some metal ones that look easier to keep clean, I'll probably try one of them when these inevitably break. 

The plastic fountain will inevitably produce dirt accumulation. But it's like our own water cups need to be cleaned regularly. It is inevitable to be patient with these little pets in my family.

Angela1572

Angela1572 said:

I have 2 cats, and I rarely see them drink from their water bowl. One of my cats likes to drink from sink faucets (only in the bathrooms, as I've trained my cats not to jump up on the counters in the kitchen). Sometimes he also meows for fresh water in a bowl. I have a second water bowl upstairs that my other cat sometimes drinks from (and since I don't see her drink much, sometimes I wonder if she drinks from the toilets when I'm not looking).

So I've tried buying a  auto cat fountain or them, thinking they'd like drinking from that and it would help keep water fresh. It seemed they liked it, always saw them drink from it. 

Kids who love to play with water

joho

I was told recently that cats don't like their water bowls being near their food. So it might be worth trying separating food and water bowls.