Cat Mate 3-Level, 70 fl. oz. Pet Fountain - BPA and BHT Free with 3-Stage Filter and Low Voltage Pump

I first purchased this cat fountain about a year ago. My first ever cat fountain, you know there is a lot to choose from and I took the risk of getting plastic instead of stainless steel. Boy was it worth it.My cats love this. When I take vacation I place a few normal water bowls for them. They will drink out of these first.I used up the regular filters for these and then bought generic ones. The generic ones work just fine. I’ve also run into tight money situations where I’ve run these bowls as intended without filters. They obviously get dirty more often but they still do a great job.When they get dirty I use my normal bamboo scrub brush to clean it. In a pinch, I do run them in my dishwasher, bottom drawer, and they clean just fine without want warping or other issues. I do follow the sellers recommendation and soak the pump once a month in vinegar. I have noticed that if you don’t do this, the pump will smell funny.I purchased a second one due to gaining another cat. However, I work a very stressful job with strenuous hours where I have no time to do anything at home but sleep, so I have had only one out at a time sometimes. With two cats, I only refill it about once every two-three days. With two of them, I usually rotate them. I’ll have one clean one out and then put the other one in the dishwasher, by the time I have a day off, I will place the clean one down and place the other one in the dishwasher. I use a pitcher to fill with water when it gets low, every other day or so. Takes about 2 weeks (with a filter) to get too dirty for my preference with this method, to where you actually need to scrub it. Without a filter, it’s about a week.I had a pump go out on me about 4 months in with the first one. Could’ve contacted the seller, decided not to. Decided to purchase the second one plus another pump. Seller does offer the spare part. Have had no issues since.Very easy to clean/use. My only tedious negative things are nooks and cranny’s in the design make it so you have to use a scrub brush to clean, you will not be able to clean it properly with a normal kitchen sponge. But like I said, I place these in the dishwasher and that takes care of that. The pump does eventually get grimey and smell bad, but you can easily take it apart and clean it. Sometimes in a pinch, I also don’t fully scrub the container, I just empty it into the sink and rinse it out with my hands and all the yucky food remnants fall off of the plastic very easily.Amazon asked me about the noise when I submitted this. There is literally no noise when water is filled and it’s running properly. Bowl does make noise when it is running low on water. I usually just use my pitcher and refill it and the noise stops. The noise isn’t loud, it’s just a weird noise where you know the pump is struggling and it needs more water.Overall, I got lucky with this being my first pet fountain purchase. It’s been the best one. I now recommend this one to my friends and help purchase these for my siblings. Cats have fresh water. User-friendly to clean/maintain.

I ordered my first Cat Mate Pet Fountain in March of 2011 and have ordered more since then. I have been very happy with this product.OUT OF THE BOX: The Cat Mate Pet Fountain is easy to put together. There are essentially 4 parts; the bottom "bowl", the "waterfall" piece, the pump and a the charcoal filter. I washed all the parts prior to assembling the fountain and filling it with water for my cats.CATS' REACTION: At first some of my cats were a little stand-offish, never having had a water fountain before. The motor does make a slight noise but I think it's really quite quiet. Sure, in the middle of the night, if you're in the same small room with it, you might hear it. The cats were intrigued by the running water. One of my cats wasted no time and immediately started drinking. It took the rest of my cats less than a day to drink from the fountain. Some of my cats prefer to drink from the top well, some prefer the bottom well.MAINTENANCE: I top off with a little water about every other day (I have a few cats). I keep my pet fountain on a tray, which makes it easier to carry to the sink for cleaning. I take it apart and clean it about once a week. Cleaning it is very easy. I'm not very good about changing the filter and probably only do that about once every few months.Hair does collect in the fountain and needs to be pulled off the pump. There is also now a little hard water deposit forming in certain areas of the fountain. A little vinegar soak will take it off, just haven't done it yet. You'll want to get a little brush, like a skinny bottle brush to clean the water spout coming up from the pump.PROBLEMS: Yesterday I cleaned my original fountain, the one purchased in March of 2011. I could see there was a little debris in the water intact hole on the pump so I used a small brush to try to clean it. I did get a small amount of stuff out. I reassembled my fountain, plugged it in, and the pump did not come on. I read some other reviews about the pump and one person said that the pump might need to "reset" so I disassembled my fountain and left the pump out to reset. Unfortunately, this morning, the pump still did not work. It seems there have been some issues with the pumps. It's also possible I might have damaged it while trying to clean it.Because my cats loved the fountain so much, I had actually ordered a second one in May of 2011. That fountain has been running fine ever since then and I have had no issues with the pump on this one.In December of 2011, I ordered another one as a backup and one as a gift for a friend. My friend's cat has been quite happy with the fountain and my friend has had no issues with it.OVERALL: Despite the recent failure of the pump on my first fountain, I have been very happy with this pet fountain. My cats like it. It's easy to clean. It's quiet. And I think it is reasonably priced compared to other pet fountains.