Cat Mate Multi-Level Pet Water Fountain (335) - BPA and BHT Free 3-Stage Filter, for Cats & Small Dogs, Quiet and Hygienic Drinking Fountain, 70 fl. Oz Capacity

Written after four months of ownership.... We had three water bowls spread out around our house for our six cats. Typical ceramic and stainless steel bowls which required cleaning and filling every day. I've long thought about getting a water fountain but most of the designs I saw would prevent the cats from accessing the water if ever the power went out or the transformer or pump would fail. Looking around Amazon I saw one which looked like it would work (Kenepet). Upon receiving it, I saw that the width of the reservoir at the bottom (between the outside edge and center fountain) was a bit too small. While it would have been okay for kittens, I've got a couple of large cats that may have had a hard time getting their heads in there. Looking some more I found this fountain and it seemed like it would be fine so I ordered one. There's no physical restrictions from getting to any places to drink from when the fountain is operating normally. In the event of any electrical or pump failure, all of the water settles down into the large pool at the bottom so the cats could drink from it, probably for a couple of days. Assembling the fountain was easy. The only change I thought I needed to make was opening the hole a bit more where the wire from the water pump exits the back of the fountain since I had a hard time removing it once it was pushed into place (a small round file did the trick). After a brief bit of hesitation, the cats accepted the fountain. They each have a particular place to drink; my 16 year old loves drinking from the waterfall, a couple of others like the top pools. As we try to clean out the five cat litter boxes immediately after they have been used, I know that each of them are drinking plenty of water. The fountain is easy to clean, with the exception of some tight corners (a firm bristle toothbrush works great). I clean the fountains every 10 days or so and change out the filter after 3 weeks (using the Cat Mate 3-stage filter cartridges). Once I realized they were all drinking from it, I ordered a second fountain and removed all of the old bowls. I now also have a third backup unit and an extra pump in case anything goes wrong. Both fountains are filled with a couple of glasses of water when the level get to minimum (or the pump starts making noise). This is done each night before bedtime and maybe once during the day. I have only hand-washed them so far. It takes about 10 minutes to disassemble and clean each one, the hardest part is removing the cover from the water pump (it takes a bit of force to snap off). The small plastic part that covers the pump's blades can be pried up using the round wire handle of the included round brush. We use reverse osmosis water but after 10 days of usage, there's a slight hint of slime on the surface of the fountain. This is better then the old water bowls which were stagnant all of the time and felt slimy after just one day. There is basically no noise from the fountain, except when the water level gets too low or there is hair/gunk impeding the flow of water. I have one next to the refrigerator in the kitchen and the frig is louder than the water fountain. The second one is in a bedroom and, likewise, it can't be heard above my snoring :) . As I have at least one cat that likes to "paw drink" I have placed each fountain inside a large plastic tray (Rubbermaid FG330700CLR) in case she splashes water around, as the fountains are located on carpeted and hardwood floors. The only "con" part of the fountain has to do with the included AC adapter. After a couple of hours I noticed it got fairly hot. Looking at the specs, it outputs 12V AC, not DC, and provides a maximum of 200mA of current. Knowing that, I looked around for an adapter that outputs at least 1A. Couldn't find one on Amazon so I went to DigiKey.com and found part number 2882-77DA-12-12-ND. About $20 including shipping for one and it works just great. Never gets warm and has the proper jack at the end (5.5mm x 2.1mm). As this fountain is going to be operating 24/7/365, to me it was good insurance to upgrade the adapter on both fountains (and a third one for the backup set).

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've owned a Drinkwell which I liked. With the extra reservoir, it held a TON of water. And when it ran out, the motor made a pitiful sound which actually served to remind me to wash and refill it. Kind of handy. But after I washed it in the dishwasher, it got this gritty coating to it which I'd have to scrub off, and with as many nooks and crannies that it had, was a pain. Well, eventually its motor died, so I decided to try out a new fountain. At the time, I believe this Cat Mate was less expensive than it is now, so I gave it a go. It is very quiet. No sound of splashing water like the other one. Motor is virtually silent. Almost too quiet. When it runs out of water (a LOT faster than my old one), it doesn't start making any noise at all. As a result, I usually don't always notice ... until the cats started drinking out of the toilet again. It IS much easier to clean. I still have to scrub it, but not nearly as much and with minimal hard-to-reach places. But alas, its motor/pump started to act up as well. I'd have to whack it a couple times whenever I replugged it in after cleaning in order to get it going again. And eventually, that didn't even work. It was so crudded up with limestone deposits that it was no wonder. I searched and searched to buy a new motor, without any luck. (Don't even try. It's useless.) I read many of the posts here on Amazon suggesting that I clean it, but none of the links worked, and no one provided any instructions. Sigh. Well, I finally found a link that I hope will work for you [,..] that explained how to take the motor apart and provided the "recipe" for the solution to soak 3 out of the 4 the parts in (half water, half vinegar). Don't submerge the fourth, largest, part with the motor inside though! Just fill its "tunnel" (where the impeller needs to spin inside) with some of the solution. It all started bubbling right away. They suggested to let everything soak for 2 to 3 hours, but I found it only needed an hour. I couldn't believe how clean it came with just a little scrubbing. When I put it back together, it started working right away! Oh happy day! I had thought it was a goner for sure. Give it a shot. It sure is better than spending the money on a whole new fountain. If the link doesn't work, which provides an illustration of how to take apart the pump, start by taking off the end with the dial. Then the insert that fits inside the main body, and finally the impeller. Good luck!

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.

I have 2 cats, one of which is notorious for only wanting to drink from a running faucet. Not only was his constant pining for water irritating for my husband and I, but we were also concerned that he wasn't staying hydrated enough because he will barely drink any water from a regular bowl. I researched every pet fountain I could find extensively, and after reading hundreds of reviews I decided this was my best bet. I love how it has 3 levels of drinking water, which is ideal for multiple cats, and the ramp with flowing water to attract my "faucet cat". Well, he drank from it for 3 or 4 minutes straight within a few minutes of me turning it on. My other kitty was slightly more wary, but she still took a few sips and since she isn't a picky drinker, I'm sure she'll warm up to it just fine. As other reviewers have said, it is incredibly easy to take apart and clean. Many other pet fountains have spots that you can only get to with special brushes. Not so with this one! It is very easy to get it ready to go out of the box, but I will say it took me a few extra minutes to figure out where the pump connects to the top portion because there aren't any instructions included with it. But even so, I had it set up for my cats within 5 minutes. It is very quiet while it's running. I have it on max speed right now and I have to be right next to it to hear anything at all. The sound it makes is actually quite pleasant; just the gentle tinkle of running water and a low hum from the motor. I will update this review later on to follow up on the Cat Mate fountain's performance over time, but right now its 5 stars all the way! **UPDATE** June 15, 2011: I have now had this fountain over 2 months and it is absolutely perfect. If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would. My "faucet cat" hasn't begged for water from the sink since the day I got this pet fountain. He likes to drink directly from the ramp, and my other cat likes to drink from either the top level or the big bottom level. It is virtually maintenance free. I just clean it and change out the water ever so often, to keep the water fresh and clean. I love how much water it holds, because my cats can drink all day long and it still has plenty left over. Another unexpected plus: my cats don't ever spill the water! When I had a traditional water bowl they would knock it around or even step in it, and I'd have a wet floor. Not so with this fountain. Best thing I've ever bought for my pets.

Bought this nearly a year ago and it's still working great. My 10 year old cat was having some issues with going outside of her litter box, and while I don't know if this helped (I also increased her wet food at the same time, but just moving her litter box to a different location from where it had been for like four years seemed to be what actually fixed it, almost immediately and before the fountain or the wet food increase probably had time to help, so I don't know if she was really having medical issues or just weird a psychological thing or possibly just one of my cat's many schemes to make my life difficult :)), I definitely notice her drinking more now. Previously she was sharing a large tank+bowl style dispenser with two dogs and grabbing drinks from the sink when she could. This fountain works great, set-up is easy, my cat took to it immediately (she's always liked drinking from the sink), and it's pretty much silent. I keep it in my bedroom where her food is (I live with non-cat-fans, so all the cat paraphernalia goes in my room), and it makes a VERY slight sound when running but with a fan or A/C or just average house noise, it's completely inaudible and even without those, it's so faint I don't notice it at all. If the water gets low it will start to splutter but that disappears when you top it up (and it's just as well it gives me a reminder). I was a bit worried my cat would try to push it off the table it sits on (she is a very active and destructive cat who knocks EVERYTHING off of any surface, given the chance, and she does sometimes like to play in water), or shove paws or toys into the little arched handle space at the front and end up pushing it somehow, but she hasn't. I think she probably *could* move it if she really tried, but when it's full of water it's heavy enough that she can't move it by accident (and get ideas) and enough to discourage her from trying. I kind of thought she would like to drink from the little waterfall stream, as she has always liked to drink from faucets, but she mostly approaches from the side and drinks from the top pools. I haven't had any problems at all with it, despite not cleaning it quite as often as it recommends. Once a month works fine, and I've accidentally gone a bit longer once or twice. (Maybe I'm just lucky as I have well water and no hard or soft water problems - some other reviewers do seem to have more trouble with buildup and resulting noise, but mine has been totally fine with once-a-month cleaning, and basically silent apart from spluttering a bit when it's low.) As the filter gets dirtier or if the little grid of holes the water circulates through start getting blocked with debris, it seems to start spluttering a bit sooner (at a higher water level) than it does when it's clean, but topping it up still silences it, and removing any debris covering up the holes will buy you a bit more time :) When you do clean it, it's fairly easy. The inside bits do get slimy, but it's very easy to dismantle. Any large bits of slime or debris rinse off, and then I scrub the whole thing with dish soap and rinse. My main complaint is that the two big plastic pieces have a LOT of tight crevices and tiny notches and gaps on the inside so you do need pipe cleaners or bottle brushes or something narrow and pointy to get at them. They are also dishwasher safe, however, so that would probably clean the small spaces too - I haven't tried it. I've seen in other reviews that the pump can get noisy if it gets slime built up inside of it, but that's also fairly easy to dismantle - I did it once just to see how, though I haven't had any noise issues at all - but you might want to be sure you keep or take a pic of the instructions for that part because it's a bit more tricky. The annoying crevices make cleaning take a bit longer than it otherwise might, but I can do it in about 30 minutes or less, which isn't a big deal at all once a month or so. Overall this was a lot cheaper than similar ones of other brands, the filters are also super cheap - you can get 10 or 12 packs on here for $15 or less! - and it works great. July will be a year since I bought it and I still have no complaints!

I bought two of these previously when the pump with the dial and the suction cups came with it and was very happy with those, but this one now has a redesigned pump (33517) and power supply (33503) and they are awful. Long version - good and bad: The fountain design was (and still is) easy to assemble and easy to clean, which is important because, if used regularly, it needs to be cleaned every week (may depend on your water also). The need for cleaning has nothing to do with the fountain, just typical bacteria growth from use and organic debris getting in it. I started buying Cat Mate (now rebranded as Closer) fountains after having a more complex Pet Mate fountain that was a pain to clean (more complex = harder to clean). The only fault with the fountain design is that the opening which holds the pump cord is a little too close together at the bottom, which may cause people to mangle the cord trying to get it in and out of the slot for cleaning. This is not a deal breaker though as you can easily trim a little plastic away and remedy the problem. Unfortunately I think they've gone with a cheaper pump manufacturer. They have updated the pump design and apparently that of the power supply and both are now terrible. The new design of the pump has a slider switch instead of a dial for pump flow and no suction cups on the bottom to reduce vibration. The problem with the slider switch is that the lowest flow achievable is still too high and the lack of suction cups on the bottom results in a strong and noisy vibration. Cats are afraid of it, and it makes a LOT of noise - unlike the previous model. Possibly the pump might be okay if they put suction cups back on it to mitigate the bad vibration. The power supply is also inferior to the previous model - it gets alarmingly warm. The previous one never got warm. Keep in mind this is something you intend to run 24/7. I felt uncomfortable leaving it plugged in all the time. This is just poor manufacturing. On the good side, the two things they improved on the pump design was 1) they put tabs on an inner part that previously was very difficult to remove for cleaning, and 2) they included cleaning instructions. Lastly, I contacted the manufacturer and asked them if they could swap me one of the older model pumps and power supplies for the newer one, as the previous models/ designs worked fine. After verifying my proof of purchase they sent me another new style pump and power supply, which unfortunately was as bad as the one that came with it. I realized when I asked that they probably didn't still have any of thr old ones, so I give them credit for responsiveness and helpfulness. I appreciated that they stood behind their product, even though it didn't resolve my issues with it.

Edit: Back to 3 stars. The pump died after a little over 1-1/2 years. I wish there is an easy pump replacement available. Changing my original 3 star review (below) to 5 stars. Now I clean the parts and use a thin brush to scrub the pump intake every couple of days and it’s been working perfectly for 1 -1/2 years now. The original review I think the pump overheated because it may have been clogged. When it cooled down it starts working again. Our old kitty loves it. Worked well, until it didn’t. The water fountain is easy to clean every few days. It’s pretty quiet, though not completely silent. The filter cartridges must be replaced monthly (the first one was included). Our small 20 year old cat loves having trickling water and it’s the next best thing to the bathtub faucet. We’d had the fountain for 6 months and the pump stopped working. The adapter plug was hot. I cleaned it out and unplugged it a few days. Maybe the plug needed to cool off. It’s working again, for now. I haven't found a replacement pump and shouldn’t have to buy an entire new fountain if it goes out again. Other than that it’s great and a worthwhile investment for our cat.