Well after ordering the Petmate 24960 through Meow's Squidoo page last week, it arrived and I got to put it together and test it.
I took some pictures, and hope to post them later, but I'll post my impressions now.
The first thing that caught my attention was all the positive reviews that people made about the product. 28 reviews averaging 4 out of 5 stars. Pretty good! In addition, if I added a 3-pack of replacement filters, it qualified for the Amazon free-shipping deal. So, I got this nifty water dish and 3 extra filters for about $30. Not bad.
To review, my Meow has a bit of a constipation problem, and so I'm trying to get him to drink some more. I postulated that because cats are from arid areas of the globe originally, maybe they are designed to survive on little water.
Anyway, I had read that some tricks to getting more water into a cat were to entice the cat to drink more by presenting them with a water supply that was "alive" in contrast to the stagnant-puddle look of a typical water bowl or dish.
So I did some research and found this product by Petmate that seemed to fit the bill. It was relatively cheap, had a filter, and many people seemed to like it.
The package arrived and we (me and Meow) got started setting up his new water supply! Like everything else that Meow gets involved with, he needed to thoroughly mark this new box by rubbing his chin and face all over the corners. Once that process was completed, we could actually open the box and begin!
The components of the item (let's call it the Pet Fountain from here on) were all there as prescribed by the multi-lingual instruction page.
There was the bowl, a water supply reservoir, a lid, a filter, a power supply and a strainer. It went together in about 6 easy steps, and I had it pumping water in just about 15 minutes from opening the box! Nice.
When I turned it on, I was really impressed with how quiet it was. The pump was barely audible, and the only sound you hear is a little quiet trickling from the movement of the water.
It reminded me of the filters that I had as a kid for the 5 gallon fish tanks - but even quieter!
There was no splashing of water or buzzing. Nothing. I think one could even put this in a bedroom and not be disturbed by the sounds it makes it it that quiet.
The only issue I have is the water supply reservoir is a little slick, and so if your fingers are wet, it is a little hard to lift it up and out to refill. Not a big deal. I'm thinking of putting a piece of masking tape, or friction tape on it to give it a little more grip.
The other surprise was I had to refill the reservoir each day. This isn't a bad thing, (fresh water is always good), but you really have to keep an eye on it because if the pump comes out of water when it is running, it could be damaged. I attribute the need to refill to evaporation.
Meow was at first a little spooked by the new Pet Fountain. He looked at it in his special inquisitive way, and walked wide around it for a bit. I was afraid he wouldn't use it! Later that night, we saw him drinking from it without any signs of being freaked-out. Meow's a pretty laid-back guy, and he adapts easily to new stuff.
I can't say yet that he is actually drinking more. Its hard to tell because the water level varies so much as compared to the last water supply we used which was like a mini water-cooler. With that, we could gauge more easily how much water was being consumed, even if we didn't see him drink.
So, for now, I give this Petmate 24960 a positive rating. Even if it does not entice him to drink more, I think it is worth it because the quality of the water is certainly better than before (which wasn't bad, really).
Check back for assembly pictures!
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