Drinkwell question

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jmc - 12 Sep 2005 21:18 GMT

For those of you who have tried the drinkwell pet fountain:

How long did it take before your cat took its first drink? Anybody have
a cat that wouldn't touch it?

I set the Drinkwell out this afternoon. Meep hasn't shown any fear of
it, but she hasn't drank out of it either. Just wanders by, has a look,
and goes off.

Meep has had two cystitis attacks, and her urine always tests as
"concentrated". Nothing else I've done has caused her to drink any more
- so I really hope the drinkwell helps.

jmc

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Katz - 12 Sep 2005 22:08 GMT

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 21:18:18 +0100, wrote:

>For those of you who have tried the drinkwell pet fountain:
>
>How long did it take before your cat took its first drink? Anybody have
>a cat that wouldn't touch it?

A drinking cat? Have you thought about AA for the poor little thing?

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Magic Mood Jeep© - 12 Sep 2005 22:20 GMT

> For those of you who have tried the drinkwell pet fountain:
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> jmc

I have three, and at first my cats were afraid of it, wouldn't go near it.
so I emptied it, and set it in a central area of the house, empty and
unplugged. Every day I would scoot it (with my foot) a couple of feet
closer to thier regular water dish. Once they were used to it's presence
there, I added water to it, but still left it unplugged. After about a
week, I stopped refilling their old water dish, and just let them drink out
of the fountain. Then another week went by, I cleaned the fountain, added
fresh water & plugged it in.

They loved it!

So I bought 2 more (one was for a d*g, but he's such a sloppy drinker, I had
to wash it every day, so we confiscated it from him and gave it to the
cats). I have 1 cat that hasn't known any other water source, and when we
had to isolate him for a day after his big snip, he wouldn't drink from the
water dish I gave him, he wanted the fountain - made a beeline for it the
first chance he got, and drank for about 5 minutes.

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Phil P. - 12 Sep 2005 22:56 GMT

> For those of you who have tried the drinkwell pet fountain:
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> it, but she hasn't drank out of it either. Just wanders by, has a look,
> and goes off.

Leave it off for a few days and just use it as a regular water bowl until
she
gets used to drinking from it. Then gradually increase the flow- that
little lever inside the bowl on the right side adjusts the flow.

> Meep has had two cystitis attacks, and her urine always tests as
> "concentrated". Nothing else I've done has caused her to drink any more
> - so I really hope the drinkwell helps.

If she doesn't take to it- three of mind haven't- try putting a few small
ice cubes in her regular water bowl.

Good luck,

Phil

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5cats - 12 Sep 2005 23:37 GMT

> For those of you who have tried the drinkwell pet fountain:
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> jmc

Coincidentaly, I just got a Fresh Flow fountain for the cats. George
drank from it right away, but the others are totally indifferent to it so
far. I guess I was hoping for more of a reaction.

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---MIKE--- - 13 Sep 2005 00:27 GMT

I had a Drinkwell for several years. The cats never seemed to use it -
but I seldom see them drink anyway. They are fed mostly canned food and
get lots of water from that. I gave the Drinkwell to a friend that
feeds her three cats mostly dry food. Her cats do use the fountain. I
found the fountain very hard to clean.

---MIKE---

>>In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
>> (44° 15' N - Elevation 1580')

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5cats - 13 Sep 2005 02:47 GMT

>> For those of you who have tried the drinkwell pet fountain:
>>
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> drank from it right away, but the others are totally indifferent to it
> so far. I guess I was hoping for more of a reaction.

2nd cat is using it! The Fresh Flow is set up right next to one of the
old water bowls. He was drinking from the old bowl, stopped, sniffed the
fountain, went back to lapping at the old bowl. Then he stopped, sniffed
again, and then shifted over to drinking from the fountain!

3 to go!

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5cats - 14 Sep 2005 03:17 GMT

>>> For those of you who have tried the drinkwell pet fountain:
>>>
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
>
> 3 to go!

After one full day, I've seen 4 of the 5 cats drink from the fountain,
including the very shy skittish guy. The other one is still using the old
bowl right next to the fountain, so at least it isn't scaring her away.

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Joe Canuck - 13 Sep 2005 01:36 GMT

> For those of you who have tried the drinkwell pet fountain:
>
> How long did it take before your cat took its first drink?

That happened within a couple of minutes of the setup.

> Anybody have
> a cat that wouldn't touch it?

Two cats, one a moggie the other purebred, both loved the fountain.

> I set the Drinkwell out this afternoon. Meep hasn't shown any fear of
> it, but she hasn't drank out of it either. Just wanders by, has a look,
> and goes off.

Have you removed the regular drinking bowl?

Try leaving the Drinkwell out but not running. Perhaps she will start
drinking from the bowl. Once that has been established for a week,
startup the fountain set to the weakest stream possible.

> Meep has had two cystitis attacks, and her urine always tests as
> "concentrated". Nothing else I've done has caused her to drink any more
> - so I really hope the drinkwell helps.

You may need to get this cat on wet food, unless she is already.

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jmc - 13 Sep 2005 19:43 GMT

Suddenly, without warning, Joe Canuck exclaimed (13-Sep-05 1:36 AM):

>> Meep has had two cystitis attacks, and her urine always tests as
>> "concentrated". Nothing else I've done has caused her to drink any
>> more - so I really hope the drinkwell helps.
>
> You may need to get this cat on wet food, unless she is already.

She is, but isn't terribly fond of most brands - only what my vet calls
"junk food" - Felix here in the UK and the 9-lives from the commissary
is all she'll eat fairly regular. Which is why I bought a fountain to
try to get her to drink more. We've tried other stuff - like putting a
second bowl upstairs - but all that's done is move her favorite drinking
spot - now she only drinks from the bowl upstairs, and doesn't drink
from the one next to her food.

My problem is, it's a US Drinkwell, so I'm very limited on where I can
put it. Even if I get a UK motor - which is possible - the placement of
power outlets doesn't provide any good place - certainly I can't run it
where her food is, else we'd be tripping over the cord.

I was trying to avoid the drinkwell altogether, honestly, but I've run
out of options. At this point, she's still ignoring it. She's not
afraid of it though, so I'm leaving it running.

jmc

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Jmagerl - 13 Sep 2005 03:21 GMT

Mr. Bonkers took to it right out of the box. He dislikes lowering his head
to drink. I have it on a timer so it shuts off at 10pm. If he wants a drink
after that time he claws the top off and drinks from the upper part. He will
not drink from the bowl.

> For those of you who have tried the drinkwell pet fountain:
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> jmc

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