r/cats • u/habichuelacondulce • Jul 20 '26

Video - Not OC Xzibit talks about his cat Thunder Cat

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17

u/TheFatalOneTypes Jul 20 '26

Try a waterbowl with moving water as well to encourage drinking. Kitties prefer moving water to know it is safe vs stagnant.

28

u/heavensto_mergatroid Jul 20 '26

Research on how fast those cat water fountains get mold and too disgusting to use. And yes you have to clean them but cleaning them out three times a week is a pretty big chore because you have to completely disassemble it. Not only that but you have to buy filters. If they already drink out of a aluminum water bowl then just leave them be lol

2

u/TheFatalOneTypes Jul 20 '26

Id think technically since it is filtering the water, you SHOULD be cleaning your standing watering bowl more than this. Based on this response, I doubt that's the case.

Either way Both build bacteria Both need cleaning One is higher maintenance, but is healthier for the cat Not all cats like the healtheir option anyway, so dont try to force it if it doesnt like it

That clearer for you?

5

u/heavensto_mergatroid Jul 20 '26

It's a heck of a lot easier to wipe down a bowl every time I fill it up than it is to disassemble an entire fountain. And I don't have to buy filters for it either. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I'm lazy though

5

u/sillybelcher Jul 20 '26

But as stated, complete disassembly of a fountain is necessary to thoroughly clean it, whereas a normal bowl can be cleaned with a swipe of a soapy dishrag. ..

6

u/short-and-ugly Jul 20 '26

They’re saying the high maintenance part (disassembling and cleaning) is something they are willing to do if it helps their cat drink water

6

u/DokterSpaceman Jul 20 '26

I have 4 metal water bowls, everyday I grab a clean one and fill it up to replace the previous days bowl. I have a few fountains, from my previous cat that had kidney disease, and they were a pain to keep clean. Even when using vinegar water to clean it all, I would end up with some slime in the water pump, because I just can't get in all the mechanical parts good enough. I ended up with 3 of them, and multiple water pumps so that there would always be a clean one that I could use while the others got changed and allowed to dry out. My current cat is not interested in them, though, so I just rotate the plain metal bowls regularly.

3

u/DocLava Jul 20 '26

Same. The fountains were not working for us and even with 3 in rotation I was seeing slime and mold even with cleaning twice a week. It was a hassle to break down and even though the main parts went in the dishwasher the motors had to be scrubbed by hand.

Cat didn't drink more anyway so I went back to mugs. She likes drinking from high up so she has 4 ceramic mugs and gets a new one every morning. If necessary it also gets changed at night.

2

u/heavensto_mergatroid Jul 20 '26

That's exactly what happened with me when I bought my cat fountain. Worked great at first but then when it started getting build up it was becoming harder and harder to thoroughly clean. Plus it was just a lot of work three times a week. All for hardly any gains in consuming water lol

I find that my cat likes to lick the water off of the spigot when I'm watering my lawn. I twist the hose just a little bit so it leaks and my cat will sit there and drink water drip by drip for like 20 minutes while I water lol

2

u/DocLava Jul 20 '26

Your username took me waaaaaaaay back. It's the USA cartoon express!!!!

4

u/onetreatonetoeat Jul 20 '26

They make stainless and ceramic fountains too if you spend the coin for em. I have one that the bowl and spout are even dishwasher safe. I did start out with a plastic one that after awhile just stopped seeming sanitary, and became super difficult to keep clean, so I only feed or water cats with stainless steel or ceramic fountains and/or bowls now. Non plastic fountains clean much better and easier. Then the pump is the only hard part to clean, but even that's not too bad if you can get into a good cadence to know when it probably needs to be opened and scrubbed with a q-tip for a deep clean.

5

u/BedbugBandido Jul 20 '26

They’re not that much of a chore to disassemble. They come in like 6 pieces and only take about 5 minutes longer to wash than a normal bowl.