PetSafe Drinkwell Platinum Dog and Cat Water Fountain, Automatic Drinking Fountain for Pets, 168 Ounce,Grey

I originally purchased this in September of 2012. I was extremely excited to get the unit as I had read all the reviews and I wanted to see how my 3 amigos would react. The unit was simple to set up and I had the unit running in no time. Oh, I highly recommend the Drinkwell Platinum fountain mat Drinkwell Platinum Fountain Mat, MAT-D2 for this unit. I did purchase the mat the day I purchased the unit and I can tell you it is a lifesaver. My kittehs took to playing in the water and some did spill out. The mat caught all the water and kept my laminate flooring from being damaged in any way at all. The mat also fits the unit perfectly and looks like it belongs with the unit. Ok, back to the 3 amigos. They simply love this fountain. At first they were typical kittehs. They walked around for a bit and would stare, and then act as if it were not there. Finally they would get close, and then jump back when one of my kids made a loud noise. Once they got over the newness they tried it. They have not looked back since. They all love it. I have one kitteh who thinks he is a raccoon and brings his food over to the fountain to be cleaned. Ok, ok, it is to play with the food in the water, but cleaning it sounds better. I have another little dude who uses his paws to draw the water from the waterfall to his mouth, and this is how he drinks. My other kitteh just likes to lap the water out of the bowl area. So I do have a little bit of experience with 3 different types of drinkers. Here is a rundown of things that may be of concern for those who are considering purchasing this fountain.Will the cats use it? I was concerned about 1 of my kittehs. He is kind of looney and I was worried this may be something he would have nothing to do with. My concerns were without merit as he was the first to try it out. All my kittehs love this fountain. Now, when I clean it, they follow me around and meow until I put it back on the floor for them to use. They have claimed their fountain and do not like me taking it away. They won't bother with a simple bowl anymore.How long do the filters last? I have 3 kittehs with the habits I listed above. My filter changes run around 4-6 weeks. I tried cleaning the filter, but it did not work. I watch amazon's prices and purchase filters when they are on sale at a decent price. You can either purchase them in packets of 3 Drinkwell Fountain Premium Replacement Filter 3 pack or in bulk where you get 4 packets of 3 Drinkwell Platinum Premium Filters, 12-Pack . Prices vary so you have to watch. One day it is cheaper to purchase just one pack of 3 and on others it is cheaper to purchase 4 packs of 3. Keep your eyes open. As far as the filters go, if you don't change them then the water simply runs over the top of the filter and into the basin. You can still use the unit; it just won't filter the water.What are the filters made of? The filters are a formed trapezoid of fibrous material which is likely what is used for fish tank filtration. The filters will only take out foreign material such as hair or dirt so it will not circulate into the water fountain continuously. The filters will not take out any heavy metals or minerals. It is a basic sediment filter only with a light carbon backing and some carbon granules between both the front and back to remove odor. How much odor is removed, I cannot attest to, as I have a filter on my sink and do not use straight tap water for the fountain. However, from my experience in fish tank filtration I would say it is adequate.Ease of use? I have had absolutely no problems with the unit. It is very easy to put together. Once you understand how to change the reservoir it is a snap. Just remember that the reservoir cap has the plunger on it so you do not spill any water when you put the full reservoir back on the unit. You must hold the plunger out as you are tipping the reservoir over so it does not spill. Once you have it over and you are lowering the reservoir onto the fountain the plunger will be pushed up as it is lowered and then the water will be able to flow from the reservoir into the fountain basin.Cleaning? I have not had any of the problems cleaning that others have mentioned. I went to Wal-mart and purchased a dish cleaning brush that was to be dedicated to cleaning this unit. I have not had any problems reaching every area except one. The one area I need a long small cylindrical brush for is the tube from the pump to the top of the filtration basin. However, you can clean that area with a paper towel and a thin Phillips screwdriver if you had to. So cleaning really was a breeze. I would recommend that you are careful when cleaning the reservoir. Do not drop it or it may crack. By drop, I mean do not drop it from a standing position onto a hard floor. Dropping it in the sink won't crack it. The plastic is thick and seems to very durable.Water Noise? Noise has never been an issue. We keep the unit in our kitchen, which is near our living room. We have never had any annoying noise from the unit that disturbs us in any way. If you are a person who has to have utter silence at all times, then you would not like this anymore than another item that has running water. You can turn the unit up to the highest setting and you may think the unit sounds like a small running brook. If that is annoying to you then do not purchase this unit as it is a fountain with running water. Not sure what you would expect from such a unit?Motor Noise? I have never heard the motor at all, except on one occasion. The reviews mentioning the motor noise are either running the unit dry or have a bad motor. You should not hear a motor like this running. If you do then you have something wrong. Also, check your plastic pre-filter. I did hear an odd noise from my motor one time 6 days after I had put the unit down. The problem was that my longhaired kitteh, who loves to put his paws in the water, had clogged the pre-filter with his hair. It was causing the motor to have to strain, thus the noise. I simply cleaned the pre-filter and all was well.Leaking? This unit is molded as a single reservoir that sits upon a molded basin. Unless you have a crack in your unit, it should not leak. The first time I Put the reservoir down I was not careful and I allowed water to run into the unit before I put the reservoir all the way down. As I already had the basin full, this caused the basin to overflow and to stay high until the reservoir emptied. My mistake and I never made it again. Thus, I never had water over the sides again, unless my kittehs are playing in the water, which is kind of the point of having this. That brings up another point. How many of the people complaining about leaking have simply not realized their kittehs are now playing in the water which in turn has the water coming over the sides looking as if the basin is leaking? The whole point in purchasing this type of fountain is to encourage your kittehs to drink more water. I also purchased this unit as a way to allow the kittehs to play in the water more. Many cats in the wild prefer to drink from running water. There are different theories as to why, but the fact remains that they do. It is part of our kittehs past to seek out running water. Only when we domesticated them did they have to settle for sedentary water dishes. By giving our little friends these fountains we give them one more natural way for them to act. Once they get used to it, they will enjoy it more and more, and likely make more of a mess. If your unit does leak, and you know for sure your kittehs are not enjoying the fountain in a playful way, you likely have a crack.I highly recommend this pet fountain to anybody who has small to medium sized pets. I purchased a second unit from Amazon.com's Warehouse Deals when I saw the price of a used-like new unit drop to 33.00.Enjoy! And as my 3 amigos say, "Meow, meooooooow meow, and mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreow!"

I bought this to replace an identical fountain I bought seven years ago. Yes, seven. And when that fountain failed the motor was still going strong. I don’t know what was wrong with the old one. It kept upchucking half its water onto the floor. Previously this would happen if the prefilter was clogged. This time that was not the problem. I couldn’t solve it so decided to retire the old fountain after seven years of service. Certainly got my money’s worthFountain comes assembled. I read lots of reviews of other styles (before I found this one still for sale). Many complaints of difficult assembly and poor instructions. This fountain us easy to assemble.Capacity. You’ll have to read description for this. I would say it is good for a cat but not a dog. There is a reservoir that doubles the capacity but I do not use it. I just pour water into the bowl when it gets low. If it gets too low the fountain starts to make some noise and reminds you.Ease of seeing water level. Could not be easier. Just look at bowl. I read reviews about this being difficult on other fountains even with special indicator lights. Not so here.Reservoir. Attaching the full reservoir to the fountain us a little bit like changing a Sparkletts bottle. There is going to be a little splashing but not anything a paper towel can’t handle. A small price to pay fir the simplicity.Filters. It comes with one filter and recommends replacement each month. I go two months’. Replacement filters from the company cost about $1 apiece. I use aquarium filters for about $7.50 a dozen. These are Tetra Bio Bag filter cartridges size medium available on Amazon. When I looked today to check the price I saw a number of knock offs which may be cheaper and are probably just as good. Instead of using a disposable pre filter this fountain uses a permanent plastic pre filter which basically just catches hair. It lifts right out to remove the hair. If you forget to clean the pre filter the fountain gets nosier and reminds you. If you really screw this up extra water collects in the bowl and eventually spills out on the floor making a big mess. I had this happen three or four times in seven years.Cleaning. There’s the rub. It requires a little extra effort to clean all the nooks and crannies . There are basically two parts. They can go in the top half of the dishwasher. I pop the bowl part right in. The part that the water percolates through has a lot of nooks and crannies that I like to pre wash. An ordinary dish brush fits in for the overall job. There is one pencil sized channel that I use a small brush to clean. I think a toothbrush also works but barely. The manufacturer sells a brush kit but you only need a single brush. I read a lot of reviews fir other fountains and do not think this is anymore difficult to clean.Motor. Tough motor. Keeps on ticking. The reviews I read for other fountains were rife with complaints of early motor failure. I think Drinkwell uses a very good quality motor. When you clean the fountain you should take the motor apart and clean it with a q-tip. There is a cover over the housing you pry off. Then pop out the rotor thingie and swab the hole. It is a good idea to lubricate the housing cover with a smidgeon of Vaseline to make it easier to pop off the next time. Don’t forget to put the little rotor back in. I have a couple of times and this requires taking everything apart again.Scale and mold. I don’t gave hard water so I don’t know what kind of build up there could be. After seven years mine had a ring in the bowl and some deposits on the control that adjusts flow. Cat doesn’t care. Have bever had mold or algae like some reviewers of other fountains complained about. Besides I don’t think these problems are the fountains’ faultNoise. Virtually noiseless. There is a ramp in the bowl that the flowing water hits before sliding into the water in the bowl so there is really no trickle. Motor is quiet. Motor makes some noise when fountain is under-filled or when pre-filter is clogged. The noise is a good reminder to take actionValue. This fountain costs twice what many others cost but the reviews I read show this one to be worth the extra price. You save a little on pre filters because unlike others it doesn’t use disposables. The regular filters are probably as cheap as they get particularly if you use aquarium filters as here described. I was so discouraged reading the descriptions and reviews of the cheaper fountains. So happy to see this one being sold. It us exactly the same as the one I bought seven years ago because it us a great design. It may not be perfect but I don’t believe I would be happy with one if the cheap ones.Cat likes it. I have two cats. One is strictly a fountain drinker. I was worried she would be put off by a different fountain but fortunately I didn’t have to find out. Second cat drinks out of a bowl but mostly likes vertical water out of the faucet.

BEST PURCHASE EVER! This modern version of my original Drinkwell pet fountain is incredible! I had my original for at least 20 years and it would still be running today if a friend hadn’t installed the water reservoir incorrectly when refilling and the fountain ran dry and the motor burned out. I came home from vacation to my beloved cat fountain dry as a bone and the motor hot as fire. I tried to find just the little pump but the fountain was so old I found the pump nowhere online. But that’s a good thing! I stayed with the brand and bought the latest version and it is 1,000 times better in terms of design from my old one. I wish mine had burned out sooner. The old version took an advanced degree to disassemble and reassemble, something I had to learn on my own when I got divorced and my ex was no longer in charge of changing the filter and cleaning the fountain. This new version is a piece of cake to assemble and to disassemble to clean. I don’t use my dishwasher for anything except my old cat fountain because it was plastic and I could never get it clean enough washing by hand. The hot water of the dishwasher got it squeaky clean. I imagine that will be the same for this new fountain since it seems to be made of the same materials. I know some cats have trouble with plastic bowls and chin acne but none of my three Maine Coons have never had an issue and I never changed over to porcelain or stainless steel because the Drinkwell is just perfection and my cats love it. The instruction guide for assemble is excellent and very easy to follow.