It's Caturday! Does Your Cat Really Need a Fountain?

It's Caturday, and I'm considering buying a kitty water fountain for the Hellions. Several friends purchased them because their cats just love drinking from dripping faucets. James and Solstice aren't huge drippy faucet fans, but giving them fresh, moving, filtered water seems like a nice idea.

Remember those little tabletop fountains that made your desk seem like a tranquil zen garden? Pet fountains are basically the same thing. They run on a little aquarium motor, and move water around in order to aerate it and make it more interesting and ward off vampires and stuff.

Reasons to Acquire a Water Fountain for the Cats:

• They come in a zillion different shapes, sizes, and materials, including easy-to-clean ceramic, and stainless steel that my cats cannot possibly break. (There's some really amazing ones on Etsy!)
• Probably tastier and more exciting than a bowl of stagnant water.
• Maybe my cats will drink more. Adequate water intake is important for urinary tract health, and dry food diets can make for dehydrated cats. Neither of the Hellions have ever had an issue before, but they're eight years old now so it doesn't hurt to treat their organs a little more kindly

Reasons Not to Acquire a Water Fountain for the Cats

• They are universally a pain in the ass to take apart and clean.
• The vast majority of them (and all of the cheap ones) are plastic, which sets off James's cat acne.
• They require filters cartridges which must be replaced in order to get the full benefits of using the fountaind.
• Unless it actually hooks up to a hose, it's not providing your cat with continuous fresh water, it just moves the same water around and around.
• You have to refill them, and if they run out of water the motor can burn out. (You can buy replacement pumps for most of the nice ones though.)
• I can get the same fresh clean water effect minus the movement by having several water bowls so I can put down a fresh clean one every day.

So that's where we're at right now. I'll let you know when I narrow down the options a bit. Do your pets drink out of an electric water fountain?