“Do they try to drink out of faucets?”
“Uh, no . . .”
“Do they drink out of the toilet?”
“No, but . . .”
I didn’t want to tell the pet supply clerk that I wasn’t buying the drinking fountain for my cats because they preferred running water – they don’t – I was buying it because I preferred not to have to keep my eye on their water bowl all day.
Of course, it also would be healthier for them not to drink standing water that might be breeding bacteria, but like a lot of healthy choices, it wouldn’t necessarily taste better.
The questions and answers were cut short by some parrots squawking loudly in the corner, and I paid my $30 and took the fountain home.
It’s a blue-and-white plastic cylinder about the size of a large coffee can. The water, after going through a carbon filter to keep it fresh, bubbles out of a small hole in the top and runs down to the edge and back into the base of the fountain. It can hold two liters at a time.
We put it together, filled it with water, and plugged it in. The cats reacted much the same way they had when I’d put the table fountain on the floor to see if they’d drink from that. The younger one sniffed around the fountain but didn’t try to drink. The older one just looked on suspiciously from a distance.
The instruction booklet suggested we “remove other sources of water” for short periods to encourage them to use it, but I wasn’t ready for that. Not at Christmas anyway.
So, we just left it plugged in all day for about three days, and one morning the younger cat drank.
He still prefers the bowl, and the older one still won’t even try – but at least we’ve made a start.
