Best Cat Water Fountain -
The reason we see so many posts in a Google search beginning with a number or a word like ‘best’ is because Google rewards those posts containing a number or a positive or negative sentiment in the title with a higher ranking, making them more likely to come up in a search. The marketers who write those posts know this.
So, is that why the title of this article begins with ‘Best’? No, in fact. The reason the word best is in this title is because this post really is about the best cat water fountain on the planet. Bold statement. Can we prove it? Please read on.
Shown here are some of the “10 best cat water fountains”, according to one post. Other posts, sponsored by other brands have their own “10 Best”, or “5 Best”, or what have you.
Three of these are made entirely of plastic which the sellers (they are manufactured in China so we can’t say, the makers), say can be put in the dishwaser. But can they? Because they are extraordinarily difficult to clean by hand.
According to an article in the Washington Post; “Last year, the American Academy of Pediatricians recommended avoiding plastics with recycling codes 3 (phthalates), 6 (styrene) and 7 (bisphenols), unless they are labeled “biobased” or “greenware.” It also recommended against both heating food in plastics and putting plastics in the dishwasher. For these reasons, many consumers are only comfortable washing plastics by hand.”
However, the Post article also states: “…those of us who employ extra elbow grease in scrubbing plastic may be part of the problem. Call it the dishwashing cycle of life — the more you scrub, the more you create tiny scratches in the plastic, which, in turn, capture stains and make you more inclined to scrub. The same holds true for slicing and dicing on a plastic cutting board. Every nick is a potential repository for food and stains. Plus, all those cuts and scratches cause plastic to retain more moisture.” Scratches also create homes for colonizing bacteria, the cause of the biofilm (slime) plastic cat fountains are notorous for.
So maybe those plastic cat water fountains aren’t the best after all. How about the stainless steel models?
Certainly they are better than plastic pet fountains and, apart from their plastic parts (filter holder, the part the water comes out of, etc.) they are of metal and metal is safe. They are of a light-weight steel so need to be dried thoroughly or, inspite of their name, they will rust and of course, they must be well washed.
The cost for a stainless steel cat water fountain is about $20 to $40 more than a plastic cat fountain which can be anywhere between $25 and $75. So both types are relativelly cheap. The stainless steel models may be a little tough to fit in with your decor and of course a cat fountain should not be placed in the kitchen near the cats’ food. Here is an article with extesive reviews on major brands of cat fountains with notes on best placement of your cat fountain. Given these limitations and the possibility they give the water a metalic taste, it seems that a stainless cat fountain is likely not ‘the best’.
Which brings us to ceramic fountains and here we are looking at two distinct kinds/qualties: Low fire ceramics and high fire ceramics. The primarydifference between them is porosity.
All commercial cat water fountains you see advertised in a google search are made in molds in China or other countries with low fire clay and glazes. (You can know which these are by the very limited number of designs they offer, some with only one design.) It is this low fire ceramics that makes them porous. The clay is not dense and it is glazed in a low fire glaze and fired to a fairly low temperature. They do this because it saves a great deal, both on materials and on fuel costs for firing.
Becauses this type of ceramic cat fountain is porous, not so much that they leak but water does penetrate into them, bacteria grow, generating slimy waste and after a time they become as slimy as plastic cat fountains and the slime cannot be removed.
The top three of these ceramic fountains are mold-made, the bottom two are wheel-thrown, handmade. The top left two are low density, porous and weak. The top right is probably not made of low density ceramics but that is not known by this author. They range in price from about seventy dollars for the center fountain, ninety for the one on the left and several hundred for the one on the right.
Given what we now know about low density ceramic fountains it is safe to say, neither of the two on the top left and center can qualify as the best cat water fountain and given the elaborate construction, rather unattractive appearance and several hundrend dollar price range for the one on the right, it too fails to achieve this desigation.
And that leaves us with the bottom two, both high fired ceramics, both handmade but with differences.
The fountain on the right is made by assembling parts purchased from a variety of sources – Ebay, garage sales, etc. Notice that the parts harmonize but are different. They are repurposed and used to create quite attractive cat fountains. The origins of the parts are now known, nor exactly how they were made, what glazes were used, etc. The only real difficulty with this approach is that if you break a portion, matching up another piece to fit it might be difficult if not impossible.
Nevertheless, it is quite an attractive cat water fountain and the pieces were almost certainly made by hand. It might qualify for being called the best cat water fountain but for the difficulty in replacing parts and the fact that these fountains sell for well over three hundred dollars.
The fountain on the left is one of many beautiful designs completely made by hand from ThirstyCat Fountains. Because they are handmade and a record is kept of every fountain anything can be replaced. The glazes are all made from scratch from raw minerals so complete food-safeness is certified. No other maker of fountains for pets can say that. As mentioned, this is one of countless designs and the price is under two hundred dollars.
For all these reasons then, this is why we and many others say that a ThirstyCat Fountain is the best cat water fountain available worldwide and why we enjoy a five star reputation both for our fountains as well as for our customer service. Please visit our shop when convenient to do so. You may not see any of the fountains shown below as they will probably have sold but you will find many new, beautiful cat fountains.
And if you have any questions please feel free to email or call us. You’ll find contact information on our site.
