Drinkwell 360 Pet Water Fountain

Pet water fountains make pets healthier and happier. The Drinkwell 360 is one of the best pet water fountains out there, especially if you have more than one pet.

It has an adjustable flow, multiple streams of falling water, and a quiet pump.

My cats and dogs love their Drinkwell 360 water fountain, and wanted me to share this review with you.

I know some people will be asking this question, so let's start with the why first. Why would someone give their cat or dog a water fountain to drink out of?

There are several reasons to have a pet water fountain. The most common are:

• It is more hygienic.
• It gets pets to drink more.
• It is better for your animals.
• It saves water.
• Animals like it better.

Pet water fountains usually have built in filters, so the pet water will stay cleaner.

No one, not even animals wants to drink old, dirty and gross water filled with hair and bits of food.

We drink filtered water, and for the same reasons are pets should too.

Getting our pets to drink enough water is extremely important. It is one of the most important things you can do for your pet.

Most people feed their pets commercial pet food, which is high in ash and lacking in liquid. In nature most animals eat raw meat, which is very wet and as well as nourishing them, it rehydrates the animals.

Pets need to drink lots of water to make up for the commercial pet food, and if they don't drink enough they can die from common urinary and kidney problems.

One of these common urinary problems is deadly within a day or so of symptoms first being noticed, and most people don't notice the symptoms.

Drinking fresh running water helps prevent this common health hazard.

Drinking dirty, stagnant water is bad for our pets.

Stagnant water causes disease and makes them drink less, which leads to common and severe health problems.

Pet water fountains are a lot cheaper and better for our pets than having to visit the veterinarian.

Many pets, especially cats love to drink from fresh, running water and will beg you to turn on the faucet just so they can get a drink.

Running the water for our pets uses up lots of water, and is a hassle.

A pet water fountain lets the water flow gently down so they can sip at flowing water without the faucet needing to be on all the time.

When given the choice of fresh running water or stagnant bowl water, animals will choose to drink the nicer water fountain water.

Shouldn't we give them what they want and crave?

The Drinkwell 360 Pet Fountain is a large round bowl that allows pets to drink from any side. It's great if you have more than one pet since more than one can drink at once and you can have multiple streams of water falling at once with the included alternate heads.

This pet fountain is easy to take apart, so it's easy to clean and the stainless steel version can go in the dishwasher. The plastic one may be able to as well, I'm not sure since I no longer have the box. Regardless, it is simple to rinse in the sink and fill back up.

The pet fountain holds one gallon of water, and has marks to show how low the water can get and how high it can be filled without problems. I have an extreme amount of cats, plus two dogs, one of whom is large, so I fill up the water every day. Most people would need to do it once or twice a week.

The filter in the pet fountain keeps debris out of the water and keeps it fresh tasting. The filter needs to be replaced often in my eyes, but as I mentioned I have a lot of animals getting gunk in there. The company recommends the filter to be changed every couple of weeks to once a month. The filters are cheap.

The pet fountain uses almost no energy. I didn't even notice any increase on my energy bills.

The Drinkwell 360 Pet Water Fountain holds enough water, uses little energy, is easy to clean and has few parts, and multiple animals can drink at once.

Cons

• Needs filters replaced occasionally
• Can splash if turned up too high
• Uses energy
• Needs to be cleaned once a week

Pros

• Room for multiple animals to drink
• Can choose heavier or lighter water streams
• Can have 1 to 5 different streams depending upon top chosen
• Uses very little energy
• Cleaner water
• Cheap filters
• Easy to use
• Few parts
• No more running faucets or begging
• Encourages pets to drink more
• Pets like it

Many animals will drink from the water fountain right away, all of my animals did, but ones that are scared easily may need a different approach.

For most animals, just set the water fountain up and fill it with water. Your pets may take a few minutes to get up the nerve to drink, but they'll adjust quickly. Some cats feel the need to slap at the water a few times, just to check it, that is normal curious cat behavior.

For more anxious cats, fill the water fountain up and leave it turned off at first. They will get used to drinking out of the bowl. Turn the water on after they are relaxed, but make sure to turn it on low speed and do multiple streams so the water runs as slow as possible.

Some cats may not mind the speed of the water, but not want to drink from the streams, in that case use the top that puts out one single stream of water so the cat has access to areas in the bowl where water doesn't flow straight in. Nearly every single cat will love the pet fountain eventually.

Fresh drinking water is essential to healthy pets. Everyone knows that, but most people don't realize that running and filtered water is better for them.

I first heard about pet fountains when I was looking up information on cat health. Any cat can get kidney problems, urinary tract infections, urinary tract obstructions, cystitis, and other problems. They are incredibly common and are some of the leading causes of death in household pets.

One of the major ways to prevent these problems and the consequent deaths is to have running water for the pets to drink. Running water encourages pets to drink more. Drinking more water gives the pets thinner urine that is less likely to crystallize. Drinking more water leads to healthier kidneys too.

I have a lot of cats. They are generally healthy, but most started as strays or ferals, so I am always trying to make up since they lacked decent nutrition early in the most important parts of their lives. Most of my cats happen to be male, and urinary problems are more often deadly for male cats. Plus of course, I love my fur babies. This means I'm always eager to do simple things that will improve my pets' health and drinking lots of water was an important part of that.

I looked online and saw the Drinkwell brand had some of the best reviews and that the 360 specifically had plenty of room for my many pets to drink from. I picked it up and my pets love it! Everyone enjoys it. I have a bowl of water nearby, but everyone prefers to drink from the Drinkwell pet fountain.

The pictures posted below show my cats checking out their water fountain. I hadn't used it for a long time, so they were investigating it, some seeing it for the first time.

They checked it out one by one and most first stared at the water fountain trying to figure it out, then they drank and enjoyed the fresh water.

I lost the topmost piece, so my fountain looks just a tad different and doesn't pour out quite as well. Everyone still likes it, including my dogs, a miniature poodle and big pit bull.

With all my cats and the dogs, I have to fill the fountain often, but it's worth it to keep my pets happy and healthy.

Vennie, Connie, and Mendi are making sure the other cats don't cock up their toes from drinking from the strange machine.

Butte and Fresno are always cautious. Fresno likes to sit back and watch the other cats try things before he steps in.

But even shy Fresno can't resist the lure of the tinkling fresh water.

Jerry was my main reason for getting the Drinkwell Water Fountain.

I wanted to get one for quite a while, just because I wanted to keep my pets happy and healthy. Also I had mainly older male cats and I knew male cats were more in danger from urinary blockages which can be deadly within 24 hours from the first symptoms.

One day Jerry seemed unable to use the litterbox. He seemed uncomfortable and was straining. Knowing how important it was that he get checked out quickly, I rushed him to the vet and several hours and hundreds of dollars later, we found out he had been unable to go pee because he had an infection and he had to have a catheter inserted to release his urine, he wouldn't have been able to go on his own. After the catheter was removed and Jerry was released to come home he took antibiotics for a couple of weeks so he could get better, but antibiotics don't work well for urinary issues, you have to remove the cause of the issues, not just treat them.

Sadly, I waited too long to get a pet water fountain and Jerry was too far gone to save. Getting even one blockage is enough to cause damage to their insides and make it easier to get one again. Jerry had a relapse and died from his urinary troubles.

Cats who have urinary problems will almost always get them again, so make sure you get a pet water fountain if you think there's even the possibility of getting urinary blockages or you just want to keep your pets healthy.

I have the Drinkwell 360* Pet Water Fountain in plastic.

My pets prefer plastic and since I like to put apple cider vinegar into the water it doesn't get a strange taste from metal.

Most people prefer the stainless steel version of the water fountain.

Stainless steel is more hygienic and it helps prevent kitty acne which is caused by drinking and eating out of dirty plastic bowls.

I would also think the stainless steel version would be sturdier, though even the plastic one is very sturdy.

There are a couple of types of water filters available for the Drinkwell 360*. I prefer the charcoal ones since they work the best and are healthier for the animals.

They make attachments to grow cat grass in the bowl of the pet fountain. I don't have one, but it looks like it'd be a nice treat for the fur babies. Don't forget to pick up extra cat grass seed since cats can eat cat grass very quickly.

Check out this other pet water fountain from Drinkwell or click on it to go to Amazon to find the right one for you and your furry friends.