I bought this drinking fountain a while back in hopes of making sure my pets maintained adequate hydration, especially during the warmer months. I travel with my work and sometimes have to stay away from home for extended time periods. This did not in anyway replace their regular water bowls but was meant to add to the availability of fresh water for all three of them. The dome was definitely a hit to a couple of them and they all seemed to take to it without a problem. However, I noticed a number of things that eventually rendered it useless to me. Now, I am not saying this product is worthless, dangerous, or faulty but combined...I will not purchase or recommend this item in the future:
1. The 'well' is the dome itself that you fill and it does NOT provide much in terms of quantity. Between the pets' consumption and evaporation, it needed to be refilled just about every day (which defeats the purpose when I'm out of town).
2. It attracted everything that came near it like a magnet, which added to the somewhat frustrating attempts to clean the resevoir and such.
3. After a month or two (and this is with regular cleaning/maintenance), the dome's out-pouring of water that would cascade over the entire dome surface had begun to reduce to some streams that came down only in sections. Eventually, (a matter of mere weeks), the water was no more than a single 'trickle'-like flow. I guessed that the motor/pump was losing its juice or something as I had seen that one could buy replacements. I'm still not sure as to what the cause was but it was not financially beneficial to replace and without a working motor became a harbor for stale water and potential build-up of bacteria so...bye-bye.
4. In my opinion, the price was a little on the higher side compared to the other more popular brands. I think I was justified to have higher expectations of quality for what I was purchasing and that became my disappointment.
- The filter replacements were not terribly expensive in comparison to others but did not last long either so that added up quickly.
- If I were to have replaced the pump, that would have been just as costly as purchasing a new fountain.
5. I had been under the impression that this fountain was superior to its more popular competitors (like the drinkwells) because of it being much easier to clean. The crevices and some parts of the dome and resevoir made it awkward to clean and I never felt like I could get the whole thing cleaned out each time which increased my level of concern for bacteria growing in those hard to reach places.
6. The top of the dome that looks like a handle screws on and off and the bottom is secured through suction that is applied by twisting a portion of the bottom while the top is secured. This is not always an easy task to get the round perimeter of the dome level to the base and be able to twist to secure it without messing up the seal. The threading on the top part when you twist it seemed fragile (the instructions say not to twist too hard but it's fairly ambiguous). It was just a difficult annoyance trying to put it back together sometimes so those attributes were not favorable with me.
All-in-all, it was not the worst product I have ever purchased and was a success out of the box. However, it lacked sustainability and did not perform to meet my needs, so not a favorite, and will not purchase again in the future.Get more detail about Hagen Catit Drinking Fountain.
No comments:
Post a Comment