As seen with the rise of automatic litter boxes, automatic feeders, pet tracking, and now the cat water fountain, technology has made it so that we can closely monitor our pets and ensure they’re being taken care of without having to do a lot of the manual labor.
A cat water fountain encourages cats to drink more water, which helps with their overall health. I’ve noticed an increase in my cats’ water consumption since switching to a fountain. As a pet helicopter mom, I’ve become a fountain believer.
While automatic water fountains are better for your cats’ overall water consumption, they do require a bit more work and money. Rather than refilling a bowl, these take a little more elbow grease—but it’s worth it for your cat’s health. Along with routine refilling and cleaning, you’ll need to disassemble the fountain to clean all parts, including using a brush for the bowl and tubes. You may also have to disassemble the motor to deep-clean because of mineral buildup. These also have different types of filtration cartridges in specific shapes for the brand’s fountains, which require you to buy and change out filters, usually monthly or more often.
Many of these fountains also have a connected app, which reminds you when to clean, replace the filter, and refill water. Many also track how many times your pet drinks throughout the day, week, and month to monitor your pet’s habits and track any changes. A cat drinking way more or way less water than usual can be a good indicator that something is wrong with their health.
I (and my cats) tested various models (and some of the technologically advanced) automatic water fountains for pets available right now to see which are worth the money.
Check out our related guides like the Best Automatic Feeders, Best Automatic Litter Boxes, Our Favorite Fancy Cat Furniture, and Our Favorite Cat Toys, Litter Boxes, and Other Feline Supplies. More of a dog person? We got you covered; see our Best Accessories and Tech Essentials for Your Dog guide.
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Cats sometimes struggle to consume enough water, which can lead to potentially lethal UTIs and blockages in male cats especially. This is one of the reasons vets are moving more toward encouraging owners to give their cat at least a partially wet food diet, as this helps them consume more moisture, especially since cats don’t naturally consume as much water as dogs. Unlike dogs, cats are generally quite particular in their likes and dislikes, and cats can see stagnant water as potentially harmful. (If the cat was in the wild, stagnant water has more potential for harmful bacteria). Cats are more drawn to moving water in nature, and these fountains help encourage them to drink more by emulating what they’re naturally drawn to.
Let’s be honest, a lot of these fountains are pretty much the same. I looked especially for the overall design—I am a fiend for stainless steel because of the potential of porous plastic harboring harmful bacteria. I also favor a wide reservoir without high sides to help reduce the chance for whisker fatigue. I prefer fountains that have a small basin reservoir of water available at all times, in case of low water levels or power failure. I took into account ease of setting up, refilling, and cleaning, as well as overall design. And of course, there were some that my cats took to straight away, and some they didn’t seem to favor as much.
I used each of these for a week as my cats’ main source of water. As mentioned, I noted the ease of setting up, evaluated parts and filters, and generally compared the various types of water fountains—spigot, bubbling, or waterfall. Some flows were continuous and some were intermittent (my cats didn’t prefer intermittent). Cats may also be intrigued and want to play with the machine rather than drink, so be sure to give them time and keep another water source around until they are fully adjusted to the new gadget.
Photograph: Molly Higgins
Best OverallPetlibro Dockstream Fountain
We tested several different automatic water fountains from our top Automatic Feeder pick’s brand, Petlibro. This fountain is fairly straightforward—it has a cordless pump (way more convenient and safer for cleaning) that takes water from its 2.5-liter water basin and pushes it through the top spout in a waterfall onto a small reservoir (and at 23 decibels, it’s virtually silent). This smart fountain is plugged in via USB with a chew-proof cord, and the basin sits on a dock to make cleaning and refilling the water easier. The stainless steel bowl snaps on top of the basin for further easy cleaning and refilling, and the basin itself holds 130 milliliters in the bowl at all times in case of power outage, which I really appreciated.
The fountain also has a low-water detection system, meaning that the fountain will automatically stop if water levels get too low. The four-layer vertical filtration system sits between the basin and the bowl and has nonwoven fabric to filter pet hair, activated carbon for contaminants, ion-exchange resin to soften water, and a high-density sponge to remove tiny particles. (An eight-pack of filters is $18.)
The fountain is connected to an app that records when your cat drank from it, how much they drank, and for how long. It also sends alerts of low water levels, when to change the filter, and when to clean. With purchase of the fountain, you get a one-week free trial of either Care ($60/year) or Care Plus ($130/year), which gives more insight into tracking your pet’s health and has things like recommended feeding goals and expert insight. This fountain is ergonomically designed and always keeps the water cool and clean, and I absolutely love the water reservoir in case of power outage. I just wish the basin were made of stainless steel because of the potential of the plastic harboring bacteria.
★ Alternative: The Dockstream Cordless Fountain ($63) is essentially the exact same as above except it isn’t connected to an app and it’s cordless, so you can conveniently move it around in your house. The bottom of the dock lights up to indicate when charging, when the battery’s low, or when water levels are low. To conserve battery power, the fountain doesn’t run continuously and only begins to run when it senses a cat drinking and turns back off 40 seconds or so after it leaves. There’s about a five-second lag when it senses the cat in front of the fountain and when water begins to flow. Because of this, my cats avoided using it, since the water flowing would startle them when they were already bent down drinking. For the last few days, I kept it plugged in to have continuous flow and ensure they had enough water intake, but that eliminates the benefit of the cordless feature.
MaterialsPlastic, stainless steelFiltration typeFour layers: nonwoven fabric, activated carbon, ion-exchange resin, high-density spongeCapacity84 fl ozConnected to an app?YesPower sourceUSB plug-inPhotograph: Molly Higgins
Runner UpPetkit Eversweet Max
This fountain became one of my top choices because my cats were obsessed with it. I had never seen my cats drawn to a fountain so quickly. Petkit has consistently upped the game when it comes to automating cat-related tasks, like its AI-powered litter box and other top-rated automatic litter boxes. I tested a couple of Petkit fountains, but this was my fave. This automatic fountain can be either cordless or battery-powered, and can last up to 83 days using only battery power.
It’s a long rectangular design, and the drinking bowl is made of stainless steel, but the reservoir is plastic. The water is pushed through a cordless, nearly silent pump and filtered through a high-density cotton and activated-carbon filter (five for $20). Because of the shape of the basin with the chunky battery and reservoir bowl, it’s a little awkward to clean. The app logs every time a pet drinks and compares it over time to determine whether your cat’s drinking habits have changed. The water flow can be standard flow, intermittent (three minutes on and off), or battery (where the water flow time and sleeping mode time are fully customizable), or you can pause the water flow altogether and just use the basin reserve. The app also keeps track of when the filter needs replacing, and when you last added and need to refill water. One of the only gripes I have is that the fountain doesn’t monitor or show you how much water is left in the basin; you have to manually check or wait for it to give low-water alerts. My pets loved this fountain, so I loved it too, but I wish the app showed water levels and the design made it a bit easier to clean.
MaterialsPlastic, stainless steelFiltration typehigh-density filter cotton, sintered activated carbonCapacity3 LConnected to an app?YesPower sourceUSB plug-in
