The Pioneer Pet Big Max Stainless Steel Drinking Fountain used to be a pick because of its mostly stainless steel construction, simple-to-fill bowl, and large capacity. But it’s one of the noisier models we’ve tested, and it has several parts, so it’s more difficult to clean than our current picks.
The Petkit EverSweet 3 Pro (UVC) Pet Water Fountain is similar in build to our top pick, yet this model has a stainless steel tank and a UVC pump that purportedly can kill bacteria. However, the area a pet drinks from is still plastic, and, unlike the EverSweet Solo 2, this model doesn’t have a water-level window.
The Petkit EverSweet Max 2 Cordless UVC Pet Water Fountain can operate cordlessly or plugged into an outlet. When we were using it on battery power, it took much longer than our cordless pick to detect a pet’s presence. And this fountain has more pieces to clean than most of our picks.
The FeelNeedy FN-W26 Wireless No Filters Cat Water Fountain has separate clean- and dirty-water chambers, so you don’t need to use expensive filters to keep the water clean. You can set the water to refresh on a schedule. But even with frequent changing, the clean water is sitting stagnant in the tank, as opposed to constantly flowing like it does in our picks. And the machine made a loud grinding sound every time it ran out of water.
The Misfans Ceramic Cat Water Fountain is a decent ceramic option, but it was one of the noisiest fountains we tested. And the ceramic top piece slides around on the tank, which may spook a pet. It’s also heavy, and the ceramic might shatter if dropped.
The Petlibro Dockstream App Monitoring Water Fountain is an older version of our upgrade pick. It was previously a pick because it’s simple to clean, easy to move around, and relatively attractive. But this fountain had a few critical failures in our long-term testing: For one tester, it stopped charging, and another tester discovered the tank had sprung a leak.
The Catit Flower Fountain was a pick for several years, and I’ve personally owned this one. Although this fountain is attractive, has great capacity, and is easy to take apart and clean, it was also one of the loudest models we tested. The pump motor never stopped making a low, aggravating hum, which we could hear even from the next room over. Several online reviews also mention this buzzing, but it might not bother everyone.
If you prefer ceramic and are willing to pay for it, the PetSafe Drinkwell Seascape Ceramic Pet Water Fountain is a great, albeit heavy, option. The square ceramic tank and bulbous centerpiece are dishwasher-safe, but this model also has more small plastic pieces than our picks, and you still need to wash them by hand. This fountain was also the heaviest one we tested, so it was a pain to carry to and from the sink.
The Catit Stainless Steel Flower Fountain was loud, though not as loud as its plastic counterpart. It has a stainless steel dish and a blue LED light on the pump, similar to our budget pick, but this fountain is nearly twice as expensive. The stainless dish never nested properly in the tank, so it spun around easily, and that could startle some pets.
The Pioneer Pet Raindrop Fountain used to be a pick, and it’s still a great fountain if you want an option with more stainless steel than plastic. But it had many of the same issues as its larger sibling, the Big Max.
The Veken Pet Fountain’s pump alternated between loud and quiet with unpredictable frequency. After the first week, there was visible dirt staining the inside of the tank where a water line had been. This refused to budge when we washed it with a soft sponge (we avoided using abrasives, so as to not scratch the plastic). Also, the plastic top doesn’t sit securely, so it can get knocked off easily.
The PetNF Transparent Cat Water Drinking Fountain’s clear plastic tank makes it easy to see when water is low or dirty. But unlike every other fountain we tested, this one lacks a clearly delineated slot or frame for the pump to sit in. That made it difficult to line up the pump with the upper spout tube when we cleaned or refilled the tank. The PetNF fountain’s pump also has a tiny lever that tends to fall off during cleaning and can easily get lost.
The PetSafe Drinkwell Pagoda Fountain may look nice in your kitchen, but it has a lot of small parts, so it’s a pain to assemble and clean. It’s also noisy — both when it’s running normally (the water splashes) and when it’s low on water.
The PetSafe Drinkwell 360 Fountain was a nightmare to assemble, and the plastic clasps that held the centerpiece of the fountain in place were not secure enough to keep the fountain together during assembly or use. The extra rings to change the flow from the top of the fountain provided little practical benefit.
The PetSafe Drinkwell Platinum Pet Fountain is made up of many small parts and has lots of nooks and crannies. So it’s difficult to keep clean and free of hard-water buildup or slime.
For a low-cost fountain, the Cat Mate Pet Fountain is decent. However, it’s cheaply constructed, and it has a tendency to quickly accumulate dirt in all three chambers.
The Catit LED Flower Water Fountain is an upgraded version of the Catit Flower Fountain. It has a blue LED light, which illuminates the fountain at night. And the mini water reservoirs trap water as it falls from the flower petal, so small pets can drink from the standing water, if they choose to. Like that of its predecessor, this fountain’s flower petal is removable, so you can control the flow of water. But in testing we had a harder time disconnecting the petal, and that could be a problem for people with limited hand strength. Also, when the flower petal was connected, it never consistently pooled water into the mini reservoirs.
The PetSafe Drinkwell Multi-Tier Dog and Cat Fountain’s waterfall feature can get noisy, especially when it’s low on water. And setting up this fountain was not an intuitive process.
This article was edited by Harry Sawyers.
