drinking fountain

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Drinking fountain

How many times have your loving Persians
come and given you a wet face kiss?
Or jumped in your lap and shown you their
sopping wet chest hair... and given you that
“Fix it Mommy” look?

Of course, with their furry faces and hairy chests,
it's not easy for a Persian to have a good,
satisfying drink of water and still maintain
immaculate table manners - unless, of course,
you provide your cat with a water fountain
to drink from!

There are commercial water fountains available
for cats. They just didn't address the needs
of our long-haired
cats.

The fountains were difficult to keep filled,
hard to take apart to clean and clogged
easily with the hair or food that washed off
my pretty feline's face.

Also, the design often made it too easy for
toys to be knocked in the water reservoir.
In fact, I think one of my cats would deliberately
bat her toy into the fountain!

The bottom line - the design of the commercial
fountains still allowed the water to soak our
cat's face or chest when it took a drink.

I wanted our cats to have running filtered
water to drink, while still keeping their hair
high and
dry.

Think about it - No more teaching your cat to
drink like a rodent. Or wondering if your cat
getting enough water to drink.

So.. Here is a terrific water easy to make
Materials List...
Here is list of items you will need to make
your fountain....

Whisper Internal Filter 2-10i
Glass Beads
Glass fish bowl
(plastic can be used to make a
smaller fountain.)
Power surge strip protector
Black Binder Clip

The Whisper Internal Filter 2-10i
Obviously you will need a small pump for
your fountain. I bought mine at Super
Wal-Mart
in the pet section for only $9.98. It is a
Whisper Internal Filter 2-10i and it is a
super quiet, power filtration pump.
It uses medium filtered cartridges.
NOTE: Be sure to select a product that has
an INTERNAL pump.

Glass Beads

Glass beads are needed in the bottom of the container
for your fountain to both anchor it and to fill the water
reservoir and filter out large debris. Large particles
will go to the bottom of the beads and will not be
sucked up by the pump.

You will need enough glass beads to raise the pump
to the height needed. I used three small 12 oz bags.

Choose a glass beads in a color to co-ordinate with
your home decor - or your cats! The beads were found
at Wal-Mart. $2.99 a 12 oz bag. The larger bags are a
little cheaper per oz. just depends on what you like.
Glass beads work better than the rocks. Smooth
surface, means no hair to cling to the beads.

Glass Bowl

Once you have your pump and the beads your will
need a container or reservoir for the fountain.

I chose a heavy glass fish bowl found in the pet section
of Super Wal-Mart for only $5.99. The small top of the
glass fish bowl is perfect for the fountain. NOTE:
You can also use a small plastic critter cage.
You will not need the top that comes with it.
It is smaller and much lighter then the fish bowl,
but it will also break and tip more easily.

Place the beads in the bottom of the glass bowl.

Preparing The Pump The pump comes with a plastic L-shaped holder on the back and two rubber suction cups. Remove the holder and replace it with one of the suction cups. This will be used to attach the pump to the side of the bowl. Both holes on the back side of the pump will need to be plugged. There should be two suction cups in the box that can be used for this purpose.
If only one cup is provided, use it to plug the top hole and then use waterproof caulk or cork to plug the bottom hole. Both holes have to be plugged for the pump to work correctly. Next, place pump in the bowl. Position the pump against one side of the bowl. Add enough glass beads so that the lip where the water exits the pump is slightly above the edge of the bowl and pointing towards the center of the bowl. The lip of the water pump is where your cat will drink from.
After placing the pump at the correct level, you will need to clip the pump to the side of the bowl. Place the rubber sucker against the edge of the bowl and clip it in place with a large binder clip.
With the pump securely in place, there will be a small space around the pump. Water is available as it comes out the pump, but does not pool up to the top of the bowl. This means the cat will need to drink the water falling off the lip of the pump. Drinking in this manner helps keep the cat's face and chest clean and dry. As an added benefit, any hair or loose food that may fall off the cat's face will be trapped in the filter, keeping the drinking water cleaner than if it was in a bowl.
Once the pump is held firmly in place, fill the bowl about half way with filtered water. Do not plug the pump directly into the wall outlet. Please use a surge protector.
I'm Thirsty Your cats will be attracted to the sound of the water falling in the bowl. Soon they will be drinking clean filtered water. Even small kittens quickly learn to stand on they hind legs with their front paws against the bowl and lap up the fresh water. You can add water as needed very easily from the top. My Water Fountain I have been using this water fountain for my cats with excellent results since 2001. I have also given several set-ups away to a few of my fellow Persians breeders and they are always amazed how their cats figure it all out for themselves. Try building one for your cats. They will have cleaner, fresher, tastier water! And stay drier too!