Drinkwell 360 Stainless Steel Pet Fountain

You know what I'm talking about. When it's so bad that all your energy goes into getting out of bed. When you can't maintain your dishes or cleaning the bathroom. When you are long over due on taking out the trash.......and cleaning the litter box happens when it's absolutely necessary to do so.....not every/everyother day. Then you have this huge water dish. It works, but cleaning it is dreadful. You can get away with just rinsing it out with water....until you can't any more. When it feels slimy like a fish tank and hair and the stray dead fly has been floating around the edge for a week. That's when it's time for the hot water and dish soap, taking apart all the little pieces and trying You know what I'm talking about. When it's so bad that all your energy goes into getting out of bed. When you can't maintain your dishes or cleaning the bathroom. When you are long over due on taking out the trash.......and cleaning the litter box happens when it's absolutely necessary to do so.....not every/everyother day. Then you have this huge water dish. It works, but cleaning it is dreadful. You can get away with just rinsing it out with water....until you can't any more. When it feels slimy like a fish tank and hair and the stray dead fly has been floating around the edge for a week. That's when it's time for the hot water and dish soap, taking apart all the little pieces and trying to scrub them, never really being able to get the water spots off the "stainless" steel. Do yourself a favor and forget about buying any replacement filters. Just be sure to not wait months of use before tossing out the one that comes in the box. Oh and don't think for a second that the little cleaning brush used in the video comes with. I was sorely disappointed about that! … more

I bought this for my cat who had liked a fountain before, but it was plastic, so I stopped using it after hearing that the best thing you can do for your pet is to use aluminum bowls. She drinks a lot, plus we have 2 other pets who intermittently drink from her bowl. After too many times of finding a dry bowl, I decided to try another fountain. I saw a few aluminum ones, most seemed a bit small, so I decided on this one. Unfortunately, I put off putting it together for a couple months, or I would have sent it back. First, this thing is huge. It takes a lot of water to fill it to the right level. The min and max levels are marked on the inside cone section, but can be hard to see. I have to I bought this for my cat who had liked a fountain before, but it was plastic, so I stopped using it after hearing that the best thing you can do for your pet is to use aluminum bowls. She drinks a lot, plus we have 2 other pets who intermittently drink from her bowl. After too many times of finding a dry bowl, I decided to try another fountain. I saw a few aluminum ones, most seemed a bit small, so I decided on this one. Unfortunately, I put off putting it together for a couple months, or I would have sent it back. First, this thing is huge. It takes a lot of water to fill it to the right level. The min and max levels are marked on the inside cone section, but can be hard to see. I have to get down on the floor when I need to add water to make sure it is between those lines. It is also very awkward (and heavy!) to carry when it is time for a cleaning, even if water is at lowest level, there is still a lot of water. This is an issue for me since the water fountain is on the second floor and I have to bring it downstairs to wash. Second, there is still quite a bit of plastic in this design. The clips that hold it as well as the water pump and filter housing are all plastic. The spouts that release the water are also plastic. Seems to defeat the purpose of buying an aluminum fountain. Final and largest concern is that this fountain gets filthy fast! The pump does not seem strong enough to effectively filter the water. There are small holes in the cone middle section that the dirt and hair need to travel through to get to the filter. I do not see that happen. Several times I will note a piece of hair floating in the water. It may come close to one of the intake holes, but just swirls around it. I have even seen a hair partially pulled in but just stays there. There is not enough power to pull through one hair! The holes are not exactly at the bottom of the bowl, so a lot of dirt and hair collects there. I took photos of the bowl 4 days after cleaning and filling. Dirt and hair are everywhere! You decide... I am looking for another fountain. … more

1st off, this fountain is a very good product. Yes it cost money and effort to maintain its perfect running order. Yes you have to understand how to take apart such a machine and properly clean the same. No the pump will not last forever. Prefilter and carbon filter need regular replacement. But, it all works as designed and described when properly maintained and nothing cleans up to be more sanitary than stainless steel. NOTHING! The cleaning process..... I use dawn dish soap, followed by blue scrub pad scrubbing of surfaces. I own the 3 pack (various sized) scrub brushes. A must... (From chewy) I soak all plastic parts in a bowl of 3 to 1 water/vinegar. I do this right at the beginning 1st off, this fountain is a very good product. Yes it cost money and effort to maintain its perfect running order. Yes you have to understand how to take apart such a machine and properly clean the same. No the pump will not last forever. Prefilter and carbon filter need regular replacement. But, it all works as designed and described when properly maintained and nothing cleans up to be more sanitary than stainless steel. NOTHING! The cleaning process..... I use dawn dish soap, followed by blue scrub pad scrubbing of surfaces. I own the 3 pack (various sized) scrub brushes. A must... (From chewy) I soak all plastic parts in a bowl of 3 to 1 water/vinegar. I do this right at the beginning of unit tear down. This removes bacteria and calcium. I scrub all parts with brushes or blue scrub pad and soap. Rinse and dry same. I disassemble pump motor. Use scrub brush with dawn and follow up with spray bottle with vinegar solution as described earlier, including suction feet on pump. The pump is fully disassembled scrubbed, sprayed and thoroughly rinsed, then reassembled. New filters put in place and those parts reassembled. A lot of work? Takes 20-30 minutes of standing at the sink to complete this mission properly. The end result is flawless operation, a very happy, healthy cat who is a BIG siamese and loves his fountain. This unit is much easier to keep clean than a previous plastic unit from the same company. An additional pump was 17ish dollars to have on hand. Filters aren’t cheap, but if you are cheap there are YouTube videos that show how to rebuild the carbon filters. This saves a lot of money. Vinegar is a great rinse to remove soap film. Before clear water rinsing the unit. If you want the best fountain, this one is unbeatable, but yes it cost time and money to keep it pristine. … more

This is my first fountain. I have had it for almost a year now. There is a learning curve to maintaining it. It needs to be taken apart and meticulously scrubbed at least every three days as it gets incredibly slimy. Adding a bacteria supplement to the water does not help. Also, you have to take apart every item and scrub them - the pump, the filter area, even the filter has to be scrubbed. It's a huge hassle but the cats love drinking from the flowing water. I have the cleaning down to a science, my goal is to get the discipline to do it every other day. Nothing has broken yet. The filter should be changed every month. My only problem is finding the prefill filter replacement. I would This is my first fountain. I have had it for almost a year now. There is a learning curve to maintaining it. It needs to be taken apart and meticulously scrubbed at least every three days as it gets incredibly slimy. Adding a bacteria supplement to the water does not help. Also, you have to take apart every item and scrub them - the pump, the filter area, even the filter has to be scrubbed. It's a huge hassle but the cats love drinking from the flowing water. I have the cleaning down to a science, my goal is to get the discipline to do it every other day. Nothing has broken yet. The filter should be changed every month. My only problem is finding the prefill filter replacement. I would buy it again. … more

My older cat is huge and historically has had a lot of issues with dandruff. I researched it and one of the biggest recommendations was that he might need to drink more water and, to facilitate that, a pet fountain was a good option. I was a little nervous at first because my older cat has historically been slow to adjust to any new automated devices. I took the chance and the fountain showed up fast. I placed the usual water bowl out with the new fountain to ease the adjustment, but he actually started using the fountain pretty quickly. And his fur is doing so much better! There's hardly anymore dander and his fur feels amazing. My other cat also loves this fountain. Definitely bigger than the My older cat is huge and historically has had a lot of issues with dandruff. I researched it and one of the biggest recommendations was that he might need to drink more water and, to facilitate that, a pet fountain was a good option. I was a little nervous at first because my older cat has historically been slow to adjust to any new automated devices. I took the chance and the fountain showed up fast. I placed the usual water bowl out with the new fountain to ease the adjustment, but he actually started using the fountain pretty quickly. And his fur is doing so much better! There's hardly anymore dander and his fur feels amazing. My other cat also loves this fountain. Definitely bigger than the average cat bowl, but it ensures my cats never run the risk of having no water (though I do usually need to top it off in the middle of the week). I personally found assembly pretty easy and disassembly for cleaning is also pretty smooth. Definitely recommend cleaning once a week and changing out the filter every two weeks though cause the fountain will start to get dirty. … more

Had the older style large plastic Drinkwell and that was great but it became discolored over the years so I decided to replace...was extremely dissatisfied with this one for the price I paid. Regardless of what type of water I used (well, spring water or distilled water) and how few or many spigots I had going, it got slimy within the second day of use AND I was also using all the filter items available for this model. I only have one cat so its not from overuse by a lot of animals. I am replacing this, even though I only bought it last year, because the safety of my pet's health is extremely important to me. I think a lot of the issue with this fountain is the pump is not strong enough for the Had the older style large plastic Drinkwell and that was great but it became discolored over the years so I decided to replace...was extremely dissatisfied with this one for the price I paid. Regardless of what type of water I used (well, spring water or distilled water) and how few or many spigots I had going, it got slimy within the second day of use AND I was also using all the filter items available for this model. I only have one cat so its not from overuse by a lot of animals. I am replacing this, even though I only bought it last year, because the safety of my pet's health is extremely important to me. I think a lot of the issue with this fountain is the pump is not strong enough for the size of the fountain. … more

Don't like giving bad reviews but this product is pretty dam average. We clean it regularly and replace filters but the pressure is useless. Starts off well after the clean then drops away to nothing after one day. 360 Rotation doesn't work and at the most the water comes from 1 spout only. Also not easy to clean.

I was really hoping that this fountain would not get slimy so often, I was prepared to clean thoroughly a few times during the week, but the water, and I use filtered water to start, gets cloudy and the sides slimy after 1 day. Also, I change the filter every week. So I feel that was money down the drain. No Pun Intended.

It was bigger than I expected. Looked at sizes of other fountains and realized they are about the same. The clips are the only down fall, takes a little work to have them stay in place , but I love that I can put it in the dishwasher and sanitize it. Our dog and cat both love it!

I had the Original Drinkwell for several years. It wasn't perfect, had a lot of nooks and crannies that required an arsenal of brushes to clean, but it did the job. After the plastic became discolored by the sun, I wanted something stainless steel, assuming it would be easier to clean and more hygienic. Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and saw that this fountain uses the exact same pump and has even more nooks and crannies. The plastic is glittered like a retainer and the metal is rough and coarse on the inside. I saw another reviewer say that their fountain rusted, so it is probably not 100% stainless steel. You have to clip the entire mechanism down with this heinous plastic clips. I had the Original Drinkwell for several years. It wasn't perfect, had a lot of nooks and crannies that required an arsenal of brushes to clean, but it did the job. After the plastic became discolored by the sun, I wanted something stainless steel, assuming it would be easier to clean and more hygienic. Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and saw that this fountain uses the exact same pump and has even more nooks and crannies. The plastic is glittered like a retainer and the metal is rough and coarse on the inside. I saw another reviewer say that their fountain rusted, so it is probably not 100% stainless steel. You have to clip the entire mechanism down with this heinous plastic clips. I will pay good money for a high quality, good looking fountain that works. This is just shoddy product design. … more