Catit Senses 2.0 Flower Fountain

The Catit Senses 2.0 Flower Fountain is the fountain most cats meet first, and it has stayed popular for a simple reason: the flower top gives a cat three different ways to drink from the same unit, so most cats find one they like rather than ignoring the whole thing.

Key Features

• Three Flow Settings: A gentle bubbling top, a calm stream and the flower flow. Cats are individual about this -- some want a trickle to lap from, others only drink from a falling stream
• Dual Action Filter: Activated carbon and ion exchange resin take out odour and soften hard tap water, while the mesh layer catches hair, sediment and grit before they reach the pump
• Strips Down Easily: It comes apart without tools for a weekly wash, which is the difference between a fountain that keeps getting used and one that ends up in a cupboard
• Whiskers Stay Dry: The wide, shallow flower top lets a cat drink without pressing its face into a narrow bowl, which some cats refuse to do
• Spares Are Available: Pump and filter pads are both sold separately, so the unit is repairable

Why A Fountain Helps

Cats are poor drinkers. The domestic cat descends from a desert animal that took most of its water from prey, and a cat on dry food alone often does not make up the difference at the bowl. Moving water gets more cats drinking than still water in a dish does, partly because it is obviously fresh and partly because a cat can see where the surface is without dipping its whiskers in. Drinking more is worth having on its own terms -- it is not a treatment for anything.

Water And Urinary Health

Catit say the ion exchange resin softens tap water and helps prevent urinary tract disease. The part that is well established is the water itself: cats that take in more water pass more dilute urine, which is linked to a lower risk of crystals and stones. A filter is not medicine. A cat that strains in the tray, goes over and over without producing much, cries while going or passes blood needs a vet that day, and a male cat that cannot pass urine at all is an emergency -- hours matter.

Keeping It Clean

• Strip it down and wash every part once a week. A film builds up inside the bowl and under the pump cover that you can feel before you can see it, and that film is the usual reason a cat stops using a fountain.
• Rinse all detergent out. Cats are far more sensitive to the smell of washing-up liquid than we are.
• Never let it run dry. The pump is cooled by the water it moves, so an empty bowl kills it.
• Change the filter pad about once a month, sooner in a dusty home or with a long-haired cat.
• Top it up daily rather than waiting for the low mark.

Who Makes It

Catit is the cat brand of Rolf C. Hagen, the Montreal company founded in 1955. The Design Senses and Flower Fountain ranges are its best known, and parts for them are sold separately so a unit can be repaired rather than replaced.

Good To Know

• Give a new fountain a fortnight. Plenty of cats ignore one for days, and leaving the old water bowl out alongside it during the changeover stops a stand-off.
• Put it away from the food bowl. Cats generally prefer to drink somewhere other than where they eat, which is why so many of them drink from taps and glasses instead of the bowl next to the biscuits.
• It needs mains power, so the siting is decided by the socket -- out of the way of a cable a cat or a vacuum can catch.
• A cat that suddenly starts drinking far more than usual is not a fountain success story. Increased thirst is one of the first signs of kidney disease, diabetes and an overactive thyroid, and it is worth a blood test rather than a mental note.