The Felix is a bit of a fusspot.
Actually, he’s a lot of a fusspot. He likes thing how he likes them and part of my job as a dog owner is apparently to ensure his every whim is met. He’s a persnickety dog, so frankly, this could be a full time job. He prefers to eat his meals at 10 AM and 7 or 8 pm, his “evening” walk should be in the dark (and you had better not dare turn on a flashlight) and he will only play with giant toys.
One of his particular pet peeves is an unkempt water bowl.
In his ideal world, he’d have a water bowl all of his own, but seriously? How the woof would keep Koly away from it? That puggle thinks everything in the house belongs to him. You can actually see Felix’s snout getting out of joint when Kolchak drinks from the bowl. His biggest issue appears to be slobber and debris. Kol is a messy drinker and more often than not, there is a ball of fluff, a small stick, a few stray puggle hairs and various other crap to be found in the bowl when he is done. It offends Fe’s sense of all that is fair and just in the world when he believes that darn cat has been in his dish. Felix is never amused.
We were super excited to get to try The Watering Hole Automatic Fresh Water Fountain from Cat’s Rule.
I know what you’re thinking. Cat’s Rule? Ummm, aren’t Kolchak and Felix…dogs? Well, yeah, technically, but they’re small dogs. About the same size, maybe a titch bigger than, your average Garfield-sized cat. (That’s actually one of my best money saving tips as a small dog owner. Consider similar products designed for cats. You can usually save a pretty penny.) Plus, we have Peter. Peter is legit a cat and therefore often uses cat products. (He also often uses dog products. It’s tough to be a cat at Casa de Kolchak.)
First off, let me just say The Watering Hole Automatic Fresh Water Fountain is adorable and whimsical as woof.
I was so excited to open the box and set it up. I love frogs and the idea of a frog fountain kind of rocked my world. (The fountain is also available in a mad cool cow or a fancy fishie.) I men really, who wouldn’t want this cuteness in their kitchen?
The fountain was super easy to put together; pop in one of the active carbon filters, sit the frog on the basin and BAM! You’ve got a fountain. Since the water is continuously flowing through the filter, a whole lot of crud is cleaned out. They say pets are more likely to drink flowing water than stagnant water and I definitely noticed that the dogs wanted to drink more. There was a noticeable different in the amount of “slime” in the water and around the edges of the bowl. I didn’t notice nearly as much debris floating in the water (though there was still some puggle hair stuck on the edges of the bowl. Gee that boy can shed!) Fountain supposedly keep water cool through circulation. It’s been HOT AS WOOF here in BC the last few weeks, so anything that helps keep the water dish cool while I am at work is a bonus.
To test it, I left a regular bowl of water out and the fountain on. While the fountain water was certainly cooler, cleaner and less gross than than the regular bowl, I wouldn’t necessarily describe the water as “cool”. In my dream world, we’d have a water fountain with a cooling feature. Felix LOVES chilled water.
The frog is nice and sturdy, but we found the bowl a bit flimsy for our taste, which led to some spills when filling and/or cleaning it. We’d love to see this with a bit stronger bowl. That being said, at a price of $22.99, I’d say this fountain is pretty darn good value. You’d be hard pressed to find another fountain for less. A stronger bowl would cost more and or a person less accident prone than myself, the flimsiness of the bowl might not be a concern.
All in all, we’re fans of The Watering Hole Automatic Fresh Water Fountain.
We’ve been missing it this week at Casa de Kolchak. Where did it go, you ask? Well, my friend has an elderly cat, Blackjack. BJ is blind and suffering from kidney failure. He’s been dehydrated lately and she heard a fountain might help. For a cat like BJ, the benefits are two fold: He can hear the water splashing into the basin, so he knows where to find it and drinking more will help his kidneys perform much better. He’s test driving this fountain to see if it works. We really hope it does: so far, so good!
