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Since vet stated that it might be better for them to prevent dehydration I bought a cat fountain for my girls (Catit Flower Fontain). However they seem obsessed with deconstructing it into basic parts (remove lid by tooth etc.) which, well, makes it no longer work.

I tried to weight the lid down by putting a few stones on it (that I cleaned beforehand) but now they are managing to tilt the lid anyway to stop it from working. I thought about duct tape but I don't know if it won't be toxic.

lila
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Maja Piechotka
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    I'd love to know an answer to this. My cats are constantly trying to tip over their fountain, because they're interested in where the water is coming from (they think it comes from the ground, not that it gets cycled). I love them for their inquisitive nature, but I think it's impossible to tell them to stop without destroying that inquisitive nature. – Flater Nov 28 '17 at 11:26
  • @Flater Oh yes. They are little scientists, aren't they. – Maja Piechotka Nov 30 '17 at 00:06
  • how about just an old fashion stainless steel bowl with water? no lid to lift and no hidden compartments to investigate. Not all cats HAVE to have a water fountain to drink. – PandaPants Jul 19 '18 at 16:40
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    @PandaPants That's what they have now. However usually cats prefer running water over standing one as in nature the former is likely to be better (less chance of pollutants). Sure - not a problem in modern times but tell that to thousands of years of evolution... – Maja Piechotka Jul 19 '18 at 20:43
  • Have you considered a different type of fountain? That's a basic plastic design that's really easy for a cat to pull apart; there are plenty on the market that are metal or ceramic, which are both heavier/harder to pull apart, and easier to clean. – Allison C Nov 02 '18 at 13:00
  • My Bengal watched me clean the CatIt Fountain once. Since then he wants to pull it apart. I have put tape on it. That worked for a bit. Then he started turning it on it's side until the tape is wet to fall off & he can tear it off to pull the lid out. He refuses to drink from a bowl with still water. He has FLUTD. So he can't go long without fluids. Oh, what we do for our fur babies. They keep us on our toes.enter image description here – Hollie S Oct 14 '21 at 20:33
  • It's just like SpaceX starship, Rapid Unplanned Disassembly – Deko Revinio May 02 '23 at 17:30
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    @betsyhillendahl If you focus on the character of the fountain you use (ceramic, heavy, maybe with a picture) instead of giving a link to some website, I would assume your answer would be more along the lines of this page :) short answers with a link trigger the "spam" alert... But if you simple repeat some (part of an) answer, it is more welcome to simple upvote the existing answer – Allerleirauh May 03 '23 at 05:09
  • @Elmy would you please have a second look at the deleted answer? It is not possible for me to "vote for undelete" and start the usual process of evaluation – Allerleirauh May 03 '23 at 18:29

4 Answers4

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Try a different fountain.

You might like the look of that specific fountain, but it's made of lightweight plastic pieces that are assembled in a way that allows them to be easily moved by a pet (a lightweight plastic lid seated on top of the reservoir).

There are a number of different styles of fountain available, in plastic, metal, or ceramic. If you're determined to stick with a plastic fountain, look at how the pieces are assembled and try thinking like a cat--how can you push, pull, or knock this object apart? If you can't find a reasonable way, try that fountain, otherwise, keep looking around. If you decide to try a different material, you may have an easier task. Cats generally don't care to bite down on metal, and the ceramic ones are frequently too heavy for them to easily move around. They're also both easier to keep clean.

Once you find a fountain that they won't disassemble, consider how they're going to drink from it. Think about how your cats prefer to drink (do they prefer the bowl, a stream coming from the sink, or something else?) and how the fountain matches that desire of theirs. When you've found a match, make it available, but keep their still water available as well in case they still don't care for it. Some cats just don't like fountains, regardless of what cats generally seem to prefer.

Keep in mind that the aesthetics of the fountain should be the final consideration, below keeping it in one piece and making it appealing to the cats.

Allison C
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enter image description here

I used a small hand drill & some craft wire to hold it down. Doesn’t touch the water & kitty can’t rip it apart.

Laurel
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To stop our kitty from tipping the base, we used double-stick tape and secured the base to a 12x12 ceramic tile. We also prevented pulling out the stainless steel tray by using small pieces of duct-tape in four places (along edge and down side)

Attaching the base to the tile makes it awkward to clean, but do-able. The tray can’t be moved, so we don’t have to deal with the wet filter being removed and dragged across the room. The only thing we can’t prevent is her taking out the flower.

We have two of these fountains, and while these preventative measures make the cleaning inconvenient for us, we will continue to use them until they stop working or until we grow tired of doing this. A different fountain will be in our future, I’m sure.

Allison C
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Chuck and Lynda
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I have had this problem with my CatIt water fountain. The best way I found to keep it together was some good old fashion DUCK-TAPE. Might not be the prettiest, unless you have pretty duck tape, but it sure works.

Lily Hayward
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    It's unlikely that the composition of duct tape is food safe, so it's not advisable to use it for food (or beverage) contact for humans or animals. – Allison C Mar 18 '21 at 19:18