After two weeks our family has had it with this fountain! It is noisy to the point that no one, not even the cats, wants to be in the kitchen with it. Don't waste your money!

I have one adopted cat, so I purchased the Drinkwell original pet fountain plus the 70 ounce reservoir. My cat had previously been in a home where the faucet was left running 24/7 so he refused to drink from a bowl. (Cat's rule, don't they!!)Since we cannot leave water running on our very tight water rations, our wake-up calls were getting most annoying. Needless to say, I was excited to find this product, though the mixed reviews did concern me. First, I must say that this fountain is flimsy to the touch. The first time it was used, the motor noise was loud enough to be heard 30 ft. away through two rooms; the running water could not be heard at all. My cat wouldn't go near it because of the noise, so it took about 7 days for him to trust it. Instructions specify cleaning the motor every two weeks, but the motor could not be removed even with a hefty strong hand, and I didn't want to pry it out with a tool for fear of breakage, so after about 5 days of first use, I took everything apart, removed the impeller and cleaned the motor intact with a wire brush. Even though there were no visible signs of cat hair/sand/dirt etc., once everything was put back together - it worked quietly! Perhaps the impeller needed to be blessed, I don't know. But it works quietly now. And the 70-ounce reservoir is a must. I've got mine on an uneven tile floor, no mat, with the backside (reservoir side) resting against wooden cupboards and it runs quietly. My cat doesn't play with it so there's no fear of knocking the reservoir off, although it is very flimsy construction. The reservoir was easy to attach - follow instructions specifically, and you'll not spill a drop of water. BTW, with the 70 ounce reservoir, your cat will have fresh water for about 6 days. Since we live in a hot climate, sometimes I throw a couple ice cubes in the bowl. So much better than a bowl of standing water!! I've taken one star off for flimsy construction and a stuck motor.

This is the greatest gift for a cat who loves to drink from the bathtub or sink faucet...their very own running fountain. It's quiet so long as you don't let it run too low on water. The cat and I are both very happy with it.

I bought this water fountain in replacement of a Deluxe Fresh Flow from Petmate, I was looking for an option that demanded less maintenance as the Petmate fountain required a pump replacement every 12-18 months. In summary switching to Drinkwell was a bad mistake.

The design behind the Drinkwell fountain initially surprised (positively) because it's extremely simple, you assemble and disassemble it in a breeze, I even thought of the mechanism to mount the pump as smart, especially compared to that of the Petmate fountain which is a submersible pump.

But once I assembled and filled my new fountain my opinion on its design changed radically, what Drinkwell describes as "little humming" is really a loud, annoying and constant vibration noise. I tried everything in order to make it go away: re-assembling the fountain, putting it on top of a soft plastic mat, putting some rubber between the pump and the body of the fountain, you name it. The fact is the noise comes from inside the pump and I could not find a way to bring it to the level of the promised "humming", similar to that of the Petmate fountain.

As expected my two cats simply rejected the idea of drinking from something that makes this horrendous noise, so in simple words this product beats its own purpose. Provided that your cat is less sensitive to the noise, if you live in a small place or if you appreciate the quietness and peace of mind of your home definitely don't buy this product.

I bought a water/feeder from Walmart that hooked up a 2-Liter bottle in order to keep the water filled up. One, you have to change it everyday because it gets really nasty fast. And two, my cats started knocking it around and watching the water spill down the floor. I was browsing different fountains and came across this one. I went ahead on impulse and bought it. After about 5 minutes, two out of three cats were already drinking out of the waterfall part and then the third cat took about a week before she started lapping out of the bowl. I have to clean it twice a week or it gets a scum line and I try to take extra care making sure no hair wraps around the motor. They don't knock it around even though it seems it would be easy to, and they don't stick things in the water like they used to. Only thing they've done is push the top off several times so I tape it shut when I'm done cleaning it. Also, my cats drink so much water now, they seem happier and healthier. Definitely worth it if you want to give your cats everything they need.