My cat has chronic UTIs and she needs to keep her water intake up. She is IN LOVE with drinking out of faucets... particularly the bath tub... so this water fountain is perfect for her. And she loves it (even though she will still drink out of the faucet any day of the week...) I've bought other water fountains before, and for the price (I think I paid about $30 or $35), this is a MASSIVE water fountain for the price. I paid a similar price for a fountain that was a quarter of the size of this. And I totally love this one more than my previous ones because it actually has a stream of water coming out of it similar to a sink faucet. A few things to keep in mind with this (and any electric water fountain in general)... These get dirty a lot more quickly than just bowls of water. In my first water fountain days, I just used tap water, and literally every other day the fountain was filled with junk/goop and needed to be cleaned (particularly around the filter//water pump). It was seriously gross and I didn't want my cat drinking out of it. Since then, I have used filtered water (from my Brita filter) or distilled water (I buy it by the gallon in Walmart) and I can go about a week without having to do a massive clean of the fountain. I just top the water off every day, add ice cubes, or just do a quick change of the water if it gets really bad (or if you have multiple pets). I am particular about keeping my cat's water clean, so I wouldn't recommend going any longer than that (although I'm sure you could). I also do not use filters in my fountain as using the filtered water/distilled water is a help. When I was using tap water in previous fountains, I will say that the filters collected a LOT of disgusting junk, and the filter just sits in the water, causing the junk to sit in the water, which in my opinion, really isn't doing its job since the water is still gross. I have not used a filter with this fountain though, so I don't know if the filter actually sits int he standing water like my other fountains did. But regardless, if you use filtered/distilled water, you shouldn't have much need for a filter anyways. This can be a little tricky to clean, as with any electric water fountain. It needs to be cleaned thoroughly, or your water flow will start to be reduced because junk/goop is accumulating somewhere where you didn't clean. It actually took me 3-4 times to realize that I was missing places to be cleaned... My water flow kept slowing down, but when I kept investigating, I realized that I was missing spots to clean. UPDATED: Some hints to clean this... 1) The water pump actually is 4 pieces. ONE: The large part of the filter; TWO: You can pop the entire side of the filter off that has the grid/openings where water comes through; THREE: Once you pop that side off, use tweezers to pull out the circular part; and FOUR: Once you remove that circular part, you can take the actual fan of the filter off which you will need to clean out with a brush or something. All four parts will have goop on them so it is important that you clean all four parts. Additionally, there is a white warning piece of plastic on the wire for the filter that will show you all of the parts and how they come apart. IF YOUR FILTER STOPS WORKING: Mine wouldn't run anymore (I thought it died), but it was because I didn't realize that the filter came apart more and so much goop was stuck inside that the motor/fan was getting stuck. Once I cleaned it out, it started running again. 2) The top part of the fountain where the water streams out of for your pet to drink is actually a few pieces. I believe there are 4-5 pieces. ONE: The cover, remove this; TWO: The large cylinder that the water flows up into; THREE: When you take the top circular cover off, there are THREE pieces left. You must remove all three of them (you may need to use tweezers to remove the last part because it is hard to get off). You may not realize it has all of the pieces at first, but they are all there. Just be sure to completely take them all apart and clean or you will have junk/goop start to slow down your water flow. This will happen regardless if you use filtered/distilled water (and will happen a LOT quicker if you use plain tap water), and I'm guessing it's just from food pieces getting into the water after your pet eats. This isn't that hard to clean once you get it apart, but it does require a good weekly cleaning to make sure that the water tastes fresh and the water flow remains good (as well as getting the goop out that can contain bacteria). It takes me about 5 minutes total to completely wash now that I know what I need to clean/take apart. But it is crucial that you make sure to clean this properly by taking the whole thing apart or it will get gross. This is for any water fountain, not just this one. Hope this helps!
