There’s a new generation of cat water fountains, and it’s good news for cats and their people.

Many cats don’t drink enough water, and fountains have long been recommended as a good way to encourage water intake.

A few years ago, we bought an inexpensive fountain at Petco, brought it home, and were initially very happy.

But it quickly became a real pain to clean and maintain. It didn’t take too long for it to be relegated to a closet where it still waits “just in case” it might ever be needed again.

The problems? Well, it needed to be plugged in so that the pump would work. That was fine, for a short while. But it limited where it could be placed. The cord was always an awkward appendage. Then it required a good cleaning every week or so, which meant disassembling the fountain, but also taking out the pump, which was immersed in the water, and taking apart its various tiny parts in order to reach and remove the seaweed-like stuff that spontaneously grew everywhere. And when not properly cleaned, the pump struggled and could be heard down the hall from our bedroom. Although the cats generally liked it, this thing was too much for the humans in the house. Into the closet it went.

Then I started seeing ads for a new generation of water fountains, particularly one called the Elfin Fountain. It offered two things. A choice of battery operation, so that it could be placed anywhere after charging and operate wirelessly if desired. And the Elfin Foundatin doesn’t have a traditional electric pump. Instead, it uses a magnetic technology that is hidden in the base. A small magnetized wheel sits in an indentation in the base, and a simple tube connects up through the water pan on top and creates a bubbly fountain either when a cat approaches, or on a timer system every 15 minutes or so. It has a filter which needs to be changed every month or so, and the fountain itself needs to be rinsed out about once a week, although there’s no pump to disassemble, which makes it so much easier! The only other trick is to keep the water level above a minimum level, and charge the battery. Ours has been running for two weeks on the initial charge.

Our fountain arrived about 10 days ago. The first charge took several hours. Then I filled it with water, assembled the few pieces, pressed the “on” button, and it was ready. I didn’t know whether the cats would be scared or attracted.

The answer to that appears below! Just click to watch the video.

The Elfin turns out to be absolutely silent. It makes no noise at all. The cats notice the water moving when they approach, and that seems to attract them, perhaps at first to play, but quickly to drink. Kiko “got it” right away, as you see in the short video, with Kinikini and Kali not far behind. I’m not sure yet whether Bessie is using it yet, so we have a traditional water dish available to her.

This beast isn’t inexpensive. But it’s exciting to watch the cats having fun.

I should say that the Elfin Fountain is delivered from Hong Kong. After our initial experience, I’ve ordered a second so that we can have fresh water available to the cats on each end of the house.