Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I received the PetMate FreshFlow in November, 2005, and put it to work right away. My wife and I have six cats, ranging from longhair to shorthair to haireverywhere, and I am pretty sure they all drank from it. They became accustomed to it very quickly, the youngest being absolutely fascinated by it. The entire time, I also had a high-capacity gravity-fed waterer in another room, so it wasn't the only source of water being used. Most noticible is that the FreshFlow is almost silent when the water is topped off, but if the water level falls, there is a very discernable motorized-gurgling noise. This goes away as soon as you refill the reservoir tank by removing the lid, pulling out the tank (which reminds me a bit of a gerbil waterer on steroids), unscrewing the cap, filling it up, then doing all this in reverse; a 30-second process. The gurgling happens every day, and I would rinse the unit every couple/few days, and completely wash the unit out once every two weeks. I also changed the filter regularly, at least once a month. Beyond this, I made a point of pulling cat hair away from the little plastic screen in the water bowl, well, all the time. In short, I thought I did a pretty good job in maintaining the equipment. Any more than what I did, and honestly, I would rather buy surgical steel dishes and rotate them on a daily basis for the cat's use. Still, after taking the machine apart completely every few weeks to clean as instructed, the submersible pump failed after exactly 19 weeks and three days of use. I liked the machine... when it was working. I just purchased a pet fountain from a different company (I can't recall the make offhand... I should be receiving it soon) that ran in the $40 neighborhood, and I think it will be worth the extra money, but time will tell. All in all, I don't think this purchase was worth it. Maybe it's because of all the cats and cat hair, but for those of us at least who do have a multiple cat household, I think it's wise to consider buying a higher-scale unit.