Ancol Whale Cat Fountain

Cats drink badly. It is a species-wide problem inherited from an ancestor that got most of its water from prey, and it is why so much feline kidney and urinary trouble has dehydration somewhere behind it. Moving water is the reliable trick — cats will drink from a fountain when they walk past a full bowl all day.

This one is ceramic rather than plastic, and that is the specification worth caring about. Ceramic is non-porous, so it resists the bacterial film that builds up in a scratched plastic reservoir and the smell that comes with it, and it goes in the dishwasher. Ancol build it to run whisper-quiet, which matters on something that is on day and night in a room a cat sleeps in — a noisy fountain gets unplugged and then it is just an ornament.

• Ceramic construction, non-porous
• Dishwasher safe
• Whisper-quiet operation
• Continuous flow of fresh water
• Suits cats and dogs

No capacity or dimensions have been supplied to us. Ancol give us nothing on how much water it holds, how big it is, or what the filter arrangement is — which on a fountain is what decides how often you top it up and what replacements you will be buying. Ask us to check before you order if that matters. And whatever the material, a fountain needs cleaning weekly and the water changing: the reason to prefer ceramic is that it is easier to keep clean, not that it stays clean.

Who it's for: cat owners worried about how little their cat drinks, and anyone who has given up on a plastic fountain because of the noise or the slime.