Update 2: Auto Cleaning I am continuing to use the original, and the extra unit that I purchased, rotating them each week, and using the dishwasher to clean the dirty unit. This has worked out great, for many months now. The only thing I was cleaning manually, was the motor core because I didn't want to risk damaging the electrical connector. I came up with a solution for that, and now the entire unit is cleaned in the dishwasher. I found a male connector to match the female connector that's on the cord of the motor, and I plug that in to keep water away from the metal parts of the female connector. The ceramic parts and the filter housing go straight into the dishwasher. The motor core, and the motor parts, and the two small plastic parts of the unit go into the silverware basket, with the lids on the compartments closed to keep the parts from washing out of the silverware basket. That's it! The dishwasher does a great job of cleaning everything, and the female connector on the motor cord is fine, after several months of doing this each week. Our four kitty buddies love this fountain. They drink far more water than any cats I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of cats. Update 1: I mentioned initially that I was thinking about getting a second unit. I did that and it has worked out quite well. Each week I fill the clean unit, then disassemble the dirty one and put ALL of the parts except the motor core, in the dishwasher. I spend another minute cleaning the motor core, and that's it; all set for next week! The work required to maintain is now less than 5 minutes/week. Also, since I handle the ceramic parts much less now, it's less likely that I'll break one. The cost/benefit ratio for buying the second unit is excellent—for me. ---- We rescued a one week old litter of kittens, that were drowning in our backyard during a violent thunderstorm. We ended up keeping four of them, and they are all very healthy and grown up. I mention this because two of them have very severe phobias about the sounds of rain, and of course thunder, so I worried that the sound of the running water would be a problem. No problem at all! All four of our kitty babies love this fountain, and they drink so much more water than they did before. I've read through a lot of the reviews and I have a list of tips that I think might avoid some of the problems people report: * We disassemble and clean the fountain, and install new filters once a week without fail. We could push it a little longer without too much trouble but the way I look at it, I want our babies drinking nice clean water, so changing the filters, even a little early, makes ME feel better if nothing else. * Usually once during the week, I will dump out all the water and rinse and refill the bowl. I don't consider this a cleaning per se, it's just that they manage to get little pieces of food in the water so dumping it out and replacing it halfway through the week just means that their water is cleaner, and it takes all of one minute to do. * I top off the water in the bowl each day. If I forget to do this and the water level gets too low, the fountain will start making sounds that are just annoying enough to serve as a reminder. So I consider that a feature, not a problem. * After every fourth cleaning (each month), I will clean and reassemble it without the filters, fill the bowl half full with water, add a 1/4 cup of chlorine bleach, and let it run for 5 minutes. Then I will dump out the water, rinse it thoroughly, fill it with fresh water and run the motor for a minute or so, dump out the water, install the filters and refill it with fresh water. I do this just to make sure that the ceramic and the few plastic parts remain free of bacteria. The bleach doesn't seem to have damaged any of the parts. * I have never had any problem with charcoal fragments or deposits in the bowl. Maybe that's just luck; all I can say for sure is that at each cleaning I use a new charcoal filter after running water through it while gently shaking it, and also inverting it a couple of times to run the water through it in both directions until it runs clear. * The ceramic sphere gets slippery with algae, and I realized the first time I cleaned it that dropping that thing would be easy, and since we have an enamel sink, it would undoubtedly break if I dropped it, so I have the habit of putting my finger through the hole on the top and always hold the sphere that way while cleaning it. * When we were bottle feeding the kitties, back when they were just tiny babies, we had tiny little bottles for the kitten formula. We had to clean those with little brushes, and then sterilize by boiling them. Those little brushes are perfect for cleaning the motor because they fit into all of the little crevices. I also use a toothbrush, and a dishwashing brush for the larger parts. * Once or twice when I was in a hurry, I have disassembled the unit and put everything but the motor core in the dishwasher. I put the tiny motor parts into the silverware basket that has a little lid that snaps down; that keeps them from getting washed out of the basket. I have seen no problems with any of the parts as a result of this. * This all sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn't. I've got it down to about 10 minutes to clean the whole unit thoroughly. We love this fountain, and our kitties love it too! I am about to order a second unit because I know that eventually I will manage to break something. I can be kind of a klutz, and ceramic is ceramic. Some people have claimed that this unit is a little pricey, but my perspective on that is that it is quite a bargain considering the benefits of having it.
