Noise
Cat fountains tend to be noisier when they are running low on water. As long as you keep them topped up (and the pump & filter clean), most of them are fairly quiet.
Maintenance
Similar to simple cat bowls, you’ll have to wash it. However, due to the moving water, it’ll need cleaning less regularly. Most recommend cleaning your cat fountain once a week.
Cat fountains come with a pump and a filter.
The pump will need cleaning every few weeks to ensure there are no blockages building up (depending on product). This is simple and usually just involves taking the cap off the pump, taking out the removable parts, washing them and putting it back together.
Each fountain will have a recommended time for changing it’s filters but usually filters need to be changed every 1-2 months. Filters usually just slot in to the allocated space in the fountain.
Electicity Cost
Most cat fountains tend to have quite low wattage. This means they are quite cheap to run all the time. Our recommendations below have wattage information (if available).