The Dirty Truth Behind Pet Fountain Filters

There’s a marketing arms race going on in the cat fountain industry you should know about – it’s affecting your wallet and your landfill.

The Promise of Multistage Filtration: More Hype Than Help

Many pet drinking fountains on the market today boast increasingly complex multistage filtration systems, featuring everything from resins to multilayer filter materials in elaborate arrangements. While these features might sound beneficial, they are little more than marketing gimmicks. The truth is, these sophisticated-sounding filters are not only redundant but can also be ineffective, unnecessarily expensive, and environmentally wasteful. In some cases, these filters can even do more harm than good by impeding water flow, adding area for bacteria to grow, and introducing chemicals into your pet’s drinking water.

Cat beside bunch of fountain filters say

Why the Hype?

Why are pet fountain manufacturers engaged in this arms race? Two reasons:

It makes their fountain sound better than the other guy’s – ”what, they only have five filter layers?! Ours has seven! And a phone app for each!”

It conveniently justifies proprietary and expensive filter replacement cartridges – turning simple hydration into a high-maintenance money sink.

The Reality: Filtration is the Flow

Contrary to what marketers might want you to believe, a pet fountain purifies the water primarily through its own core function – the flow of the water. Why are animals in the wild instinctively drawn to moving streams rather than stagnant pools? The movement of water is naturally effective at keeping water fresher and cleaner.

Why is flowing water cleaner?

In a word: aeration – the mixing of oxygen into the water. Oxygenated water deters the growth of pathogens and harmful microorganisms, which prefer anaerobic (low-oxygen) conditions. Oxygen-rich environments discourage the growth of algae and the formation of biofilms (think surface-slime).

In addition, the agitation caused by the flow physically disrupts the formation of microorganisms.

Comparison of a Flowing water vs Stagnant water

Is any filtration beneficial?

For pet fountain operation, a coarse debris filter is needed to protect the pump from hair and larger particles. Beyond that, the addition of activated carbon can be beneficial because it effectively removes a broad spectrum of impurities that might be present in the water.

What About Resin Filters?

As for resin, which is often touted for its water-softening capabilities, it's largely redundant when carbon is already used. Activated carbon can perform much of the water-softening task by itself. If your home has significant issues with water hardness, this is best addressed with a comprehensive upstream (pun intended) solution – like an under-sink or whole-house filtration system, or even a pitcher filter for drinking water – which would then be used for human and animal consumption.

Brook’s No-nonsense Approach: Effective and Affordable

At Brook, we strive for straightforward solutions. That's why our fountains utilize a simple yet effective combination of a coarse filter and activated carbon. This approach ensures that your pet's water is clean and safe without unnecessary complexity, cost and waste.

Complete Filtration. Particle filtrarion and water clarification

That’s also why our filter replacements are so affordable – we don’t charge you a marketing gimmick premium. You’re welcome! Just remember to replace the filters on-schedule and rinse before use. And please use your saved money to buy your pet a new toy : )

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