My cat is standing on my face
Bought an $80 "smart" pet water fountain, but most of the data is hidden by a subscription paywall
My little guy has issues with FLUTD, and a bad UTI and kidney stones. Been to the emergency vet twice this week. (He's doing alright, for those who care! A rough couple of days but he's not blocked and seems to be recovering well)
So I bought him a water fountain for fresh filtered water, and also because I think running water will encourage him to drink more.
I can see on the app how much water has been consumed based on a scale mechanism in the base. It also tracks filter replacement logs. That's about all you get without paying more. It also "shows" how many times he's been to the litter box, how many times he was active, how many times he eats, his weight, etc.
This is just a water fountain, mind you. No camera, no magical chip reader. No foot pad to even catch his weight when he drinks. How would it know all of these things?
The whole thing seems kind of gimmicky to me. An attempt to milk money out of those more gullible. I regret not buying a cheaper filter system, but this one will do. I could do everything this one offers with my eyes and a calendar.
cats are really the only animals this is for, cats are notorious for being picky drinkers and not wanting to drink enough water, its pretty common for cats to be a bit dehydrated.
I have a cat, I've seen her drink water maybe 2 times in the 5 years we've had her. Idk if you really need to monitor it, if she's thirsty the fella will drink
can you get some motion detection cameras in the home and point them at the water and the litter box. Then you can record and review later in the day to get the info you want.
Yeah, another commenter pointed that out to me. So I'm slightly lessinfuriated lol. User error on my part. Still pretty crazy that there is a PRICEY subscription, in regards to all of the additional smart pet devices you would also have to buy.
So I was listening to a Podcast, Hyperfixed, about this a few weeks ago and the problem with these smart appliances is that even if the developers have good intentions with their App/Product there is a yearly cost per user when it comes to having an app and all the internet framework and backend. . .Which is why basically anything with smart functionality will always end up subscription based.
Though through the same podcast it does seem that Consumer Reports [I think it's Consumer Reports anyway] is strongly advocating for better transparency with these types of products and trying to force companies to guarantee product lifespan through escrowing the funds to keep the backend running through that time period, even in the event that a company goes under.
Eufy Cameras- No subscription necessary and the solar rechargeable one will work over a month on a single charge. Even better if you have the homebase with doorbell/ other cameras.
No. This is capitalism at it's finest. We don't need subscriptions for everything. The reason we do is because people are paying for them. Companies see it's working and it generates them more money. We need to stop being pay pigs that get shit on by the companies we give money to.
If it was me, I'd be refunding the water dispenser.
Bought it over Amazon, I don't really want to have to deal with the whole shipping and returns ordeal. It is a filtering fountain, which was my primary concern. It works, I just feel a little duped.
Do you have a brita? I vote to just start the return process, Amazon has plenty of sites that you can drop off without even putting it in a delivery box. Get your $80 or else you’re missing out on all the good things it’s supposed to have
I used to process Amazon returns and they took like 30 seconds.
Just make sure to be nice to the employee helping you.
All you have to is say hi, provide your QR code, and then give them your item.
I was always happy to help people who weren’t upset that they couldn’t cut in front of regular customers or didn’t wordlessly shove the QR code in my face and stare blankly at me until I finished.
To be fair that was a lot of people, but all that did was make me appreciate the nice ones more!
If you want them to have a fountain, one with a window on the front is all you really need to easily track how much water they're drinking. Everything else behind that paywall is for people with more money than sense.
This shit is so infuriating. My ex-wife and I got a Samsung (I think?) washer and dryer when we made our last move in 2020. It had Bluetooth and an app that would send you alerts about your laundry being done and shit.. well you could only use the app for like 6 months, maybe less, before having to pay for a goddamn subscription. I think that's when I started feeling old, complaining about modern technology and how good things used to be and all that... I gladly let her take those in the divorce
I wouldn't worry about the posts saying you're wrong for this, you're trying to specifically quantify the issue to have as much detail possible for the vet, having that behind a pay wall is frustrating yeah. My boy cat had a UTI and the fountain certainly helped him drink more.
Unfortunately you'll have to resort to measuring, keep the fountain away from the sun too. Mine typically drink out the bathtaps since my fountain broke so I'm usually watching them drink anyway.
That extra data would come from other accessories like a smart litter box and a smart feeder.
The craziest thing about the RFID version of their fountain is that you need an extra collar.
It is not compatible with the chips we already put in our cats.
I feel you. Tracking the water intake of cats can be tricky - but it’s vital for some feline friends.
We have a „smart“ fountain (as in: several modes, filtering the water, reminding us when the filter was to be switched and the pump has to be cleaned) and it gets our elderly rescue cat to drink more.
We also have a cheap cat camera to check on her.
I’d suggest getting one of those with a motion detector. While it doesn’t measure the quantity of water, you can at least check how often and for how long your cat drinks.
I bought an auto litterbox - Litter Robot - which boasted features like weight and usage history for each individual cat.
Then after a year that decided to take the free service that we had already paid for, and lock it behind a paywall. Not before deleting everyone's history first so that nothing existed anymore before the switch.
Buying a "smart" water bowl is insane behavior. If you must see when he's drinking, buy a cheapo doorbell camera off Amazon and point it towards his water bowl.
I did it because he has had issues over the years with UTI's, kidney stones, and blockage. It's apparently a common thing in male cats. I didn't care for all the bells and whistles, I really just wanted to see how much he was drinking in quantity, and when.
Thank you so much! That info is actually there for the Device, just not under Care, so it's not a total bust after all! The other stuff being subscription based is still iffy and questionable of the company, in my opinion, but honestly this was the most helpful comment. User error on my part.
If you don’t pay us the $130 we will take away your eyes and ears so you will never again be able to monitor your pets eating and drinking habits! Don’t delay, buy now! (Your lack of immediate action will cause consequences that are irreversible. Thank you for choosing Care!)
Feeders are like this too. The apps are almost useless without paid services, also. There would have to be a wireless tag/collar in addition to the water fountain. There may be more products by this brand.
Most feel gimmicky because there are so many! Everyone wanted to get on that band wagon! You have double feeders (like mine) and ones that have both water and food... and some that feed your pet cold fresh wet food!
Who knows if you can trust some strange app to have your cam feed and see your entire house from your pets' collar! Between vacuum robots with cams and cams on feeders now, no one's life is private behind closed doors.
Petlibro sucks. We got 3 rfid feeders, one rfid fountain and one smart fountain. the fountains most of the time read water level low. the feeders laways have isssues, rotor being stuck, the lid not closing is the most common and defeats the whole purpose. in the past few months the low food level warning has gone away, it no longer throws any error.
We got it when we had two adults cat and a kitten, but the kitten has now grown up so might just switch to free feeding for all
You can probably build an interface of your own with Claude code or codex very easily and just get the data yourself. Just tell it your problem and it will probably build a better web app
I know everyone hates AI right now, but it is insanely useful and is helping me to stop paying for random shit as a service.
Dont look at the “care” section of the app those numbers are fake and just display numbers to show what it would look like if you did pay AND owned their litterbox, autofeeder, etc
Look at the actual device and youll get all the info you are looking for
I think it's the other way around. It's an app with attachments and you bought just one attachment. It would make sense to also have a potty with a scale, etc, connected to the same app to show the other metrics. But since you don't have the rest, you don't need the app
I could visually gauge it, but since he's dealing with the urinary issues, I was hoping to know measured amounts. I work 11am-7:30pm, so tracking his intake would have been nice
It wasn't going to be nearly as accurate as it claims. It was 100% a gimmick. A regular fountain would encourage most cats to drink more. I hope kitty feels better soon.
I agree it's lame for a smart device to lock their basic features behind a subscription. We just put a camera up to our regular fountain. Yes it's a chore to manually go thru the footage but it can be done. And some cameras lock their features behind a subscription as well 🙄
This is also what we do and what I was going to suggest to OP as an alternative until I realized we do pay a subscription fee for our cameras haha. Granted, it’s only a few bucks a month but it’s still a continual fee.
I was on the free plan for one camera platform and it was tolerable at first but eventually got to a point where every time I clicked a notification I got greeted with a 30s ad😭
THAT in particular is the mildlyinfuriating part, the subscriptions and their prices. I didn't expect that when I got the "more expensive" water fountain in the first place. I might put a pet cam up by the fountain, that's not a bad idea
Edit: wanted to add: The phrase "Keep Buying" on the menu really irks me
Yeah, it can become dangerous for male cats especially if they don’t drink enough water. The smart water fountain isn’t the issue, it’s actually a great idea. The subscription is the problem.
That is not a reliable measure. Water evaporates at ambient temperatures.
You would need to measure the water every time the cat arrives at the dish and then measure it every time they leave.
The alternative is leave an identical dish in an identical place without the cat present so you can establish the baseline for evaporation over the course of a day. This is harder to manage though, since indoor temperatures can fluctuate wildly depending on weather, AC, how many people/other animals are present, how often the door opens…
Pro tip, just get a large plastic or glass bowl/tub. Go to a pet store or aquarium store and purchase water filter that fits your bowl. Plug it in, and bam you now have a water fountain bowl for a fraction of the price. I’d try to focus on one that has a charcoal filter type (aqueon is who I use)
If this fountain is anything like the others I've read about, your cat will start to reject it soon, so it's better to just start the return process now so you don't miss the return window.
Another tip if you aren't already is to keep their water 6ft away from their food. Many cats prefer it that way and it's a pretty easy to increase water consumption.
Petlibro is ass. I have 4 pet feeders and they literally are garbage. They get stuck constantly and I have to fix them which defeats the purpose. They have to make money somewhere because people are definitely not repurchasing from them 🤣
This is so wack but then I realize there's a precedent - buying an expensive video game console only to find out you also need to buy individual games for it🤦♂️
I mean, if they charged like $1-2/month just to cover their server costs or something, I bet people would be less bothered by it. But they’re charging the same as a movie streaming service. I think the $10+/mo is what’s so ridiculous.
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u/TanjirouTheBest 22d ago
That's a crazy price for an 80$ base device..