Dog Cat recycling water bowl

We have ALOT of indoor dwelling animals.  Filling water bowls all day is time consuming.  We have shopped for the fresh flowing commercial pet water fountains and found them to be expensive, low volume and poor quality.  I came up with a high volume no frills alternative.  Extremely easy to put together and very inexpensive.  The critters all drink from it...large dogs to cats.  The basic idea can be made to what ever fountain configuration your imagination can concieve. 

Step 1 Basic equipment

One large water tight container and one smaller container.  Consider the size of your smallest critter when choosing container size and height.

Smallish clean rocks to mostly fill the small container and hold the pump inplace.

One small, low volume fountain pump.  A larger, high volume pump may shoot the stream on to the ceiling or across the living room.

Comments

[agrodolce]

I wonder if it would work with a submersible mini-filter. I think you'd get the water movement, and it would also filter out the variety of crud that pets dump into their water. I may have to try this out!
Here's what I mean- http://www.amazon.com/Hagen-Elite-Underwater-Filter-Listed/dp/B0009YD7D4

[Wrencat]

Awesome :) I have one of those expensive filters... it's loud, and my cats likes to "play" in the water so I end up with a puddly mess around it. Thanks for your suggestion, I think I can dress it up a bit with a large ceramic bowl or vase (perhaps a pot for a plant that does not have drain holes?) and have an attractive water feature AND pet waterer in one! Thanks again!

[susanrm]

I love it, and I KNEW I rescued that little pump from my flea market table for a reason!

My cat has to drink a lot (renal deficiency), so this would be ideal. However, I am concerned about the contents of the plastic, even more than the stones. I wonder if some sort of ceramic container could be used instead, like a big planter with no hole in the bottom. I'm going to keep my eyes open.

[jmsdo]

I'm sure you can use what ever container(s) you have around. I have seen another instructable using an aquarium filter simply attached to the side of a container. I used rocks simply to hold the pump in place. The little suction cups on the bottom of the pump would not stay stuck to the plastic for very long underwater. I did not want to use a toxic glue. I figure the rocks are pretty clean and not nearly as gross as the things they all lick, eat and put in their mouths all day.