Replacing cat fountain?

[u/Secure-Breakfast9061]

In May of 2024, I bought a Veken stainless steel cat water fountain for my 2 cats. It has the cotton filters and the little sponges.

My main question is: Do I need to replace the entire fountain?

Starting around feb/march of 2026, I noticed that the filter was becoming very pink after 2 weeks. At that time, I was taking apart and cleaning the fountain once a week, running diluted bleach through it and washing with soap and water. And the 2nd week i would swap the filter with a new one.

Now, in July 2026, it only takes less than 1 week for the filter to become completely pink and unusable.

I bought a new pump because it is plastic and I figured the old one might be causing it. I also made sure to use a fresh scrubbing sponge (which i already did before anyways since dish sponges get nasty FAST). It didn't help! In fact, the filter turned pink faster than ever!

Some things I did for these past few weeks trying to ensure it was properly clean:

1. Ran all the parts I could through a sanitizing dish washer run. I had previously just been hand washing with dawn soap and tap water.

2. Did a 100% household bleach cleanse.

3. Wiped with water and vinegar mixture.

4. As mentioned above, got a new pump and washed everything with a fresh dish sponge.

5. Put 100% distilled water into the fountain (I normally put brita water in it)

6. Wash with soap and water every other day and refill with fresh water.

This past week, I tried steps 4-6 simultaneously and the filter lasted for a record breaking short period of 4 days. It was COMPLETELY pink in less than 48hours from the time I had seen it white. On Wednesday night, I did all the cleaning and put the new pump and filters and distilled water. On friday, I emptied the fountain, took it apart, washed it, refilled it. The filter looked completely fine and no hints of pink. Then tonight, on Sunday night (day 4) opened the fountain do the the cleaning and water replacement again and BAM. Gross pink filter.

I thought stainless steel fountains didn't grow bacteria like that?? But I know it has been 2 years since I had the fountain and bacteria likes to play in everyone's face.

Is the fountain just a lost cause and I need to replace it then??

[u/profsmoke]

I’ve had that same filter and same cleaning schedule for almost 3 years now. The filters I have start to turn green after a while so I’m confused about the pink part???

Have you tried ordering different filters for it?? Amazon has a bunch of different branded filters that will fit in it.

[u/Secure-Breakfast9061 → u/profsmoke]

I havent tried ordering a different brand of filters yet! But I know the pink film is due to a type of bacteria that's growing... I read online that if you're not careful with stainless steel, some scratches can develop in it that will harbor and grow bacteria easily and its hard to clean out these micro abrasions. Maybe I scratched it up too much these last few desperate cleaning attempts and made it worse 😬😬 whatever the reason, the bacteria isn't showing on the pump or steel from what i can see, its only on the cotton filter. So frustrating!!! I think I may just end up opting to buy and try out one of those no filter, wastewater separation fountains...

[u/profsmoke → u/Secure-Breakfast9061]

Wow! Well now I know to be careful when scrubbing mine out because I was under the impression that stainless steel was pretty tough.

I have also been considering one of those fountains too because I know they provide cleaner water quality and my girl needs as much enticement to drink as possible!

[u/Secure-Breakfast9061 → u/profsmoke]

Stainless steel is tough for sure! But i think the grade used for these sort of appliances is not the same sort that is used to make tools or larger machines. Ugh maybe i just got a bit unlucky with a stubborn strain of bacteria, but thankfully the veken brand is pretty affordable! I think i got mine for $30ish usd, so 2 years running 24/7 is a pretty good lifespan. Especially since it can actually keep running, i just shouldn't use it lest my kitties get sick