Dear Excellent Folks at Wirecutter,
I am writing to “right a wrong” about your review this summer of pet water fountains.
You left out Brook Glass pet fountains, which are truly the crème de la crème of the category.
I say that not because I invited them to be a sponsor of my podcast Cat Chat (which was also a live weekly show on the Martha Stewart channel of Sirius for 7 ½ years).
I say it not because I admire Brook for being privately owned and personally designed.
I say that not because I wrote “The Cat Bible: Everything Your Cat Expects You to Know” so am acutely aware of the need for cats to consume water, an unnatural act for them without the enticement of the moving water.
I say that not because the two brilliant cat behavior experts on my show, Dr. Mikel Maria Delgado, and Stephen Quandt, introduced me to the fountain and are huge fans of Brook fountains and own them personally.
I say that because Brook is clearly the best-looking, best-designed water fountain a pet and their humans could have. So how you neglected to even consider it amongst the very many other pet water fountains you tested. (some of which were in the mediocre range!) is baffling to me. It's a good bit pricier at $90 than some of your budget or regular picks. It's also sold on Amazon or from their website rather than in stores or displayed in a booth at the pet industry conventions but I don't see that as a downside, because you could still get the affiliate fee.
First let me say that I am a Wirecutter junkie. I mean that literally. I'm hooked on looking for your opinions about pretty much anything one can purchase so I can know what to buy and why, based on your research and common sense.
I'll read your reviews about practically anything and find myself buying items that I never knew I needed! Even once I get them I'm sometimes not quite sure I want them - but you said they're great so I did it.
So now I am reaching out to say you have broken my heart (and slightly my trust in you!) with your omission of what I know to be the most functional and attractive pet fountain on the market. I could not figure out how you could have left out Brook Glass pet fountain while reviewing 21 other fountains, all of which appeared to be dramatically lesser quality on multiple levels. Then you chose your six favorites - none of which could hold a candle to Brook, to my mind.
You didn't consider an all-glass fountain. - only ceramic, stainless steel, or plastic. Just sayin’, but each one was slightly more unattractive than the next. I mean we have to live with the equipment we procure for our cats, and anything that can be aesthetically pleasing is certainly welcome, right?
The Brook fountain is all glass, soundless, with a gentle blue light in the middle of the fountain, which can also be covered up if your cat doesn't like the light. It looks like it belongs in the corner of a Zen garden.
Looks aside, the Brook fountain is in a completely different category of quality and function to attract cats and small dogs. It's all clear glass. The whole thing easily disassembles for hand washing but more delightfully, dishwasher cleaning, which it doesn't need urgently given the two layers of filtration that are part of its design. I hope the next time you do an update on the pet fountains, you will seriously consider this one.
In the meantime I'll go back to buying my mattress, refrigerator, socks, kitchen ware, and household appliances from you. In a world of way too much artificiality, it's great to know that Wirecutter has dozens of real humans walking the walk on behalf of the rest of us.