That time I almost dropped a full pet water bowl and thought 'there has to be a better way'.

Hi! Welcome to The Night Shift, where just about anything is up for discussion. It's about 4AM as I start this post.

The neighborhood, neighborhood-ed earlier, but all seems to be quiet now, thank goodness.

I’ve got a peppermint-vanilla candle burning on the stove. The pets are all tucked into bed. Except for Cooper, who is snoozing fitfully in my lap.

I've had my coffee. I'm debating breakfast.

Let's get this thing going.

So. Here's the scene. I was gathering up the laundry to put it through the washer and dryer, when, while gathering up the pet laundry, I thought to myself, ‘most of this-all looks like ass’.

Now I will admit that a good chunk of the pet stuff around here was created from scrap fabric, plus old sheets and towels, but, still.

I said to myself, ‘self, you can do better; come on now’.

But I had to shelve that thought because Chevy (one half of The Tuxie Twosome) had suddenly decided to take a bath in the water dish again; this meant that the water dish had to be dumped, washed, and refilled— after all, we pawrents of indoor cats all know where his paws have been.

ahem

The miscreant in question:

Chevy regrets nothing

Moving on..

There I was, marching this washed and freshly-filled, decent sized water bowl across the kitchen, when Chevy decided that ‘helping’ me bring the water dish back to the water-absorbing mat (of course there's a water absorbent mat; this is not my first rodeo—or even my second— with a cat that uses the water dish as a wash station—was going to be The Way Of Things.

Instead, I damn near tripped over him, which, if I had done that, would have sent a heavy ceramic water bowl and a gallon or so of cold water (give or take) sailing across the floor and all over Chevy, which would have been no good.

I narrowly (narrowly!) succeeded in putting the full water dish properly onto the water dish mat (instead of spilling it all over Chevy and the floor), and, as I straightened back up, I thought that I should really get it together as a pet mama and get these guys a refillable from the sink water fountain style water dish, because reasons.

So I went looking for sewing patterns for kitty sweaters that will fit them, and I actually had one that will fit Parkour and her brothers..and Max the dog, as well. Woo!

That particular task accomplished, I then went looking for large capacity pet water fountains.. because as we all know I don't just have cats, I also have Max the Labrador.

Gentle Readers, I was not prepared for what a load of hooey some pet water fountains are.

If it wasn't the (Mother of God!) expense of the thing, it was the teensy size or the material (I don't let my crew eat or drink from plastic; I have had pets with severe acne or plastic allergies and I won't go through that again if I can avoid it) and if it wasn't the expense, or the material, it was the build quality (water pumps should last more than a month, says me).

On and on and round and round I went down the proverbial rabbit hole of pet water fountains.

Along the way, I saw a custom made pet water fountain, that, if I didn't know any better, looked for all the world like a repurposed bar sink…and I thought, ‘waitaminnit that's almost perfect’.

… the wheels in my head began to turn, as it occurred to me, that I could make my own..right-sized and built right artisanal pet water fountain..and...it could be pretty..and it wouldn't cost all outdoors, either.

You guys..

…it was on.

It was not long before I stumbled across evidence that someone else had had roughly the same idea, but better than my first thought.

So I did what anyone would do, and took notes..with ideas for improvement to create ‘Version 2.0’; Black Sheep edition ‘.

You see, a lot of life, even the pet pawrent life, revolves around fitting in. Don't believe me, find out that you’ve made a mess of things as a pet pawrent and in public.

But. Pet pawrents (just like a lot of other folks) don't necessarily want to be where they fit in. They want to be where they belong. Think: reactive dog mailing lists. Think: rescue cat forums. You get the idea.

But this is me. The upshot of it is, I want my pets to have nice things, but on a budget.

Anyway.

Sometimes a pet pawrent on a budget feels they have to white knuckle a custom build for their pets and then either turn it into a one-size-fits-most kit for the other pet pawrents..or create a tutorial for the other pet pawrents.so that they can white knuckle it (just a bit less than you did), too. You'll see this a lot on things like catios so that indoor kitties get contained outdoor play space and fresh air.

Me, on the other hand, I want my pets to be comfortable, warm, and have filtered water to drink and I want the setup to be easily mopped up after in case of spillage, or, more likely, Chevy taking a bath in it again.

Revolutionary, I know. LOL

But I have 2 kitchen and bath design shops nearby, a farm supply store, and a couple of hardware stores. And I have tools. And I know how (in theory) to run a water and drain lines. Last but not least, I have a long demonstrated willingness to punt.

(Whether I feel called to make a tutorial about it isn't something I've decided yet)

Let's do this thing.

So. First I made a sketch for what I envisioned this setup to look like.

Then I made a list of the parts I'd need (water fountain, plumbing, tile, electric, etc)

Then came the first bugaboo: where was I going to put it?

The first obvious answer was, ‘somewhere near the kitchen sink’. This was going to take a bit of thought.

The second obvious answer was ‘in the Kitty Spa’, but that means that Max doesn't get to access it. Which nixed that idea.

And on and on I went.

Anyhoo.

I finally elected to do what I could, with where I was at. Off to the copy shop tomorrow to print out a pattern then off to the thrift shop to pick up a couple of sweatshirts to harvest fabric from to make kitty sweaters. From there it's time to see what nifty things I can snag to make the water fountain the pets would want, with the features that I, as a pet mama, want.

Stay tuned.

Talk again soon,

Deb