Catit PIXI Smart Fountain Review: Quiet Pump, Patchy App, Monthly Filter

A fountain has two jobs: keep the water moving and keep it clean. Everything else is decoration. The PIXI Smart adds a UV-C light and a Wi-Fi app to the basic job, and the question for a buyer is whether either of those earns its keep.

The hardware is the good part

The reservoir holds 2 litres (67.5 fl oz). The top is stainless steel and goes in the dishwasher, over a BPA-free plastic body, and it measures 8 by 8 by 6.7 inches. It weighs 1.76 pounds. Three drinking styles are offered: an arching spout, a bubbling stream and a shallow bowl. Catit says the pump is suspended and ultra-silent, and that it detaches completely, which is what makes cleaning tolerable.

Noise is the claim we can partly back up. Retailer-side write-ups praise the quiet pump, and cats took to it quickly. Catit gives no decibel figure, so we would not call it silent. Check the sound in a quiet bedroom before you decide.

A white, blue or red LED in the nose shows the status: blue when UV-C is running, red when water is low. It doubles as a night light.

What the UV-C light does

Catit says the UV-C light runs three times a day for 60 minutes each time, to keep the water clear. You can also trigger it in the app. We should be clear about what that means. Ultraviolet light does not clean a dirty bowl: biofilm on the plastic and the pump still needs washing. The light is an extra, not a replacement for a weekly scrub.

The triple-action filter stacks cotton mesh, carbon and ion-exchange resin. The ion-exchange layer reduces magnesium and calcium, which helps in hard-water areas. The app alerts you to change the filter at 30 days and to service the pump at 60. That is a cheap-looking fountain with a monthly habit: a filter every 30 days is a recurring cost that adds up over a year.

The app is the weak link

Catit's app offers remote power control, a timer, an energy-saving geyser mode, manual UV-C activation and alerts for low water every four hours. Sharing among several users works too. It is useful when you leave a cat with a sitter.

The catch is connectivity. The fountain uses 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi only, with a quoted router range of 30 metres. A ShopSavvy digest of reviews lists app connection problems and longevity issues, with motor failures reported. TTPM reviewed the PIXI fountain and feeder together and gave it 3.5 out of 5: pairing the fountain took about an hour against the promised three minutes, and it paused repeatedly until it was unplugged and restarted. That is one tester with the combined set, but it matches the pattern.

Cleaning day and the pump alert

Cleaning decides whether a fountain stays in use. The steel top goes in the dishwasher, and the pump lifts out in one piece, so there is little to unscrew. The app nudges you at 60 days to service the pump, but a cat fountain gets slimy faster than that in a warm house, so we would rinse the pump and the reservoir every week or two and treat the app alert as a minimum.

The energy-saving geyser mode is worth a mention. It saves power by pausing the stream between bursts. A cat that drinks little may not mind the pauses, and a thirsty cat may, so try both before settling.

If your cat drinks from the bowl and ignores the stream, the shallow bowl option is the one to use. Some cats prefer it, and it is the easiest to wipe.

What it costs

The price depends on where you look. The UK maker store lists GBP 75, and ShopSavvy puts US retail prices between $109.49 and $119.99. Plan on a filter replacement every month on top. The fountain draws under 1 W from its USB adapter, so running costs are not the issue. The filters are.

Who should buy it

Buy it if your cat refuses still water, you like the stainless top, and you can live with a filter schedule. The 2 litre tank suits one cat and is a chore for two or three.

Skip it if the reason you are buying a smart fountain is the app. A fountain without Wi-Fi costs less and has fewer parts that can fail. At 6.3 out of 10, the PIXI Smart is a pleasant fountain with an unreliable layer of software on top.