Customer Reviews

Petmate 24301 Le Bistro Waterer with Microban, 5 Gallons, Bleached Linen

5 star:		(93)
4 star:		(60)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

For whatever reason, my kitties seem to enjoy drinking from the Le Bistro waterer more than from their water dishes. Maybe it's the novelty. I do think it will be a good solution for supplying them with fresh water when I'm away.

It *is* a bit on the light side, though. I put mine in a narrow space between a cabinet and a wall, to make sure they don't use it as a toy and slide it all over the floor.

Update: I stopped using this after finding it one morning tipped over with water all over the floor. It's just too light for a young, playful cat.

I'm only giving this system three stars because the plastic bottle it comes with breaks so easily.
I live in the mountains where it's very dry, so along with birdseed and peanuts for the squirrels, I provide the outdoor critters with water. I started out using a large bowl, but had to refill it too often. The animals often turned the bowl over during the night, and it just wasn't working out well.
So, one day while at WalMart I saw Le Bistro watering unit and thought it would be ideal for providing water for the wildlife. And it was... for about eight months, when suddenly the bottle developed a large crack and could no longer be used. So back to WalMart in search of a replacement bottle, but none was to be found. I bought another unit and brought it home, starting over.
Again, within a year the bottle cracked and I had to throw it away. Now I have two water bowls but no replacement bottle for either one. I am now on my third unit (they are so cheap, after all), but wishing I could find replacement bottles for the future. I have searched pet stores and elsewhere, as well as online, with no results thus far. I do wish this company would provide replacement bottles!

This is a great concept, but the product is so light - when water gets low, my beagles tip it over and end up using the bottle part as a chew toy.

I bought this for my 2 dogs & it works great & cleans up easily! The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of five is because of it's large size it makes it really hard to fill it up inside your home. It doesn't fit under my kitchen sink faucet. I don't have one of those tall neck faucets or a sprayer (wish I did))otherwise it would be a snap to fill. I have to use my bathtub to fill it up and my bathtub is upstairs. The container is really heavy once it's full. My only suggestion would be to purchase a smaller one (2 gallon or 1 gallon), waterer. It would be easier to handle. I also bought the 5 gallon feeder & I LOVE it! It holds a whole 5lb. bag of food which is great! So get the larger feeder & the smaller waterer. Oh and my dogs love the gurgling sound the water makes after they drink out of it! :)

I have had this for about a month and have two 50 pound dogs that go through about 5 gallons a week. Seemed like a good fit for this bottle (note that the pic is of the 5 gallon dog food dispenser and not the waterer). Well, within a day or two of using it the dogs refused to drink from it. I pulled the bottle and poured a glass of water from it and it tasted awful. The plastic leaches chemicals into the water and the dogs wanted nothing to do with it. They drink out of some of the most rancid puddles and mud holes and they wouldn't touch this water. I can only use this dish without the bottle attached for them to use it. I would only suggest this for someone with enough dogs to empty it daily - otherwise the chemical taste of the water will get too strong.

Ok. I got this because I have two dogs and five cats. I had a one gallon waterer that seemed like it needed to be filled twice a day, so I needed a larger one. This is a great product but it has it pros and cons....
PROS: Looks great!, Has large bowl unlike many waterers, Doesn't make as much noise as other waterers, more than one animal can actualy drink out of it, other than it's weight, it's drawbacks are no worse than other wateters.
CONS: It would probably be hard to fill in a regular sink, I just put in the spray hose and taped the lever down and it filled in a snap. It is also very heavy when full and you need to be able to lift prob. 35-40 lbs and flip that over without spilling everything. You also loose alot of the water when you flip it over when it fills the bowl, so I filled the bowl half way (don't fill it all the way or it will overflow when you put the top on) before adding the canister. It is also hard to flip it over without spilling it, on my old waterer I just put the bottom on a flipped it quickly, but that would be a very hard manuver with this monster, so be prepared for a splash.
Though it has some drawbacks, it is no worse than other waterers and I am quite happy with it.
Oh, I'd also like to add that the pictured item (currently anyway) is a feeder, NOT the waterer. The waterer does not open on the top like the feeder shown.

I really enjoy not having to fill the dog's water bowl four times a day (2 Golden's and a Border Collie) but there are a few limitations with this product.

1)Filling it isn't easy if you don't have a deep basin (like a janitorial basin in a basement or the like)
2)Cleaning the inside of the water jug to get rid of the inevitable algae buildup takes some creativity and effort.
3)It isn't easy to keep the watering portion of the bowl clean since it doesn't need to be filled as often as a regular watering bowl.

This is my second one (first one finally cracked from overuse as a stool when I was too lazy to sit in a real chair to put on my boots). I thought in the time between my first purchase and this one (eight years) they would find a better solution for the five gallon bottle. Filling it is difficult. It does not fit in any sink I have in my cabin so I have to either fill it outside with a hose (Pacific Northwest damp, rain, cold = not fun) or in the shower. Filling it in the shower is a pain and can be messy putting it back in place ( I have one arm that I can't lift with.. comical but not fun).

To my dogs, this product should be called Le BeastRo. While the engineer in me is impressed at its simple function (and I should say that the product works perfectly), the dog owner in me is a bit disappointed.

My two dogs nearly dehydrated out of fear of drinking from Le Bistro. When it refills, it makes a rather loud "glubburp" noise like from your office water cooler. This sends them running to all corners of the house fearing for their lives.

I had to give up after 3 days when they would lick moist cement during walks just to get the water they so badly wanted.

Hopefully your dogs have firmer constitutions than mine, but if they're prone to fearing sudden noises, I would seriously reconsider purchasing this product.

I have 2 kitties and I like to be able to take off for a weekend and not have to worry about them going hungry or thirsty. I own both the LeBistro waterer and feeder. I like the Microban feature. I have had these for a couple of years and even if I haven't changed the water for a week, there are no weird things growing in the water. They both hold plenty for a weekend away and they don't look too bad either. I love them and so do my cats.

The waterer jug is constructed of a single molded piece of plastic with a small outlet and a 90-degree step inside the jug. Even a bottle brush cannot reach the sharp corner inside the jug where the mold will accumulate. You'd need a special hinged brush to reach the corner.

The waterer base has a keyed removable top, and it is at least possible to reach most of the surfaces, but there are undesirable crevices which are hard to clean out. Worse, the surface finish is quite rough. It is thus impossible to remove the microscopic algae growth, so it quickly comes back.

It's a great idea but poorly executed. If they'd designed it right, they wouldn't have to impregnate the plastic with microbicides!