A few weeks ago I asked for a recommendation on ferret water bowls and I got a number of helpful responses. I had posted a follow-up to that query shortly thereafter with a summary of those responses, as well as my decision on the matter. I had purchased two bowls which attach to the cage so they can't spill 'em and they've been working well since then. But Santa Claus bought the ferrets a new present for Christmas which is even better than the water bowls and I just had to give a public endorsement on the FML. My ferrets now have a "Fresh Flow" automatic purifying pet water fountain manufactured by Petmate. At first I was concerned that they'd try to push the fountain over or otherwise make a big mess, but they've been treating it very nicely. I'm also very impressed by the obvious amount of attention to detail that has been spent on this thing. The fountain is very "rounded" in shape; the ferrets can't climb up the sides or sit on the top or otherwise go where they shouldn't go. There are no moving parts accessible to them so they can't get hurt. The water flows down a ramp into a reservoir; this makes the water flow very, very quiet. The pump is TOTALLY silent; it is on the floor about three feet from me as I write this and I cannot hear ANYTHING from the fountain, including the water flow. The fountain has a charcoal filter in it; in the ~3 days it's been running I haven't seen a single speck of dust, dirt, hair, or ANY kind of contaminant in the water bowl, and it's sitting right outside of the ferrets' cage. On the convenience side, it holds 50 ounces of water and includes an easily refillable reservoir. The flow rate is adjustable but even on the lowest setting it's more than enough to keep things flowing nicely. The ONLY potential downsides: First, the unit is rather on the large side -- about 13"x9"x7" tall. Kinda big for a water bowl. Second, the unit has handles in the form of open spaces at the base. Normally this would be a feature, but with ferrets they will undoubtedly try to get underneath the bowl via those handles. Third, the flow rate CAN be set "too high". When the pump is set to half power or higher, the water bubbles up so high that it goes slightly past the top of the water reservoir, leading to a small but constant trickle of water down the side. (Adjusting the flow to a lower setting cures this little design flaw.) And fourth, because it is a FILTERED fountain, you can't add things like vitamins (e.g., VitaSol) to the water as it will be filtered out (and may gum up the pump as well). In fairness that last point isn't unique to this fountain. I've kept the two water bowls in place in the cage, putting the VitaSol in there and the fresh water in the fountain. And since this is basically a glorified bowl, there is always the possibility of the ferrets tipping it over. A little Velcro (the hard part) on the bottom of the fountain attaches it fairly strongly to the carpet so my ferrets haven't been able to tip it (though admittedly I haven't really seem them try), but if you have particularly "aggressive" ferrets you might want to consider ways of securing it against tipping. I haven't been able to find the manufacturer's web page for this fountain, but I have seen it online in a few places. There's some good photos and descriptions of it here: http://tjspetshop.com/freshflow_fountain.htm [Posted in FML issue 3645]