# Water Buddy Alternative



## susb8383 (Feb 24, 2007)

Hi All,

You know the way the Water Buddy has been discontinued? (I bought a couple from a Canadian store that still had them).

I was just in PetSmart and they now carry a cheaper knock-off version. It's by Lixit and it's called something like the Quick Fill bottle. It looks like cheaper plastic but the same valve at the bottom. Oh, but the valve is stainless steel instead of brass like the Water Buddies were.

I'm psyched, I really love those bottles.

For those that don't know what I'm talking about, the Water Buddy was a bottle that filled from the top instead of having to fill up the whole thing. So at the bottom instead of having a little metal ball (which always leaks for me), it had a weird kind of valve that never leaks. The rat has to push it to the side with his mouth to have the water start flowing, but mine never had a problem figuring it out.

I loved it because even if you shake the cage a little, it absolutely won't drip.

I hope these cheaper knock-offs are as good.

Ooo...they have it on Amazon (but for some reason, they call it a bird bottle):
Quick Fill Bottle


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## susb8383 (Feb 24, 2007)

So I just bought one of the Quick Fill Bottles. I still have a Water Buddy and also a regular bottle. So far the cheaper Quick Fill bottle works as well as the Water Buddy. The plastic of the lid seems to be cheaper, but the nozzle is stainless steel instead of brass, which I like better. If it goes belly-up, I'll post, but so far, so good.


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## cbickum (Jul 8, 2012)

I was looking at that! I've been afraid for a while that my rats werent getting enough water from their regular ball/nozzle bottle, so I'd love to see if they could figure out how to get the water out of one of these! Hopefully it lasts!


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## Rodents=Love256 (Aug 26, 2012)

I have never even seen these! I've owned rodents for years and not once come across these. SWEET! (forgive me for getting overly excited) I have always hated how, on car rides to the vet the regular bottles leak and my babies cant drink. I will be getting one of these ASAP! Thanks for sharing!


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## VampireSmeezeGirls (Oct 7, 2012)

I still want someone to make one with a glass bottle, since I swear, rats cross my door, they must chew water bottles.


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## Rat-1- (Jul 22, 2012)

I got a bottle that sounds a lot like that from petbarn. You just fill it from the top or take it off the hinge thing


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Lixit also makes a really good inside the cage bottle. It has a double ball design. It's very cleverly designed to give your ratties no chew points... And the best my ratties have been able to do is gnaw off the patent numbers which were raised letters in the plastic. Unfortunately they got overly fancy and made the bottle so it pretty much splits in half to fill and clean. Great idea, but in the large size; if you ever so slightly overtighten it, you need the monster plumbing size vice-grips to open it. Luckily I happen to have a pair, but it's annoying.

Always be careful about new water bottles, especially the small sizes... Many years ago I bought one for some mice. I checked it every day, it looked full and the mice died of dehydration... It was full because the tip jammed. The jam was caused by a tiny burr in the drip tube. It was a simple little manufacturing defect in a poor design that needed better tollerances to work. Always check the water flow whenever you refill your bottles and stick with quality name brand bottles. 

I also have a large L&M water bottle on a cage I'm currently not using, it has a single ball design, and I've had it flood out the cage. If the tip gets dirty it floods rather than clogs, it's a better execution of a low budget design. It's not tragically bad but you have to make sure it isn't dripping before you put it back after refilling. It's better than clogging, but finding your animals slogging about on soaked bedding on a cold day is no treat for anyone. So far, I find the small in cage lixit to be great for mice, and the large great for rats, with no malfunctions, even in the travel cage (only minor leakage) except for the difficulty opening the larger model. 

Water bottles seem like such simple things, but they are life and death for our beloved pets. An extra buck or two is a small price to pay for a good product. 

Lixit seems to have invested in at least one good design and their materials gaskets metals and plastics seem to be of good quality and so far their manufacturing quality is good. As always beware of future cost reductions, lots of good products go bad under new ownership etc. 
but if the lixit bird bottle is as good... it should be worth a look.


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## susb8383 (Feb 24, 2007)

Update. I've been using this new bottle for about 9 months now, and my verdict is: DUD.

It doesn't work nearly as well as the Water Buddy. I have both on different shelves. The water in the new Lixit bottle was barely going down. Then I tested it myself. You really have to hold the nozzle to the side for about 10 seconds before something starts coming out. That's not the way it's supposed to work. It should be that as soon as the rats push the nozzle off-center, they get water. 

Now that this product has been out for a while, you can find more reviews online than when I first posted. If you look at the reviews on PetSmart, a lot of the people say the same thing; it just doesn't dispense water reliably.


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## Gannyaan (Dec 7, 2012)

I have no problems with seeing if mine is jammed... Mine is leaky as ****, so i know it works  i also keep it on the outside of the cage, so I don't have any gnawing probs, since all they have access to is the metal tip  


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## pwoink (Feb 19, 2013)

Ooh, I'd like to hear from more owners of the Lixit version. Having a bottle that wouldn't leak during car travel would be really good, so I have high hopes, but this product is a mystery!


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## susb8383 (Feb 24, 2007)

I found another version of that design: it was at PetSmart, the All Living Things brand (which is their own brand) called the Quick Fill bottle. It was even worse than the Lixit! 2/3 of the bottle leaked out on the first day. I tossed it right in the recycle bin.


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## catty-ratty (Feb 21, 2016)

On the subject of water bottles, I'll throw my two cents in about the Super Pet Small Animal Top Fill Water Bottle. Don't bother. I bought 2 of them and neither one worked. Even I had to mess with it just to get a little amount of water to come out.


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