I was really a bit nervous that my cat wouldn't like this bowl because he's usually a scaredy cat, but he loved it.  It took him a little while to warm up to it, but it didn't frighten him.  This comes in parts and you have to put it together yourself.  It's not hard, but read the directions. They will walk you through it.  First clean all the plastic bowl parts.  Then you take apart the pump and rinse the non-electric parts.  After that rinse the filter and insert it, put it all together, add water, and plug it in.  You can change the speed of the water on the pump.  I have it at its lowest speed.  This will keep the water fresh for my cat, Dickens, when I'm not at home.