Cat Supplies
Buy and sell cat supplies in Guatemala.
A cat fountain keeps the water moving only while the power stays on, and in Escuintla an afternoon downpour can leave it switched off until evening, which is worth knowing before you rely on one without a plain bowl beside it. The same goes for the programmable feeder meant to serve breakfast before anyone is up. Fountains and feeders like these are listed here new and pre-owned alongside scratchers and harnesses, and plenty of this kit reaches Guatemala from the United States by courier or in a suitcase. Ask for a photo of a fountain running before you arrange to collect it.
Fountains, feeders and the socket they plug into:
the powered kit is where cat supplies get expensive, and where living in Guatemala changes the choice. A fountain pumps water through a filter and over a spout, which tempts cats that ignore a still bowl; ceramic and steel basins stay cleaner than plastic, which scratches. Feeders run from a gravity hopper that tops up the dish as the cat eats, to a programmable unit that drops set portions at set times, to a wifi model with a camera run from your phone. Power is the catch. Planned maintenance and storm damage to the lines cut the supply often enough, more so outside the capital, that a feeder running only off the mains will skip a meal while you are away. Choose one that also takes batteries, and leave a bowl of water beside the fountain, which simply stops when the current does. Much of this kit is ordered from the United States through a courier mailbox service. It plugs straight into a Guatemalan socket, but filters for a little-known brand may only arrive the same way, so find out where they come from first.
Cardboard scratchers and rope-wrapped posts:
do the same job and age very differently. Corrugated cardboard is meant to be shredded and replaced, so a used one is rarely worth collecting. A rope post lasts for years if it is tall enough for a full stretch and heavy enough not to tip, and when the rope wears bald it can be rewound.
A harness a cat cannot back out of:
matters more than the lead. Let out of the car at a petrol station on the road to Huehuetenango, a cat reverses out of a strap harness cut like a dog’s in seconds; a vest that closes around the chest holds far better. Collars need a breakaway buckle that opens if the cat snags on a branch, and that is where the name tag goes. A cat that gets loose anyway should be posted at once in animals lost and found, and one that comes with its kit belongs in adopt a cat, where it is rehomed rather than priced.
The pump behind a fountain’s price:
branded electric fountains sit around Q500 new and a programmable feeder starts near Q900, with wifi and camera models above that. Used, the value follows the parts that wear. A fountain with a quiet pump and a supply of the right filters keeps most of it; one whose pump hums or rattles leaves the buyer with a plastic bowl, because replacement pumps for lesser-known brands are hard to find. Scratchers and collars cost too little new to be worth chasing second-hand.
Impellers, feeder rotors and the seller’s app account:
ask to see the fountain running, then lift the pump out. The impeller clogs with hair and slime, and the film in a scratched plastic basin does not scrub out. Check the cable where cats chew it. Run a test portion through a feeder with your own cat’s kibble, since large pieces jam the rotor, and look for corrosion in the battery compartment. A wifi feeder or camera has to be removed from the seller’s app account and reset before it changes hands, or it may refuse to pair with yours.
Listing a fountain or feeder that still runs:
put the brand and model first, because buyers look up the filters before anything else, and say whether the adapter and spare filters are in the box. Photograph it running, then empty and dry it. For a feeder, say whether it takes batteries and which app it uses. If your cat simply refused it, say so: plenty of cats ignore a fountain, and a buyer in Mixco with a fussy cat will want to know it was the cat and not the pump. When they come to collect, have it plugged in by the door so they hear the pump for themselves.