Mary Allen
Dog bowls come in a wide variety of shapes, colors, sizes, and materials. It is sometimes not easy to find the right feeding bowl for the dog (the same applies to the cat). So what is the best way to offer your dog food and water? What many do not know: inferior material can affect health. And that doesn’t just apply to dog bowls, but to kitchenware in general. We’ll show you what you should look out for when choosing the right bowl material.
Plastic
Plastic feeding bowls certainly have many benefits and can be found in most households. They are colorful, inexpensive, and mostly dishwasher safe. They can also withstand a bump or a fall from the sideboard. In addition, they are readily accepted by most dogs. However, they are usually not bite-resistant and puppies and young dogs, in particular, like to chew their plastic bowls. The splintering material can then lead to injuries in the mouth. But there are even more serious dangers lurking in plastic that you should be concerned about.
Dangerous plasticizers
Plastic is made from crude oil and transformed into a completely new substance in a complex process. Numerous additives are added so that it takes on all the properties that make it so extremely versatile and useful for us: plasticizers, stabilizers, coloring agents, fillers, reinforcing agents, flame retardants, or antistatic agents. And it is precisely these additives, some of which are toxic, that can be released from the plastic and absorbed by the body. Plasticizers (phthalates) and bisphenol A (BPA) are particularly dangerous – two substances that interfere with the hormonal balance and can influence the metabolism.
If you give your dog its daily portion of dry food in a plastic bowl, which is gobbled up in seconds, the burden on the body will probably be limited. But wet food and especially water, which is in contact with the plastic all day long, can absorb significantly more toxins and thus get into the dog.
In any case, you should avoid plastic bowls that smell strongly of plastic. Also everything you can buy in a 1 euro shop. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polycarbonate (PC) products are particularly dangerous. And very important: Do not heat any plastic bowls in the microwave, because the toxic substances are particularly easily dissolved and released into the environment.
Melamine
While melamine used to be mainly used for camping dishes, it is now being used more and more in the pet trade. The food or water bowls made of melamine are much more stable than plastic bowls, they are unbreakable and do not splinter. But even this material is not harmless.
Do not heat melamine!
Melamine resins are plastics that – to put it simply – consist of melamine and formaldehyde. If you heat this crockery to over 70°C, these substances can spread to the food – and we all know that formaldehyde in particular is very dangerous. It is also important here that no food in melamine bowls is warmed up or thawed in the microwave!
Pottery
Ceramic bowls and bowls seem to be the safe alternative, although there is one important downside: fragility. But on the other hand, such a ceramic bowl stands firmly and heavy on the floor and it keeps the water fresh and cool for a long time, for example.
But even here you have to watch out for toxins! Because the glazes of the ceramic bowls can contain toxic heavy metals, especially lead and cadmium. Acidic foods in particular release these substances from the glaze. If you want to be on the safe side, make sure that the ceramic is suitable for food. For products made in Germany, the crockery is marked accordingly. Ceramics originally produced for decorative purposes, e.g. B. Flower pots, birdbaths, or decorative bowls are not suitable because they are subject to different manufacturing guidelines.
Tip: Use an old soup bowl as a bowl
I used a discarded earthenware soup bowl as a water bowl for my dogs. It’s big enough – and original. In the hope that high safety standards have been applied to this branded harness for human use, I assume that my dogs are also not at risk from toxins. Plates or soup bowls can also be a safe alternative for smaller dogs.
How to test your own dishes for acid resistance
If you want to be sure that your own crockery is also suitable for acidic dishes such as fruit and juices, you can quickly and easily test your ceramics for acid resistance: fill the appropriate container half full with vinegar and leave it for 24 hours. If the glaze has changed after removing the vinegar, the dishes are not suitable for acidic foods!
Stainless Steel
The shiny and cold-looking stainless steel bowls are not for everyone and not everyone’s taste – but they are the least contaminated with toxins. They are also easy to clean and unbreakable. Make sure that the bowl is firmly on the floor, otherwise, it will quickly rattle and clatter over tiles or laminate – and that scares many dogs. There are therefore models with non-slip rubber rings on the bottom. Or you put the bowl in a stand provided for this purpose.
Extra tip: If your dog doesn’t like to eat or drink from a stainless steel bowl, it may also be because the dog tag or collar clasp hits the bowl and jingles.
What Else is to be Considered: Individual Needs of the Dog
For dogs with very long floppy ears, such as bassets or cocker spaniels, there are extra bowls with a very high rim. This is to prevent the ears from constantly hanging and sticking in the lining.
In the pet trade, there are products in which the food and water bowls are integrated directly next to each other in one container. With such a feeding station, you have to make sure that no leftovers fall into the water and contaminate the water in the long run. Here it is important to change the water every day!
If your dog is one of those picky eaters who like to leave their food out for a few hours, you should make sure that the bowl is not in the kitchen right next to the heater. Wet food spoils quickly here.
On the other hand, if your dog is a glutton and will scoop up his food in seconds, you don’t have to worry. However, if he regularly chokes and then throws up, you can slow him down with an anti-sling bowl. There are large nubs in the bowl so the dog has to eat its food a little more slowly. An alternative with dry food would be to distribute the food chunks on the kitchen floor. So the dog has to look for the individual chunks first.
If you have to make sure that your dog doesn’t get too fat, you should rather choose a small food bowl. In it, the portions just look much larger than in a giant bowl, in which the food is almost lost. And that makes it easier for us dog owners to really not put more than necessary in the bowl.