Creating The Perfect Feeding Station For Your Dog
An elevated pet dish or extra tall dog bowls may be the best way to feed your pets, but how do you go about raising a dog bowl? Creating elevated dog food and water bowls may sound simple but it requires more than just adding height to your dog’s bowls. To ensure your pets have access to a safe and secure feeding station, you’ll want to use sturdy, heavy-weight dog bowls and robust elevated feeders.
What’s the best dog bowl to use?
When you’re deciding how to raise your pets’ bowls, it’s important to consider what type of bowls will work best for your dog. With so many options to choose from, you’ll need to assess your dog’s nature and feeding habits, as well as your home environment.
Ceramic dog bowls
Whilst ceramic dog bowls were once extremely popular, they’re no longer a first-choice material for pet dishes. Although ceramic bowls do have some weight to them, they can break easily. If a ceramic bowl chips, cracks or smashes, it could be extremely dangerous for your pets. Trying to elevate a ceramic bowl, for example, could result in breakages if it’s not placed in a secure feeder. As many people feed their dogs in the kitchen, where there is typically wood flooring or tiles, this increases the risk of ceramic bowls breaking or smashing. Furthermore, ceramic is relatively porous and can absorb bacteria and food residue. Due to this, it may not be as hygienic or safe as other weighted water bowl or elevated feeding options.
Lightweight plastic dog bowls
Lightweight plastic is another common choice for pet dishes, but it rarely offers a long-lasting solution. Whilst plastic can be kept clean relatively easily, placing lightweight plastic food dishes on the floor means they can be moved around easily. In fact, even cats and small dogs will inevitably move a lightweight bowl around as they attempt to eat or drink. When this happens, it can create an unnecessary mess and leave your flooring covered in food residue and splashes of water.
Stainless steel dog bowls
Another option when it comes to creating a feeding station for your pooch is a stainless steel water bowl or feeding dish. At first glance, extra-large dog bowls in stainless steel might seem like a great option for your canine companion. Hardwearing, long-lasting and easy to clean, what’s not to like about a huge dog bowl constructed from stainless steel?
Unfortunately, stainless steel dog bowls aren’t as hardy as you think. While they may last for a long time, they don’t tend to stay put in the same place for very long! Despite being a durable material, stainless steel tends to be relatively light, so it will easily slip across the floor as your dog tries to eat or drink.
Although some manufacturers add a rubber seal to the bottom of stainless steel bowls, they aren’t usually an effective way to stop the bowls from moving altogether. In addition, the rubber can be prone to cracking and damage, which could be harmful to your pet. Furthermore, your dog will find it very easy to tip a stainless steel bowl or even pick it up to carry it around. Of course, your faithful friend won’t mind that they’re slopping water all over your freshly cleaned floor in the process!
Another downside of stainless steel bowls is the highly reflective nature of the material. Although a shiny stainless steel dog bowl may complement the chrome accessories in your kitchen, it’s going to act as a mirror for your pet. If your dog jumps at its own reflection or barks when it catches sight of itself in the mirror, it’s going to do exactly the same every time you put food down!