Cleaning dog dishes...what do you do?

luvmyswissy

A towel?  That is the first I ever heard of that.  Why is that? 

I knew a bulldog, who had lost all of her front teeth, who ate on a mat. It was easier to pick up the kibbles for her on a mat versus having to put her face into a bowl. We did have to watch her, or she would start to chew up the mat :)

I wash the metal food bowl once a day, and the ceramic water bowl (it's custom!) whenever it's empty and needs a refill.

 I have a stainless steel water bowl that gets rinsed every other day when I refill it and I hand wash it usually once a week when it gets a slimy feeling. The food bowl (ceramic) gets washed every couple of weeks. Maze only gets kibble in the bowl so it doesn't get that dirty.

Depends on what they eat.  Kibble - out of their bowls, wash them once a week or so.  Anything raw or moist, then I wash the bowl when they are done or just feed them out on the lawn. 

Charlie's bowls are stainless steel.  Water rinsed everyday.  Food goes through dishwasher every couple of weeks or so since I just feed kibble.

Regarding the towel, if Charlie get something raw, he eats it on a towel since he refuses to eat it on the floor or in his crate and I prefer he didn't eat it on the couch

 Thanks, for all the responses.  It's interesting to see that most of us do pretty much the same thing, except the raw feeders...and I would expect that.

I use ceramic bowls (I made them in pottery - at least my crooked bowls are good for something ! LOL).    The water dish gets a quick wash with soap every morning before it gets refilled.   the food bowl gets a quick wash with soap every evening before dinner.   When I remember I put both into the dishwasher (usually 1 - 2 times a week).  And I use my regular sponges (which would COMPLETELY freek my husband out so don't tell him !!!!)  

I pop mine in the dishwasher every so often...a week or two weeks maybe. I rinse out the water dishes every time I refill, but I don't necessarily use soap every time. I don't have a bowl preference either, I actually have one stainless, one ceramic, and one plastic right now for food...they all used to be matching sets, but they got broken or lost, and I have three large plastic bowls for water, two in the kitchen and one upstairs in the bathroom.

I have, I'm gonna guess...8? maybe 9-10 stainless steel bowls for 2 dogs. Jaz licks his clean, Cherokee often doesn't... Both eat kibble with water added, sometimes with toppers. If there's clean bowls around, I'll give Cherok a new one every day, sometimes twice a day. Jaz gets a new one whenever I notice it's gross. They all go through the dishwasher at least like once a week.

Cherokee eats raw bones out in the yard, or sometimes when she insists..in the living room. Jaz doesn't eat bones because he doesn't chew and doesn't digest them well.

Funny story. I went with my sister a couple weeks ago to pick up her dog from the groomer, and when he came out, he was clearly VERY thirsty (do groomers not give dogs water??), and I had a big plastic cup from her house full of water, so I just let Cowboy drink that. Apparently that grossed her out, and she wanted to THROW THE CUP AWAY. I almost peed my pants. We let Cherokee and Jaz clean our plates daily (I also let Cherokee take bites off our silverware..shhh), and we put their dishes through the dishwasher with all our dishes..and this one was gonna throw away a cup that her dog drank out of! So I took it. A couple days later, I went to her house, and she had the dog bowls in the dishwasher. Apparently me acting like she was so ridiculous made her actually think about it.. I was rather amused.

2shelties

I don't have a bowl preference either, I actually have one stainless, one ceramic, and one plastic right now for food...they all used to be matching sets, but they got broken or lost, and I have three large plastic bowls for water, two in the kitchen and one upstairs in the bathroom.

I am fanatical about my dishes for the dogs... in crates they have stainless buckets for water and bowls for kibble. In the house they have ceramic warter bowls in 5 dofferent places. I save the Ceramic insert from crock pots and use them and in my room I use a huge ceramic chip bowl that was too pretty to throw away but has a chip on the rim.

I started doing this after a good friend was filling water dishes in her home. She is pretty well off and I about lost it when I saw her using a Wedgewood China Soup Tureen with a small chip on it ... I know it had to have cost more than all of my dishes put together did...

Bonita of Bwana

Bonita of Bwana

2shelties

I don't have a bowl preference either, I actually have one stainless, one ceramic, and one plastic right now for food...they all used to be matching sets, but they got broken or lost, and I have three large plastic bowls for water, two in the kitchen and one upstairs in the bathroom.

I am fanatical about my dishes for the dogs... in crates they have stainless buckets for water and bowls for kibble. In the house they have ceramic warter bowls in 5 dofferent places. I save the Ceramic insert from crock pots and use them and in my room I use a huge ceramic chip bowl that was too pretty to throw away but has a chip on the rim.

I started doing this after a good friend was filling water dishes in her home. She is pretty well off and I about lost it when I saw her using a Wedgewood China Soup Tureen with a small chip on it ... I know it had to have cost more than all of my dishes put together did...

Bonita of Bwana

Hehe, that's what I should do with my soup tureen...it was a wedding gift from my first marriage and I've not used it once in ten years. Around my house, soup is served from a pot on the stove....

I used to watch these three cats that drank out of a Lenox bowl, talk about expensive. 

I've got all kinds of bowls, stainless, ceramic, human bowls that I don't use anymore.  I wash them either by hand or in the dishwasher.  She gets a clean bowl with each meal and the water bowls are cleaned every day when I fill them up. 

Lately, with her medication I can't keep up and I've just been using paper plates for her meals. 

 I don't clean the bowls often enough. Dixie is the official dish washer in our house. I try to throw all bowls in the dishwasher every couple of weeks, I'll be off cleaning dog dishes  now..

I wash the stainless steel food bowl after every meal with one of those dish wash tools that have a sponge on the end and you fill with dish soap.   I rinse with really hot water and air dry in the sink...of if I want to put back on the stand right away ( Gibby eats from an elevated dish ) then I dry it with a paper towel. I wish I was so good about washing his s.s. water bowl...but I am not.  I do rinse it in really hot water each time I fill it...but only wash it once in a while.  

You all have me worrying about the water bowl now, especially since we are currently treating for round two of Giardia...there is never any stale water in the bowls, they go through it too fast for that, I rinse and refill several times a day, but does anyone know if it is actually a sanitary issue or not?

 The water bowl is stainless steel and gets a really good rinse twice a day. I fill it with fresh water in the morning and in the evening. In the summer it gets filled even more often. Once a week or so it's gets a good scrubbing with soap. It's actually a bowl from a set of stainless steel mixing bowls that I have.
The food dish is actually a ceramic cereal bowl for people. I am too paranoid about ceramic pet dishes that are usually made in China... I worry about lead or something worse. The ceramic bowl is washed with soap and water after every meal and then air dried.