I think I forgot to add that. Fresh water (swilled out first ) with breakfast and tea, with a top up when we pass if the levels drops more than half way.
The water bowl is rinsed every time the water level gets low and is wiped regularly. Ella likes fresh, clean drinking water, no more than a few hours old (I think she'd request bottled water if she knew how ). Her food bowl though, um, well, that hasn't been cleaned too often
I'm such a sad person I monitor their water intake by filling to the same level. It's useful if your dog is sick.
The water bowls (2) get filled once or twice a day, and washed out every few days. The food bowls get washed about once a week. Both of our dogs have cast iron digestive systems, and very seldom have an upset stomach.
Secretly I think I might be catching Chris's OCD . I think it's living in a rigourous scientific household.
Ditto! The water bowl yes as it gets bits in it, but the food bowl just every now and then. Maxx's tongue leaves it spotless!
What? People don't wash dog bowls? What do you do with the dirty, dog slobbered bowl in between the not-washed uses? Er....yuk! Betsy and Charlie have 3 bowls each and their breakfast bowls go into the dishwasher with the human breakfast bowls, and their dinner bowls ditto. Main (shared) water bowl goes into the dishwasher last thing at night, and gets refilled in the morning, and their 'spare' stainless steel bowls (1 each) are used in the bedrooms overnight and go into the dishwasher first thing. Charlie would faint clean away if his chilled badoit water was served in a grubby bowl. And he's never been known to drink out of a puddle in his life.
Have washed and scrubbed the food bowl a few times in its life - maybe three times. It gets a swill of water if there are bits left behind. We eventually packed away the water bowl after accepting that - after six years - Snowie never drank from it. He prefers to submerge himself in the pond and drink while he’s there, or drink from the muddy stream on our walk. Sometimes on a very hot night he’ll go to the bathroom and wait at the bidet for us to fill it with water for a quick drink.
Water bowls are refreshed throughout the day (rinsed beforehand) and food bowl has been cleaned a handful of times. You could see your face in it after Plum's licked it clean.
My labs don't clean their bowls, Moo due to age and lack of teeth and Rory is just very slack with his licking
Oh dear, I’ve just been wondering whether it’s time to change their original water bowl. It’s a heavy, pottery one which I had so it couldn’t be spilt by paddling puppies and is looking a bit shabby. I rinse it out every few days, after topping it up when necessary, but they both seem to prefer rain water from a bucket in the garden or from the saucers under the plant pots (a bit of a battle in hot weather, when I’m trying to keep the plants watered ). There’s a second, shiny pottery water bowl in the kitchen too, but they use that less frequently. I rinse out their Kongs and their slow-feeder bowls every time they’re used, even though they’ve always licked them clean!
A couple of times a week for the food bowl, and when there's a mucky mark in the bottom of the water bowls. Never in the dishwasher, always hand wash with hot soapy water. We don't obsess about hygiene in this house, and embrace the germs. I have left my empty water glass on the table form last night (or was it the night before?) and will use it again this evening.
Exactly that!! We call it his nighttime water bowl. (As an aside, I think bidets are pretty useless for the intended job (and take up way too much space). My sister has tiny handheld showers next to every toilet designed specifically for the intended purpose - far more effective! But then she had a very good interior decorator.)
I feed one raw meal in the morning, so I always wash their bowls out with dishwashing liquid after that. For their kibble meal, if I am in charge I rinse the bowls out - if OH is in charge, the bowls are left the way the dogs leave them!! I rinse the water bowl and refill it each day, and wash it out properly once or twice a week.
Yep this is me. I wash Sky’s bowl every few days - she licks it clean (only has kibble in it) and I always pick it up and put it on the worktop when not being used - dog’s have their own dedicated area in utility for their things. The water bowl gets rinsed and refilled twice a day and washed every 4/5 days. Red doesn’t have a bowl - she is hand fed.
I wash their bowls after every meal, they have wet and dry food so the bowls would become yukky if they weren't washed after the meal. What I don't have though is a separate water bowl! Obviously they have a bowl each and during the day, they are filled with water, changed usually once a day but sometimes more, depending on demand. Then at grub time, I empty the bowls and feed. Then when they're finished, wash them up, fill with cold water and back down in the usual places. I've never seen the need for a water only bowl
