If so, do you do it to the level* that you wash your own dishes, and what do you feed them (e.g. wet, dry, raw, mixture of both)?
Yes, for me. I didn’t at first, unless the bowl looked dirty (about once a week), but figured it should probably be washed more regularly. It’s more for my benefit than the dog’s though. So, now I wash them with soap and water about every other day. Though if the dog is getting raw instead of dry, then the bowl is washed after he’s finished, and the water’s changed a couple times a day.
That is, of course less often than the people dishes are washed, and they go to the dishwasher instead of the sink.
Just wondering what others do.
*For example, if your stuff gets washed in the dishwasher after each use, do you do the same for your pet?
I wash the dog’s food and water bowl about every other day. He’s fed dry food, with occasional small bits of leftover meat scraps. Not too much though, I don’t want him getting sick.
If he receives meat scraps, I wash the bowl when he’s done.
I don’t run them through the dishwasher; I just scrub them up with hot soapy water and rinse.
When she’s staying with me, Miss Fritters gets her food and water bowls washed twice a day. I figure I wouldn’t want to eat off of dirty dishes, so I do the same for her. I’m a pretty obessessive neat freak and that naturally extends to cat care.
I wash the water dish pretty frequently. I wash the food dishes often but not as often as the water dish. The kitties get dry kibble so their food dishes don’t get all that gross.
The food bowls get chucked into the dishwasher daily, and the water bowls get rinsed daily and run through the dishwasher at least once a week.
We have a few stoneware bowls that are distinguishable from Fiestaware only by the pawprints. On occasion, the dog eats out of Fiestaware, and the humans eat out of pawprint-covered bowls, depending on what’s available in the cabinet vs what’s waiting to be washed in the dishwasher. (Wh not? They’ve all gone through the dishwasher.)
The dry food dispenser for the cats has never been washed, but I wash their ‘treat’ bowl once in a while. The water reservoir gets washed when refilled – about once a week or so.
Ack! I had no idea that other people washed their pet food bowls so much. I feel like a woefully inadequate doggy mommy now!
Dolly’s water bowl gets rinsed and refilled a coupla times a day, but I only wash the two bowls with soap (to my people standards) once a month or so when I vacuum the kitchen.
I had a cat that was prone to feline acne, so I started buying nice saucers at thrift stores for wet cat food. So I put them in the dishwasher after they’ve been eaten off of, and I have enough dishes that there are always clean ones. I rotate between 2 stainless steel bowls for dry (they don’t get as dirty).
When feeding wet food, the bowl or plate gets put in the sink with the other dirty dishes after the cat is finished.
The dry food is never empty, so I only clean out the bowl about once every two months. At that point, I dump anything left in the garbage can, put the bowl in the sink, then fill my other food bowl with new stuff (ie, alternating bowls).
The water dish gets washed out about once every two weeks. I use about three different bowls for that, but I often simply wash it and put the same one back down with clean water in it.
I wash my 2 birds food and water dishes every other day unless they manage to poop in them. Cleo’s dry food dish gets washed once a week, her “treat” bowl gets done every other day, and we drain, wash and refill her water fountain once a week. Our barn cat, Jack, gets his dry food bowls washed out once a week, and he drinks out of a bucket of water we keep in the arena for the horses to drink out of. He had his own water bowl but he wouldn’t use it. Go figure!
Mick and Dawn, our horses, get their water buckets dumped out and refilled once a day, and scrubbed with hot water and a wee bit of soap every other week, and their feed buckets scrubbed out once a month in the winter and every other week in the summer.
The water fountain gets take apart and washed about once a week, and the food bowls are washed then - they only get dry food. Canned food is a treat and is served on seperate paper plates so everyone can have some.
I leave the water running into the bucket for the dogs. Before I put goldfish in it, I’d dump out the algae every once in a while, but the fish do a good job now. If their food bowls are really gross, I’ll hose them out.
The cat’s indoors, so his dishes get washed when they bother me to look at.
My dog gets her food bowl washed after every meal, but then she eats homemade dog food (Rice, veggies, MEAT, etc. Looks good enough for me to eat ). It goes in the dishwasher if I’m running it that night, otherwise, its washed with soap and water, the same as if its my own dish. The water bowl however, only gets washed maybe two to three times a week. Mainly it gets washed if it is empty when doing the dishes after dinner, or if the water starts getting cloudy.
Me too. The cat dry food dish has not been washed in some time. I guess I don’t think of it as dirty since is just dry kibble. Same with the dogs dishes although I do remember my daughter washing those not long ago.
Only two of my cats get wet food and those dishes are washed everyday. If the dishes don’t get washed before the next morning then I use a fresh clean dish.
I have a lot of pets and they share one large water dish so it gets filled up about three times a day so there is really no reason to actually wash it. I just dump it when it is getting low, rinse out the kibble floaters and refill.
I have five retrievers, and a cat. All of their bowls get washed regularly.
I don’t know why I bother. They’ll happily drink out of puddles, eat sticks, dirt, snow (not in the bowls, maybe they think it’s their special treat?)
The dog gets dry food. His food and water bowls are washed when I think they look particularly dirty - maybe every two or three weeks. (Actually, I washed his food dish this morning.) I usually do it by hand, but sometimes I send them through the dishwasher if there’s a load ready to go.
The cats get both kibble and a can of wet food a day. Their kibble and water bowls are washed on the same when-they-look-icky schedule as the dog’s. The bowls for wet food get washed after every use, almost always via the dishwasher.
The dragon gets lettuce mix and dried mealworms. He has two sets of dishes, which get switched out a couple of times a week and run through the dishwasher. In between they get rinsed each morning, as the sand gets into them and any leftover lettuce will wilt and stick to the dish.
Well now I feel like the worst pet parent in the world.
We rinse out and refill the 3 indoor water bowls all the time…4 dogs and 2 indoor cats go through a lot of water.
The dogs’ food bowls get washed out when they have something besides dry food to eat, so about once every two weeks. The cats’ food dish gets washed when it looks like it needs it.
The dogs have a routine…everyone eats their own food, then Jake, our beta dog, licks each bowl to make sure that they are clean. If we try to make Jake leave the feeding area before the ritual bowl cleansing, she will bother us until we let her go back and finish the job.
We do wash our people dishes after each use. I’m sure there’s a good reason that pet bowls should be washed more often, but my dogs are all healthy and happy, so I think we’ll stick with the current routine.
I wash the dogs’ water dishes almost every day. Otherwise they get slimy and disgusting. Food bowls are washed every two or three days. I feed exclusively dry food. I usually wash by hand with soap, water, and a sponge, same as I would for something I use. I don’t run the dishwasher that often (once or twice a week), so that’s why I hand wash. All bowls are stainless steel.
For those who never wash the water bowls, don’t they get slimy? If I skip a day, I notice there’s a coat of slime grossness at the bottom, unless they happen to have licked the bowl dry. This was less true when I had just one, not slobbery dog. Now I have two dogs, and the younger one is a lot more slobbery.
When I had cats, followed pretty much the same routine for their dishes.
). It goes in the dishwasher if I’m running it that night, otherwise, its washed with soap and water, the same as if its my own dish. The water bowl however, only gets washed maybe two to three times a week. Mainly it gets washed if it is empty when doing the dishes after dinner, or if the water starts getting cloudy.