How To Choose The Correct Dog Bowl

Selecting the right bowl for your dog

Choosing the right essentials for your dog can be just as daunting, if not more, than choosing the breed of dog itself! Having recently welcomed a Springer Spaniel into our home, the choice of bowl, type and style was ever so slightly over whelming, never did I think I would need to worry about floppy wet ears, crusty with food!

With such a choice in the market, from stainless steel to raised, slow feeders to ceramic, let us walk you through the more common dog bowl!

Bowl Types

Raised Feeders

Elevated feeders are great for large breed and taller dogs (Great Dane, Wolfhound, Dalmatians etc). Also a great choice for dogs starting to show signs of ageing, have joint issues or are recovering from surgery or illness, as they help to eliminate the strain and pressure from bending down to eat.

How to choose the right raised feeder:

In order to measure for your raised feeder, measure your dog from the floor to their lower chest, (the part where their legs meet their chest). Please ensure that your pet is standing with their front feet directly underneath them. That measurement is how high the raised feeder should be for your pet to comfortably eat/drink from.

Slow Feeders

Great for fast eaters, (Labradors... we're looking at you!), or an alternative to traditional dog bowls as they make your pet work for their food.

Steep Sided Bowls

Steep sided bowls are perfect for long eared dogs, (Springer/Cocker Spaniels, Beagles etc). Specifically narrow opening bowls will keep your dogs ears from dipping into their food and water.

Shallow Bowls

Shallow bowls are great for both puppies, smaller breed adult dogs and also short nosed (brachycephalic) breeds. They make it easier to reach food, ensuring that your pet doesn't put pressure on their neck/throat.

Deep Bowls

Deep bowls are perfect for long snouted, (dolichocephalic) breeds, (Terriers, Dachshunds, Huskies). These bowls make eating easier by allowing more room for their nose!

Automatic Feeders

If you have a pet who needs feeding at specific times, has a tendency to gorge on food so you feed little & often or indeed if you are needing to leave earlier/arrive home later* one day then an automatic feeder is a handy tool to own.

These feeders can be programmed to release a measured portion of food at a specific time to ensure your pet never misses a meal.

(*We never recommend leaving a pet unattended, but we realise that there may be circumstances that require this from time to time).

What About Materials?

With so much choice on style, what is the best material to go for?

Stainless Steel

Probably the more common material. Tough, durable, hygienic and dishwasher safe. Normally chew proof, (though I would caveat this with NOTHING is chew proof when it comes to puppies!).

The main draw back with stainless steel is that it does retain temperature, if it's placed in direct sunlight the likelihood is that it will keep heat - making food & water warm! If used outside then potentially any liquids could freeze!

Plastic

Another common material, and perhaps the cheapest and an easy, light weight and dishwasher-safe choice. Particularly useful to keep for when out & about as your dog will always need fed and watered. .

Dogs that are prone to chewing things may find plastic bowls rather too easy to break their teeth in on! Plastic bowls can be easily pushed around by over zealous eaters!

Plastic can be broken & cracked, which can cause bacteria to grow if not properly cleaned.

Ceramic

Probably the more aesthetically pleasing option when it comes to bowls, with many now choosing to match their pets accessories to their home décor. Normally quite heavy, ceramic is a good option for those dogs who enjoy their food that much that they manage to push the bowl around the floor.

Ceramic can be easily chipped & broken though, so another thing to bear in mind & ensure that all ceramic bowls are properly cleaned.

A good rule of thumb...

the bigger the dog, the bigger the bowl that will be required. Not just the circumference of the bowl, but the depth, (especially for breeds with longer snouts). Most, (not all), dogs do prefer to drink from a larger bowl. Also, look for bowls that don't look easy to tip... this will be a godsend in the early days of puppy owning.

The main thing to remember is that your dog should have 2 separate bowls, one for food & one for water. Of course there are both automatic feeders and water fountains... but that's a whole other article!