Thoughts on washing dry food bowls

maxcat08 · Jul 28, 2008

I wash my cats wet food bowls after each meal. My questions is about their dry food bowls. I don't wash them every day.....maybe not even every week...I didn't think it was necessary. I do wash them when I think about it.

What does everyone else do? Do you wash their dry food bowls every day?

Thanks!

littleraven7726 · Jul 28, 2008

They get clean bowls every meal (wet or dry). Stimpy is prone to chin acne, not changing out the bowls every meal makes him break out.

maxcat08 · Jul 28, 2008

Thank you! I read that using plastic bowls can cause chin acne. I only use ceramic bowls.

Also, there are two dry food bowls, each with the same food in it. They tend to have their 'own' bowl, each going to the same bowl. Would you think that they would need to be changed each day?

roxsam · Jul 28, 2008

I only wash mine as needed, so maybe every few weeks? Mine are also ceramic.

taterbug · Jul 28, 2008

I wash our dry food bowls at least every other day. With my girls, they sometimes have morsels fly out of their mouths, or not like a particular crunchie and spit it back into the bowl and I worry that the bacteria from their mouths will multiply into something really nasty after more than a day or two. But that's just me.

sharky · Jul 28, 2008

once a day or once every other day

maxcat08 · Jul 28, 2008

Okay..thanks very much for your answers...I'll start washing them at least every other day, now. I have more bowls so there will always be clean ones waiting!!

kkh · Jul 28, 2008

I wash it every day...otherwise, she won't eat anything out from it

lilyluvscats · Jul 28, 2008

I have a question. I am very fussy and wash the wet food bowls after each use.....but dry sometimes it may be a week. my cats never seem to eat all the dry. I don;t fill them up too much either. Do you guys that clean dry dishes daily throw a lot away or do just put a little at a time? Just wondering.......

sailahara · Jul 28, 2008

Wow hadnt thought about it that much I have only washed mine once and I have had Shadow a week, and I washed it today!

yosemite · Jul 28, 2008

I went to the dollar store and bought about 10 stainless steel bowls. I give them a clean bowl each day and the dirty one goes into the dishwasher. I just think that food goes stale and so would the bowls. I only give them about 1/3 cup of dry per day to share with 1/2 can wet morning and half at night.

Mika gets extra dry in our daughter's bedroom during the night if she wants it. Bijou (at 19 lbs.) doesn't need any extra.

littleraven7726 · Jul 28, 2008

Originally Posted by MAXCAT08

Thank you! I read that using plastic bowls can cause chin acne. I only use ceramic bowls.

Even with just using ceramic and stainless, if they aren't changed each meal Stimpy breaks out.

I just make sure I have plenty of bowls so it's easy to do this. I tend to use Corelle, Wal-Mart open stock "Stackables", and the bowls that came with their elevated feeders.

twokatz · Jul 28, 2008

I use clean bowls every other day. There is bacteria in dry food so I only put enough for the day in it then throw what little there may be left away. My Sparky gets chin acne otherwise.

maxcat08 · Jul 28, 2008

Originally Posted by littleraven7726

Even with just using ceramic and stainless, if they aren't changed each meal Stimpy breaks out.

I just make sure I have plenty of bowls so it's easy to do this. I tend to use Corelle, Wal-Mart open stock "Stackables", and the bowls that came with their elevated feeders.

That's too bad he breaks out even with the non-plastic bowls..but you've resolved it by having plenty on hand.

Do you guys that clean dry dishes daily throw a lot away or do just put a little at a time? Just wondering

I think by just putting enough food out for a day is smart thinking...then there's no waste or contamination with fresh food.

pami · Jul 28, 2008

Plastic is just one of the ways cats can get chin acne. Ceramic bowls with any scratches in them can also harbor bacteria, just like plastic does. Its best to use stainless steel or glass that is nonporous.

Also not cleaning any dish out daily, the oils that come from the dry food that just sit on the bottom of the dish, cats can develop bad acne from that, too. Its best to wash daily and fill with fresh food daily.

littleraven7726 · Jul 28, 2008

Originally Posted by MAXCAT08

Do you guys that clean dry dishes daily throw a lot away or do just put a little at a time? Just wondering

I only put out how much he eats between feedings. If there's any left after 24 hours it gets tossed (say he didn't eat all by his second feeding, so I didn't put more out). At our house Nabu doesn't really eat dry food, so I only put out enough for snacks between wet feedings for Stimpy. A total of 1/4 cup for 24 hours, that's if he eats it all. Lately he's been eating 1/8 cup at the most of dry for a day. We can't run the AC and it's been pretty warm. I pretty rarely have to throw dry food away.

kkh · Jul 28, 2008

Originally Posted by littleraven7726

I only put out how much he eats between feedings. If there's any left after 24 hours it gets tossed (say he didn't eat all by his second feeding, so I didn't put more out). At our house Nabu doesn't really eat dry food, so I only put out enough for snacks between wet feedings for Stimpy. A total of 1/4 cup for 24 hours, that's if he eats it all. Lately he's been eating 1/8 cup at the most of dry for a day. We can't run the AC and it's been pretty warm. I pretty rarely have to throw dry food away.

My cat doesn't eat much anyways. I used to throw away whatever the left over until I learned how much she exactly eats.

Now I feed just the enough for what she'd eat per day which is 3/8 a cup of dry in the morning(& left it out for 24 hours) and 1/8 of 5.5oz can of wet in the evening. I use separate bowls(both stainless) for dry & wet but I clean both everyday, usually in the morning before I feed her dry food. She always finishes off dry but wet is depending on her mood & appetite(I suppose). The bowls always get slimy & sticky even the one for dry, so yeah, it kinda makes sense that she does not eat anything if the bowls are unwashed...

dawnofsierra · Jul 28, 2008

My girlies don't eat dry food, but if they did, their dishes would be washed every day.

darlili · Jul 29, 2008

I have several sets of ceramic bowls for both wet and dry food. Everything goes into the dishwasher on a daily basis or, for wet, after each wet meal. So far, so good. I measure out the dry food allotment each day - sometimes there's a bit left over, but I just toss that so they get fresh dry every morning.

Thoughts on washing dry food bowls

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