Breaking food dishes

Ok i have been dealing with this for awhile but now its starting to get expensive. I have been feeding PB ( 6 mo old kitten) on some saucers or dessert sized plates for his meals (wet food only) Usually i will put the plate down right before i leave for work and then when i get home for lunch take it up and fill up a new plate with more food for his lunch. When he was younger if his platewas emptyhe would push it to the floor and of course it would break. ( i have a dog so PB has to be fed up high on something to keep my dog Calista from getting it.) I bought PB his own set of dishes just for his use and they get dishwasher washed every day. He broke all but 1 of the first set i got him back in May and today ( just a min ago acutally) broke the last of these. I bought him 7 more Correll dishes at Target one day back in July and he has now broken all but one of those. What can i do to prevent him from throwing his dishes to the floor? He is fed elevated due to my little dog so feeding on the floor isnt an option ( even then he scoots the plate across the floor with his nose) .

Suggestions anyone? This is getting expensive. He wont eat out of a bowl of any kind, never has. and i dont want to use plastic due to possible bacteria problems, and i would prefer not to use metal.--

Please help me out. I cant afford to keep replacing dishes every week or two.

How about placing his bowls in a high-sided serving tray with a piece of non-skid rubbery mat under it?

Paper plates?

Suction Cups!!! I have superglued suction cups to the bottom of my cats dishes and suctioned them onto the kitchen floor.

Just buy some pet dishes that are made of unbreakable material.

Yeah unbreakable is good. Buy stainless steel. You want to stay away from plastic since it can cause acne.

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

How about placing his bowls in a high-sided serving tray with a piece of non-skid rubbery mat under it?

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thanks i think ill try this-- if not this then it will have to be paper plates although i hate adding to our garbage like that. Ill head to wally world and see what i can dig up in the way of serving tray-- thanks again for all the ideas.

We use stainless steel.

ok several of yall have said you use metal (stainless steel) i dont want to use metal because of reactions (acne) that my dogs have had to metal dishes -- they eat out of pyrex baking dishes now. i cant find any pyrex dishes that have a very minimal lip/sides to them-- and i have never seen stainless steel plates. PB wont eat out of anything that has sides that come up-- no bowls, no square dishes, nothing like that so it has to be plates or something flat with a very very small lip and medium sized surface.

anyone know where i might find stainless steel plates?

You might try some outdoor type stores, i.e., ones that sell camping supplies. Maybe even order them on-line. I would think you should be able to at least get the enameled ones if not stainless steel.

How about using heavy duty velcro?

There's some stuff called "Quake Hold" that my family in Southern California uses for their breakables. Either that, or that sticky tack stuff people use to hang posters. I don't think you'll be able to keep the cat from trying to push the dishes off the counter, but you might be able to keep the dishes from being pushed.

I've seen the stainless steel plates at Cabela's and Dick's Sporting Goods stores.

I didn't know plastic causes cats acne!?

Just look in wal mart or a store similiar to wal mart. In the Housewares and buy a cheap pie plate..Metal.

Originally Posted by gardenandcats

Just look in wal mart or a store similiar to wal mart. In the Housewares and buy a cheap pie plate..Metal.

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Well...the cheap pie plates are usually aluminum, and that starts a whole other debate. Aluminum is suspected of contributing to all sorts of illnesses in humans, and it isn't good for cats, either. There's a thread here about tin foil's known toxicity to cats -- and although we call it tin foil, it's actually aluminum. It really looks like stainless steel is the safest metal for both kitties AND people.

What's wrong with using heavy coated paper plates???? We used paper plates for our kittens to eat off of when they were eating canned food.

I can't really think of a good solution (other than what others have already said) to keep the plate on the counter, but I would definitely check the dollar store for ceramic plates and saucers.... or I just thought as far as stainless steal plates: buy a set of the electric stove burner covers and use them upside down - they have a very tiny lip but are essentially a plate... I have a set of plain stainless steal ones on my stove, they clean up well and are durable! I've seen these sets in dollar stores and walmart....

What about finding some little rubber feet that you could put under your dishes? I've seen some of the metal bowls with rubber on the bottom, what if you bought an O-ring from a hardware store and superglued it to the bottom of your plate?? At the very least it'd offer resistance to being thrown over.

Paper plates are great! That's what I use, since I'm a vegetarian and don't enjoy cleaning up meaty ol' cat food. ICK! But you HAVE to use something impermeable for water.

Just to make this even more complicated: like plastic, ceramics can harbor bacteria (it grows over time in tiny cracks in the glaze), so THAT can sometimes cause problems, too! AUGGHH! Also, foreign-made ceramics often contain dangerous levels of lead. What's a catlover to do?

Personally, I choose glass. If your kitty doesn't like rims, you could try some of the pretty glass candle plates I've seen at Target -- the edge tips slightly upward all around, leaving a shallow well in the center.