How often and HOW do you clean your cats water bowls

I took Ben in a week ago to the Vet as he suddenly came inside on his own. HE NEVER wants in. He seemed hot but Vet f ound no temp and his bloodwork was normal. since Panther had blocked 2 weeks before that the vet told me to give them fresh water twice a day. I did BUT I only rinsed and wiped with my hand in cold water.

I asked on a vet to vet message board and the vets and techs thought I was doing fine BUT the cat owners had different opinions.

SOME said to wash with soap and HOT water and rinse with boiling water (I won't BOIL water these days as it is just too hot - even early). Then another said soap is difficult to rinse off so just use boiling water.

I went out and bought another set of water bowls (I ALWAYS clean food bowls off with hot water and soap and rinse well) and wash and rinse with hot tap water and air dry. I then fill up the first set with cold tap water. I do this twice a day.

How do you all do it?

Once a day, and I wash them just like human dishes- soap 'n hot water.

Hmm. I have stainless steel bowls, which matters. Other types are harder to clean and see when they're dirty.

I change the water every day, and when you can wipe your finger on the inside of the bowl and see a mark where the minerals and whatnot come off, then I scrub it with soap and water. If soap is too hard to rinse off, then what are we doing eating it all day?

So I usually wash it a few times a week, but not every day. I always rinse in hot water and then refill with filtered cold water.

Boiling a water dish is excessive to me. For goshsakes, they drink out of the tub drain when they feel like it!

My girls have a fountain and it gets cleaned about one time a week, just with hot soapy water and a dish rag. Their food bowls get thrown in the dishwasher.

Because Sophie sometimes drinks with her paw theres always bits of litter at the bottom so it gets changed twice a day but i always rub it round with kitchen roll, but give the bowl a good wash once a week.

I change water twice a day and wash the bowl once a day. I also put ice in the water.

I wash her water bowls and food dish once a day.

The water bowels there's 4 so I do them about 4 or 5 times a day and the dry food bowels , every other day, and they all have the own wet food bowels so I do them 2 times a day,,,you dont even want to know about LITTER boxes Litter boxes there's 4 I clean them about 5 or 6 times a day, I have 4 litter lockers so it's pretty easy. I try and keep it as clean as possible for them because there are 8, and I think that helps keep them healthy also I only work 2 days a week and then for only about 4 hours per day so I'm home to do it most of the time. Oh plus Miss Zoies dishes to

I have a few glass ones a stainless one and a few plastics/// All are changed ( rinsed out and paper towel wiped) at least twice a day .,.. and washed with soap at least once every other day

i have several of each so they go in the dishwasher. the drinkwell fountain I wash once a month/ yikes.

I put their bowls (food and water) in the dishwasher twice a week for a good cleaning - between times, every time I give them new water, twice a day, I rinse them out with hot water, as there is usually pieces of food in there most of the time

One of my cats is prone to chin acne, so I replace the stainless bowls twice a day.

I have a cat it fountain which i take apart and clean once a week. My one cat actually had cat acne when i got her., but we think it was her food. Once we put her on healthypetnet food it went away. Gotta love those fountains though.

Originally Posted by MoochNNoodles

My girls have a fountain and it gets cleaned about one time a week, just with hot soapy water and a dish rag. Their food bowls get thrown in the dishwasher.

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I do the same here for our babies.

Originally Posted by reddicequeen

I have a cat it fountain which i take apart and clean once a week. My one cat actually had cat acne when i got her., but we think it was her food. Once we put her on healthypetnet food it went away. Gotta love those fountains though.

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Well I am just one person here and to put water dishes (6 of them in the dishwasher 2x a day) would be too much of a waste of water.

We are on water restriction here as the water table is LOW - if we use too much there won't be any in 25 years and there HAS to be enough for all the people who will be moving into all the new home they are building!

Every morning I fill up 6 empty - washed in hot soapy water the night before water dishes with COLD water and empty and wash in hot soapy water the night ones. Same with the food dishes.

I wash Sebastians out once a day with hot water and my hand then refill. Once a week I take his food and water dishes and wash them with dish soap.

he drinks most of his water from the tub anyway...

Soap and warm water, daily.

I have a stainless steel bowl and top it up every couple of days, and do a complete wash with soapy water every few days.

wet food bowls - washed after first use

dry and water: 1x/week. I read somewhere to run it thru a hot water cycle at least 1x/week. I dont have a dishwasher so I wash in v. v. hot water with soap once a week. The wet food bowls, hot hot hot water 1x/wk, regular dish cleaning after every use.

I'm a bit lazier, I think. I give the bowls a quick rinse every time I refill them (usually at least once a day -- neither cat drinks enough to drain the bowls, but they like tipping the supposedly tip-proof bowls over and plunking their toys in the water ). Once a week I fill the sink with very hot, soapy water, add in some vinegar (I use vinegar to clean everything!), and let their water bowls and food dishes soak for a while before giving them a proper cleaning. We use stainless steel "tip-proof" (that has to be in quotation marks, because my cats can tip them over) dog bowls for the water, and heavy ceramic dishes for their food.

I'm thinking about getting a cat fountain, but I'm convinced Spike will knock it over and destroy it. As the saying goes, nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool, and Spike is ... well, Spike isn't talented per se, but he is certainly determined!