How often do you clean your cat bowls?

[santan]

My two have a set of ceramic dishes - enough to get through an entire day of meals. The used dishes get soaked and washed when the new servings (on clean bowls) goes down.

They eat breakfast (wet food), lunch (special treat dry food - other than their normal free feed dry), dinner (wet food), and bedtime snack (more wet food). Why so many, you may ask? Because I have one chubbette who will literally eat anything, up to and including an old sock, and one scrawny little boy who is THE world's pickiest eater and gravy licker. !!!!  At times I have felt like a short order cook, opening can after can, to see what I can get him to eat. *sigh*

They have a 360 fountain which gets topped off daily, complete water changed mid-week and completely dismantled and run through the dishwasher Sunday mornings.

 

[mani]

My two have a set of ceramic dishes - enough to get through an entire day of meals. The used dishes get soaked and washed when the new servings (on clean bowls) goes down.

They eat breakfast (wet food), lunch (special treat dry food - other than their normal free feed dry), dinner (wet food), and bedtime snack (more wet food). Why so many, you may ask? Because I have one chubbette who will literally eat anything, up to and including an old sock, and one scrawny little boy who is THE world's pickiest eater and gravy licker. !!!!  At times I have felt like a short order cook, opening can after can, to see what I can get him to eat. *sigh*

They have a 360 fountain which gets topped off daily, complete water changed mid-week and completely dismantled and run through the dishwasher Sunday mornings.

There's a familiar ring to the 'picky eater' syndrome...  I have a similar situation, although Nilah is not quite so picky and I think Sundar would baulk at old socks

Welcome to TCS, SanTan. 

  Would you like to introduce yourself in New Cats on the Block?  http://www.thecatsite.com/f/20/new-cats-on-the-block

 

[santan]

LOL! I don't blame her!

Stopped over at the other thread and left an introductory message about me and mine. Thanks!

:-)

 

[kspenney]

Penney gets her food dishes washed after every use. Then about every other day I wash her ceramic water dish. She also has a water fountain (that I wished I'd have saved my money!), which she doesn't go to often. When I would have something to drink from a glass, Penney had recently started trying to find out what was in the glass, so I turned a pet food can lid upside down and put it over the top of the glass -- that's her new water dish! That gets washed, too!

 

[gundumgrrl]

I rarely clean my cats dry food bowl, and just fill it up as they empty the bowl. Their wet food bowls get cleaned after every use, and the one water bowl the new cat uses gets emptied, cleaned and refilled every time I see it. The other two cats have a pet fountain, and I wash that with vinegar and water every week before I refill it.

 

[santan]

Just as an FYI, even though "dry food" seems dry, it's not. It has a fair amount of moisture and flavor coatings, which combined with your cats' saliva, will build up a film on the container/plate. It doesn't smell very nice to a kitty - like spoiled food, which it is - and it will act like a petri dish for some nasty bacteria. We wash our free feed container once a week - just emptying the contents temporarily to another large bowl - and we wash the small bowls for their daily special snack dry food every day. Unclean food containers are an invitation to a range of kitty illnesses - bowel problems, gum disease, etc., not to mention, who wants to eat out of a dirty, smelly, nasty dish?

:-)

 

[maniacmaddy]

I realize now how negligent I've been with keeping my food containers clean. I've been picking up cute, small, glass bowls at thrift shops around so I have more on hand to use for their food.
 

 

[matts mom]

I use glass containers with lids to store/feed the cats food, and wash them whenever they're emptied-which is after the food is spooned onto plates for two meals and fed out of the container for the third. Their plates are picked up and washed after each meal, and leftovers scooped onto a seperate plate for the outdoor kitties to eat before they spoil. I wash all kitty bowls in a different wash basin than my own plates and bowls, because I don't want cat food residue on my own plates

 

[2littlerascals]

wash them every time i give them fresh food, i also cover their food dish if they haven't finished it i hate the thought of dust and flies going on their food .

 

[deborah mills]

We wash the food and water bowls daily just like our own dishes

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

After Mattie struggled with acne, I learned to use the stainless bowls. They get washed after every meal, hot water and dish detergent. When I run the dishwasher I try to put them all in there.

 

[feralvr]

I have ceramic dishes and the Corelle dishes for the cats. I also use some china appetizer dishes. :lol3: I wash them all by hand with dish soap after each meal. I set them on a drying mat or hand dry them before I put them away. I wash the water bowls twice daily too. My dogs and cats share the large ceramic water bowls so I like to keep the water fresh and clean for them.

 

[dejolane]

I have a bowl that I got from the dollar store that is plastic. Then I got a 2 part dog dish that I'm using for my cats that is metal. I clean them every day.cause Bella & Thunder get dry cat food in the water.

 

[nccarol]

I switched to stainless steel for all cause of my one boys allergies I use paper dish for the 2 boys to share wet food and then toss it for now probably will get them a set of stainless for the wet food. I never fed wet till now since my female has had the dental surgery. Now found out the wet is better ofr them.  My other boy cat doesn't seem to like wet food its weird I thought they all would like it. They always have dry food available. have to keep it out of the dogs reach she's a hoggie. I wash them by hand I have no dishwasher once a day or more if they get dirtier.  

 

[angels mommy]

Yes, twice a day after each meal here too.  (hand washed, no dish washer here)

 I use ceramic dishes. Angel used to get chin acne, so  a couple of years ago after learning about plastic bowls being the cause, I switched.

He would still get it sometimes, & then someone told me to take up the plastic place mat, & of course, he hasn't had any sense!  (Thanks Laurie!

 )

 

[jlc20m]

I use only stainless bowls for food and water. Water bowls are hand washed twice a day with scent-free dish liquid and hot water (no dishwasher here, either) and food bowls are washed after each meal, three times a day. I store wet food in glass food containers and they are cleaned after the contents are eaten, once a day.

Jlc20m

 

[paws4life]

I feel lazy... I neglect the water bowls... They have 2 and they empty them daily so I refill them but unless there dirty I leave them be... I also use glass.

 

[mani]

I'm really impressed with everyone's bowl habits!  Excellent that there's very little plastic used.

The comments about a cat's sense of cleanliness and smell are really good reminders.. our feline friends are probably more fussy than we are. 

 

[tulosai]

I feel lazy... I neglect the water bowls... They have 2 and they empty them daily so I refill them but unless there dirty I leave them be... I also use glass.

I also feel really lazy.  I use stainless steel but only really 'clean' the water bowls once a week.   I empty an refill them daily as well, and do rinse them out with water at that time, but I only use soap on them once a week (unless something happens).  I usually feed the wet food on (small) regular human glass plates and those are washed only once a day though I feed the cats on the m twice.  I do rinse them off between the morning and night feeding though.

 

[Winchester]

The cats' plates are glass or ceramic. We have 21 plates for them; my goal is to have 28 plates, one for each cat for breakfast, dinner, and snack time. The cats' water bowls are big ceramic dog water bowls, heavy enough that they can't be tipped over during their mad dashes throughout the kitchen.

As soon as the cats have eaten their meals, we put their plates in the dishwasher....they never eat from the same plate twice. We have two water bowls, so one is always in the dishwasher and one is in use. Every night we put the water bowl in the dishwasher and get the clean one out. Fill it with ice and water and the cats are happy campers.

Even when they get their snacks, their plates go into the dishwasher. Most of our dishes are from the cats. The dishwasher has a sanitizing cycle and we always use that.

We have placemats for them, too. Muffin has her own placemat as does Amber Louise. BooBoo and Ms. Pepe share a placemat. Tabby and Muffin share a placemat. Bootser uses the same mat that the water dish is on.

No plastic.....Banshee

 had terrible feline acne that we think was caused by plastic bowls. So no plastic.