Tuesday Tip: Using Stainless steel or ceramic pet bowls

I'm sleeping

I'm sleeping

We all love our pets right?  And want to do the best of the best for them.  For me, that includes providing a safe and pet friendly environment.  One of the things I have learned during momhood is that stainless steel or ceramic pet bowls are better and healthier for pets (dogs and cats, and all animals who feed out of dishes and bowls.)

When we first adopted Rocky, I had plastic pet bowls for him.  A sturdy non-slip food bowl and a plastic water bowl.  Rocky has a white muzzle and I noticed that the white part was always red and swollen.  It didn’t seem to bother him, but it did look irritated.  I could not figure out what could be causing this and why he would have such a strong reaction.  I started doing a little investigating and researching online (Thank the Gods for the internet, right?) and what I found out sort of shocked me at first.  That his pet bowls could be causing this reaction because of the plastic.

What I learned is that plastic is porous and no matter how hard you clean it, you can’t guarantee that you are getting rid of all the bacteria in the dish.  Plus it seems that plastic is constantly giving off fumes and has toxic additives to it that can leach out into food and water.  Thinking about it, animals are putting their faces directly into these bowls.  Face-first in bacteria and fumes and whatever else.  Ew.  And no wonder Rocky’s pour muzzle was irritated.  I took away his plastic bowls and bought stainless steel ones which are super cheap.  When I eliminated plastic from his life (that included toys as most rubber/plastic dog toys are PVC) his face cleared up.  On a few occasions I’ll let him play with a rubber squeaky ball and  limit the playtime to keep his mouth from swelling up.

Now I am not saying everyone’s animal is going to have a reaction to plastic like mine did.  But moving over to stainless steel or ceramic will cut out the nasty toxins and bacteria that plastic has going for it.  Plus stainless steel can be tossed in the dishwasher for easy cleanup!  A lot has come to light recently about plastics and how toxic they can be.  But that doesn’t just apply to humans, we need to consider our pets as well.  Taking a minute to think about what they might be experiencing and if we need to make a change that would benefit their health in a positive way should be one of our top priorities.

3 thoughts on “Tuesday Tip: Using Stainless steel or ceramic pet bowls

  1. Awww poor Rocky Bean! :(

    Glad to hear his mama was so caring and took the time to research (and share it with us! lando’s food comes out of a plastic bowl! – i need to change that!)

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