subject: Serving forth your pet's meals with safety and style [print this page] Serving forth your pet's meals with safety and style
Now that you've selected a premium custom pet food for your pet, and even boosted it with supplements, what are you going to serve Spot's meals in? This is not ajoke question!
The dish you use to feed your pet, and where you place it,is as important as what goes in it. Plastic bowls may be unbreakable but theyare porous, so they harbor bacteria. Plus, the chemicals in plastic canimpart an offputting taste to a finicky pet's food or water. This can lead to dining and drinking abstinence, which contributes to serious health problems.
Instead, use nonporous bowls that are unbreakable andeasy to keep clean (i.e. they can go in the dishwasher). Stainless steel bowls are ideal, and many models come with rubber rings at the bottom to prevent them from tipping over or skidding across the floor as Spot eats his meals with gusto.
Another nonporousmaterial that's used in pet bowl manufacture is melamine, which, although not totally unbreakable, is a lot less breakable than ceramic.
Speaking of stoneware, if your pets are light on their feet and don't rough up their food bowls, ceramic is a fine pet-bowl material, as it too is nonporous. Ceramic is breakable, of course, so it's best for dainty cats and miniature K9s, but not a great option for large, energetic dogs.
If you have a tall dog, you do him or her a kindness by lifting the food bowl up off the floor, so the animal doesn't have to bend down in an awkwarddiningposition. Happily, there are many convenient feeder options that enable large dogs to eat comfortably.
Does yoursenior pethave arthritis? Understand that it's difficult for them to gain secure footing on a slick tiled surface, which makes bending down to eatdoubly difficult. Please be considerate and move their raised feeder to an area that isn't tiled, or put a non-skid mat in front of the bowl.
