Dog Water Dish: Plastic vs Stainless Steel?

[Mike 03]

I could use some advice. For ten years I have always had plastic water bowls for my dogs, largely because we used them at the animal shelter where I used to volunteer, but because the release of studies that suggest there may be some toxic chemicals in plastic containers, this morning I purchased some stainless steel food bowls. These bowls don't specifically say that they are safe for water, and now I am wondering if it may not be the best idea to have my dog drinking from water out of a steel bowl.

Any opinions on whether it is safe, or even advisable or preferable, to allow pets to drink water from a steel bowl vs plastic?

Is plastic better? Worse?

Any advice would be appreciated.

:shrug:

[mitchum]

1. Don't know about dogs, but cats can develop acne on their chins...

from the use of plastic dishes

[Mike 03]

14. Appreciate your response, TY. I am finished with plastic, for both

my cat and dog. NT

[Captain Hilts]

2. Stainless. nt

[Mike 03]

15. Thank you. Will it affect the taste?

I worry because two of my plastic bowls my dog and cat won't even drink from. It is so strange. It is like they know there is something wrong with those bowls.

[retread]

3. My dog prefers the porcelain one. n/t

[PassingFair]

5. Porcelain/ceramic fan here, too.

My dogs tipped over the plastic and steel ones.

[flvegan]

4. All the dogs here have a mix of either stainless or ceramic.

I notice that because of the water "quality" here, I need to clean the stainless ones more often. There is one plastic bowl that my personal dogs seem to prefer over the stainless one they can also drink from.

[undeterred]

6. Stainless

My last dog got a bare spot under his chin from the plastic one, so I got a stainless one. Vet said it was an allergy.

[surrealAmerican]

7. I use ceramic, mostly because they're heavy ...

... so they stay where you put them.

[OhioChick]

8. Ceramic work best here.....

Dogs aren't spilling them every 30 seconds. :)

[Old Troop]

9. I use stainless

[femmocrat]

10. Don't use plastic.

It can harbor bacteria especially if there are chew marks on it. I bought stainless steel for the puppy but she kept tipping it over. I use heavy ceramic bowls and we put them in the dishwasher every night.

[Mike 03]

13. Thanks, Yes, I have seen the bacteria grow on the inner rim of

the plastic dishes.

[Brickbat]

11. I use plastic with the microban on it, and they eat from plastic bowls.

They don't tip the water, but the collie has a very collie way of drinking, which is to say sharing it with the rest of the room.

[txwhitedove]

12. Stainless. Looks better, cleans easily, and plastic gets chewed up.

:hi:

[Mike 03]

16. Ceramic sounds good, but two questions:

Do I have to worry about lead in ceramic bowls?

(I mean, if we don't even have toys for our kids that don't have lead, why can we expect that dog toys/bowls would not have lead in them?

Where do I buy them? They are not available here locally.

[Brother Buzz]

17. My dog shares her Ceramic rabbit bowl with a scrub Jay that loves to bathe in it

Both are happy with the arraignment because they discovered the humans never let it run dry.

Our dog also has a stainless steel bowl inside, but she does most of her drinking outside.

She prefers to eat exclusively from a fine old china bowl we purchased at the SPCA thrift shop, she's picky that way.

[murielm99]

18. My dog drinks from a stainless bowl in the house.

When she was a puppy, she had a plastic bowl, but she liked to pick it up and shake it. That was inconvenient and messy. I got pissed, too.

Outside, she drinks from a big plastic bucket. It is actually there for the outside cats, but she loves to drink from the bucket. She was never able to pick that up and shake it when she was a puppy.

[Riftaxe]

19. Hard rubber,

I use a bucket for my labrador. Works out well.