Malaysia Veterinary Forum (Archive)

ashleywong · Joined: 25 Sep 2007 Posts: 80 Location: Tmn Desa, KL

Hi All

Just to share a shot note on food and water bowl for cats

It DOES Matter what sort of material a cat's water and food bowl is made of. I started off with some "el-cheapo" plastic bowls/plates then progressed to "better" plastic but still economical (RM2 per pet bowl).

for some reason, my cats got some sort of "chin rash" from eating out of plastic bowl/plate. this went on for a year. the rash looked like "dirt" stuck on their chin but can't be "removed" i subsequently changed to stainless steel plate and the chin rash cleared up very quickly.

ditto for the water bowl. no they didn't get chin rash but they seldom drink from it even though i keep it scrupulously clean and refill with fresh water twice a day. this went on for a year.i discussed this with my vet and based on their advice on the important of my cats getting adequate water intake due to its mainly dry food diet, i decided to "hedge my bets" and also changed their water bowl to metal and lo behold, they suddenly made a beeline for the water!

i read up on this and spoke to my vet : bottomline is plastic material, no matter how many times you clean it, it may still harbour bacteria (on surface scratches too minute for human eye) and/or lingering residue/smell of the soap/dish detergent we used. we may not detect it but our feline friend's sense of smell is very keen and can pick it up.

the same for water bowl made from plastic. if our cat pick up any smell they deemed not "natural" to the water, they won't drink. also if the surface is littered with dust or hair, they also won't drink.

hence i rinse out their new metal water bowl twice a day and wash out with soap once a week.

i was also advised that ceramic is a good material too unfortunately yours truly have butterfingers. visons of my breaking the water and food bowls each time i wash them lead me to choose metal over ceramic! :-p

hope this is useful for beginners.

bina · Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 32

Yikes, I just bought a plastic bowl from IKEA - RM2, thinking it was a good buy!

Thanks for the advice Ashley, I do notice "chin rash", sort of "black, black thingy" that I scratch it off my princess' chin....