Seven Facts About Your Dog’s Plastic Bowl

Your dog’s food bowl is as important as his food, the saying goes by this and we should know what kind of bowl is the best for your pooch. Some of its types are plastic bowls, ceramic bowls, silicon bowls, stainless steel bowls, elevated feeders, slow feeders, etc. Well, all these bowls have their pros and cons. So it’s always better to choose what bowl’s pros are favoring you. Anyway, in this article, I will limit the discussion to plastic feeders so that you get to know all things about plastic dog bowls. Here are seven facts you’ll be surprised to know.

The Durability of Plastic Bowls

Generally, plastic dog bowls are inexpensive and durable. But if they’re of inferior quality, it will have scratches due to wear and tear which is unhygienic. This generally happens due to the material with less hardness (scratch resisting ability).
Also, low-quality plastic and lightweight material may become just another chew toy for your dog. They will chew it and gnaw it like anything and might also ingest small pieces of it. That may cause internal bleeding and GI tract related issues and the situation may end up in large vet bills. All in all, you must choose the bowls with high durability and high-quality plastic material.

The Risk of Microbes

When the bowl gets old it gets some scratches due to dishwashing. Moreover, if your dog chews it and scratches it with paw often, you might need to replace the bowls as soon as you see visible cracks and scratches. The microparticles of your dog’s food and saliva stick in there and promote the development of harmful microbes.
In this case, you have two considerations. If the bowl is naturally getting the wear and tear, you should replace it with a bowl made up of superior quality plastic. And if your dog often enjoys gnawing on his bowl, you may consider trying the bowls made of different materials.

They May Contain Bisphenol A or BPA

If your dog seems to love eating from plastic dog bowls, you need to be wary about the presence of the element in question. Bisphenol A or BPA is quite harmful to your dog’s health and it shouldn’t be present in the plastic bowls. Before we discuss the hazard of this material,  know that you should check whether the material used in the product is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or not. FDA approved products generally have negligible chances of having any hazardous substances for pets.
BPA even in smaller amounts can endanger a human’s life with different diseases including cancer, chromosomal as well as reproductive system abnormalities, and some dreadful diseases. If you perceive the potential threat to your dogs, you might not want to use the cheapest and low-quality bowls. In addition, please check with your dog’s canned food for BPA levels because your dog’s wet food also may have high BPA levels. There have been some recalls made for wet dog food in the past due to BPA.

The Presence of Phthalates

Phthalates are another chemical substances emitted by plastic. Also known as plasticizers, they are actually used to make the plastic more flexible and resilient. Usually, when you see the label of ‘BPA free’, you may see ‘No Phthalates’ written on it as well. It is also used as a solvent for many different applications.
There’s no concrete research available yet for the exact harmful effect on humans or animals. However, phthalates are considered to be harmful and a probable carcinogen in humans according to some studies. All in all, it’s a safe bet to purchase plastic dog bowls with no BPA and phthalates present.

Other Harmful Elements

Human food-grade plastic products are assigned with a recycle code so that it can be mentioned safe and free from lead, arsenic, and any other heavy metal present in it. But unfortunately, pet bowls generally don’t have such codes assigned yet. Nevertheless, bowls from popular brands have high-quality plastic with no harmful elements.
However, if you have a favorite brand you always prefer, please check for all the recalls of plastic bowls if they’ve made any. This is important because even if the bowls are marked safe by the FDA, they still may be dangerous.

Slow Feeders Are Also Made Up of Plastic

If you decide to choose slow puzzle feeder bowls for your pet, you should keep in mind that these bowls too are made up of plastic material. Importantly, when a dog tries to eat from this feeder, your dog will likely use his teeth to extract the food out of it and therefore the bowl must be tough enough so that it doesn’t break loose any chips. In addition, the material of the feeder should be non-toxic in case your dogs ingest any tiny pieces of it.

They May Replace The Need for Elevated Feeders

The controversy revolving around an elevated feeder makes us all rethink about the decision to use them. Well, one of the reasons why you would choose an elevated dog bowl is to stop dogs from dragging and pushing their bowls while eating and drinking. In fact, some of the plastic dog bowls come with a rubber grip in the bottom so that it won’t be dragged or turn over. This way you will be able to avoid the cons of elevated dog bowls while still be able to solve the problem.

The Endnote

This is all you needed to know about plastic dog bowls. Keep these things in mind while purchasing them. Some of the pros are that they’re available in different attractive colors, shapes, and sizes; are durable and don’t break easily, convenient to carry while traveling, and easy to clean even with a dishwasher. I hope this has helped. If you still have any questions regarding plastic dog bowls, you can let us know about them in the comment section below.

 

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