Last Updated on May 5, 2023 by Olivia Anderson
Would you eat in an unclean bowl? No, right? Likely, your dog doesn’t like to eat from a dirty bowl too.
Disinfecting bowls is as essential as feeding your pet nutrition-rich food. If you have been feeding your furry baby in an unwashed bowl, maybe it is time to clean up your act. Stop staring at your furry baby’s visibly dirty dish and get to work.
Food remnants are often a breeding ground for bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Refilling a bowl without paying attention to how usable the bowl is can put your canine companion at significant health risk. It is advisable to take equal care of your furry baby’s other daily-use items and also consider being prepared with pet health insurance.
The best pet insurance covers a little pupper’s medical care during accidents, allergies, particular illnesses, dental conditions, medical emergencies, and much more. Contemplate purchasing a policy, so your pet is comprehensively covered for health issues.
Meanwhile, read this article for a few quick tips on cleaning your pet puppy’s food and water bowls.
How often?
It is best to clean your puppy’s bowls before every refill. Put yourself in your dog’s shoes to understand its grief on eating from the same unwashed bowl multiple times. It can be grosser if the bowl has mold growing due to persistent use without cleaning. In such a case, you should discard the old bowls and start afresh by feeding your pet pooch in the new ones.
What to use?
Use a soft cloth or sponge for cleaning only your dog’s bowls. A mild dish soap and water are enough to revive the bowls. If you are using stainless steel bowls, avoid using harsh detergents and antimicrobial products to prevent oxidation/rusting. Also, you can consider running them in your dishwasher for a quick clean.
With any amount of cleaning, sometimes traces of bacteria can still be left behind. To overcome this issue, you can soak your furry baby’s bowls in warm water containing a few spoons of vinegar every week. After that, clean the bowl with fresh water and leave it to dry before using it again.
If there is hard, dried, or caked food left on the bowl corners, scrub them off using a reliable scrubber, then wear gloves and hand wash them. You can also use hot water to loosen up the food stuck in the bowl and to neutralize any harmful bacteria thriving on it.
Excessive scrubbing can cause scratches on the bowl surface; to avoid them, it is advisable to soak the bowl in a hot water tub for a couple of minutes before washing. It goes without saying that any food mats used need cleaning as well. They can contain your furry baby’s drool, dropped food, and water.
Maintaining clean feeding apparatus can significantly lower the risks of your pup developing infections, allergies, and a host of other diseases. Still, consider being equipped with pet health insurance because there, you can’t avoid many health conditions.
Contemplate purchasing the best pet insurance for your little pup, so it is covered for a broader range of health conditions, with little financial implications during non-routine vet visits and emergencies.
