We feed twice a day, so twice a day.

Wow! That's impressive. I feed my dogs twice a day but only dry food. Maybe that makes a difference?

Stick the dishes into the dishwasher. Have more than one dish per animal. Not exactly difficult, is it?

I'm just going to say it, it doesn't matter what kind of food you feed your dog, going months without cleaning it's bowl is just plain gross and irresponsible. How often do you clean your dishes? Your dog deserves the same courtesy.

And yes, our dogs dishes are washed twice a day after she eats.

So angry. It might very well be gross but my dogs lick their bowls clean and often times eat their own poop which is also pretty gross :)

My dogs food dishes are washed and dried after each meal. Water bowl is cleaned and refilled several times a day. Funny story...my lab checks his water bowl when he comes in after his first morning outing. If the water hasn't been changed yet, he won't drink from the bowl.

Wash food bowls about once a week, feed dry food. If I give them something moist, then I wash before the next meal. Wash water bowl daily. My dogs won't eat or drink if bowls are dirty. But it is curious they will readily drink from any puddle or eat dead geckos. I don't know their logic for deciding.

I have a stack of bowls for the dog, so when he eats, the used bowl goes in the dishwasher. Each meal gets a clean bowl from the stack. Same for kitty.

I washed them last night and I am going to try to be better about it. I have had dogs for 20 years and none of them have ever gotten sick. My kids feed them a cup of dry food twice a day and then I just forget about it. If they get anything wet I wash them right away. They always have clean water inside and outside but one of them always chooses to drink rain water from an old sandbox!

Food bowl twice a day, after each feeding. Water bowl once a day.

Lily,

I think most of us simply answered your question as to bowl cleaning. I hope that because you do or did something differently that no one was inadvertantly sounding judgmental.

As you said, you've done it another way for decades without ill effect.

There are folks that bath their dogs much more frequently than others, those that nails to grow much longerthan others, those that never brush, those that brush very frequently, those that clean teeth frequently, those that never do... it goes on.

You mentioned Washing Machine cleanliness. Front loading washers have a bad rep for mold and odors. I have found a device called Washer Fan - washerfan.com

Now a little pricy, but it has proven 100% effective on my Front Loader.

Continued luck with the dog - and the washer.

Lily, I'm not into sugar coating my responses and do say exactly what i'm thinking. If I was angry, I would have said so; as I said I think it's gross and it is. Also, as others have pointed out, besides being gross, there are health risks involved and vet bills from salmonella or other contaminants (or even the loss of your pet) are much harder to manage than a daily cleaning of the food bowl.

The way I see it is that the health and well being of our pets are a responsibility we accept when we adopt them into our homes, part of that includes providing them with clean water to drink and clean dishes to eat from.

In regards to your dog eating feces, that can actually be symptom of a vitamin definciency (Vitamin B), paracites or a number of other conditions, it too puts your dog aat risk for illness. You may want to discuss the issue with your Vet to find out what the root cause is so you can get it to stop.

It's good that you've said you'll try to do better. I just hope you're successful with it, It's really is just part of being a pet owner and it's not that difficult to do.

Lukkiirish, fair enough on your response. I assure you I am a very responsible pet owner. My dogs are very well taken care of. I have discussed the feces eating with my vet and tried a few things that didn't work. My dogs eat a very high quality food so that's not the issue. In the end, she said some dogs just eat poop and there isn't much you can do about it. Just don't let them lick your face right after they do it. It's more harmful to us than them.

Thanks for the responses. Always interesting to learn how other people do things.

I guess I am the one that mentioned Salmonella, when I said:

If you feed raw, I have the Canadian Vet Soc study that essentially
guarantees that your feed bowls contain Salmonella and present a food
hazard to you, and possibly the dog. Scrubbing at the sink will not take
care of that!

I am not aware of Salmonella nor any other disease nor health issue being caused by un-washed bowls used to feed kibble - the OP's (and my) choice of food.

I direct this comment only to the OP and simply mean to correct anything I said that may have been misunderstood.

I wash my dog's bowls three times a day, before each feeding. I split her food into three meals. She gets some water with turkey meat mixed with the dry so they are dirty and plus, their saliva is really slimy. She eats all sorts of gross stuff at the dog park though...HA!

I wash my cat's bowls in the dishwasher at least once a week, sometimes twice.

http://www.foodsafety.gov/blog/categories/animals

Salti, I didn't see that your article referred to only raw, but seriously? Salmonella is not just a concern with raw diets, more often than not it's the cause of recalls for kibble. If a dish is seldom ever washed the bacteria just grows in the dog's dish. It's only common sense a dog would get sick from that. Just because you are unaware, doesn't mean it does not happen.

For Chrissake, I twice posted the statement, the third time follows below. I don't understand why you would say, "Salti, I didn't see that your article referred to only raw, but seriously?" (BTW, I didn't post a link anywhere... if that's what you mean by "article." I posted my thoughts, you once again attacked, I (hopefully) clarified my post and made it was directed to the OP, and you can't let it go still!)

I am an experienced dog owner, exhibitor, dog magazine article contributor, and breeder. I try to contribute here and usually refer to other sources - not sure why anyone would value my opinion.

Yet, you continue to harass and attack me, and I can not find a settingthat will allow me to "ignore" you - however I do the best I can.

If you feed raw, I have the Canadian Vet Soc study that essentially
guarantees that your feed bowls contain Salmonella and present a food
hazard to you, and possibly the dog. Scrubbing at the sink will not take
care of that!

Read your last post -it is utter nonsense and demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the subject being discussed. You continue to post misinformation that I suspect has sometimes caused real harm.

Any chance of your leaving me alone? It's not flattering.

PS Kibble can not contain Salmonella as it is thoroughly "cooked." What can happen is that kibble and virtually anything else can be contaminated by salmonella. The distinction is, and made that clear, if you feed raw the Canadian Vet Society says that the majority of bowls and foods, including commercial products, will contain Salmonella and washing bowls in a sink will not remove the threat to humans, puppies, and compromised dogs.

i have fed raw for 8+ years now. i wash bowls in hot, soapy water after each meal and once or twice a week, they go in the dishwasher. so far, so good. i, nor any of my danes, have ever gotten sick.

Salti - I value your input - Thanks

When the bowls get nasty I then wash them. Now for the cats which I have 4 I wash and rotate their dishes every few days.

Washer I have a H3 the big kind and I take bleach once a month around the plastic of the tub and wipe down then run the towel or rag in hot water for short cycle on hot. This also helps with the mildew smell. I looked on U-tube to figure out to get rid of the smell.

When the bowls get nasty I then wash them

seriously?? that's just gross. would you eat off of a dish that was crusty with days and days of old food?

I feed my dog dry food. In my mind, it's not that the bowl needs to be washed because the dry food has been in it, but because she has licked the bowl clean, so her saliva has been on it and dried on it. I figure it this way: If I had a bowl of something .... maybe dry cereal let's say ... and I licked the bowl, would I then put that bowl back in the cabinet to be used again? NO! It's got my dried spit on it. Same for the dog.

Wash the cat dish (dishwasher) every few days and clean the placemat (that gets gross as well!).

"Lick the bowl clean"......I love it!

I have a boxer 5 and a Shih Tzu 9 and they get fed raw Have stainless steel bowls which get rinsed with hot water after use ( usually ) . They have never had a sick day in their life and I have never got any disease Salmonella or what every one is so concerned about. Bacteria are every where. IMHO people are way too paranoid about everything. Especially city folks LOL

I have stainless steel bowls and wash them twice a day (after each meal). I home cook, but years ago when I fed commercial petfood, I fed dry food free choice, and I confess to changing out the dry food and washing the dry food dish less frequently than their dishes for wet food which I fed once a day and washed immediately after.

For my washing machine, I occasionally run it empty with bleach added. That disinfects it. I probably should do that more often.

Also I confess to using the same coffee mug for days on end with just a rinse under the tap between uses, so....

I wash after (or before) every meal. I feed my cats canned food, and they lick the dishes clean... but I don't like the thought of their saliva hanging out! Yuck.