Choosing a cat bowl is a familiar decision for all newcomers to domestic cat caregiving and also for experienced owners. As all cat bowls are inexpensive or relatively inexpensive compared to most household items it does not pay to buy cheap. The cheapest bowls are made from thin plastic which the experts agree are the worst kind of bowls for the reason given in the infographic. I was surprised to note that the much-respected Dr Bruce Fogle DVM writes, “Odour-free heavy plastic is good”. I presume this material is more resistant against being scratched by a cat’s canine teeth and therefore it overcomes the weakness of standard plastic bowls.
I have expanded on the infographic on this page.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE ARE MANY MORE PAGES ON CAT BOWLS AT THE BASE OF THE ARTICLE WHICH SIGNIFICANTLY EXPANDS ON THIS DISCUSSION.
Domestic cats have inherited poor drinking habits from their wildcat ancestor. This encourages me to favour a thick glass bowl for drinking. And that thought leads me to believe that perhaps the best response to a question about the best bowls for cats is to have three different types as follows:
- Thick, clear glass for water only
- Stainless steel and
- Ceramic for food.
I think you’ll find that the three selected will be approved by all cat ‘experts’. Note: it is believed that bacteria harboured in plastic bowls may be responsible for feline acne on the chin.
Whisker Stress
The concept of whisker sensitivity (stress) is fairly new. It was not discussed about ten years ago. I am not entirely convinced that the problem exists. Website owners and authors have made a meal of it (forgive the pun). But that said it sounds plausible. However, I have never seen hard evidence of what is called ‘whisker stress’ either through personal experience or in a survey until writing this 😊!
There is actually a study on this topic on the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery written by Jennifer the Slovak and Taylor E. Foster entitled: “Evaluation of whisker stress in cats”.
Forty indoor cats participated. The study was approved by the Washington State University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. The picture below shows the two different types of whiskey-friendly bowls used.
One is ceramic and the other stainless steel. As you can see, they are very shallow. The dimensions are listed. These dishes are available commercially and they are as follows:
- Think Pet Shallow Wide Cat Dish and
- Jackson Galaxy Eclipse Stainless Steel Bowl
There are both advertised as minimising the risk of whisker fatigue because of their shallow depth and wide diameter.
The survey proved inconclusive but probably favoured the conclusion that there was no difference in feline behaviour between the shallow and wide dishes compared to the standard dishes.
In the words of the scientists:
“There was no significant difference seen in time spent eating, amount of food dropped or amount of food eaten when the whisker-friendly dishes were used compared with the cats’ normal dishes.”
The scientists assumed that if cats spent longer at a dish, it was more comfortable. They also said, however, that “some cats appear to prefer the new whisker-friendly dish over their normal food dish”. No reason is suggested. But it does indicate that it’s a better dish and therefore may be more comfortable. And that comfortableness may be dissociated from whisker stress. Cats might prefer wide dishes.
That by the way is a far point. If cats prefer a bowl for whatever reason, it may encourage eating. Sometimes that is important.
Plastic
Plastic bowls can also be chewed on by dogs and cats in a multi-cat homes where there are dogs as well which can damage the product. Further, bowls made of plastic might contain bisphenol A and phthalates. These chemicals are known to cause serious health concerns in humans such as disrupting the endocrine system and altering reproductive physiology and biochemistry.
Stainless steel
Ideally, cat owners should look for products labelled as grade 304 or 18/8 stainless steel because these are higher quality, more durable and resistant to corrosion.
Ceramic
Apparently, Food and Drug Administration in the USA report that lead and cadmium are often used in glazes on ceramic ware. These substances can leach into the food or water if the glazes improperly formulated or the product is improperly fired. This may pose a risk.
Glass
I’ve mentioned the possibility of glass breaking. That wouldn’t be too bad if the entire product broke and was unusable but if a piece is chipped off it might present a sharp edge to a cat and it might harm them.
Below are some more articles on cat feeding and watering bowls.
