Question about water bowls

[Tzugroomer]

I recently moved in with my BF who owns 2 English Cockers. I also brought my 2 Shih Tzu. I've always used a stainless steel bowl for their water which I cleaned and filled several times a day. They always had fresh water.
My BF uses one of those water bowls that has the bottle that you fill and turn upside down into the bowl. It's made of plastic. As the dog drinks the water out of the bowl, more water goes into it from the bottle. This water was nasty, had "things" in it like pieces of sticks, food and there was even a fly in it. Also there was cruddy stuff I guess from sitting, all around the bowl.
I was not going to let my dogs drink this nasty water so I got rid of it and only allow them to drink from the stainless steel bowls. He says the water bottle bowl is safe for them, but I don't like it. It would sometimes sit ther for 2 or 3 days until it needed refilled and it never got washed.
Well, what do you all think. Is it ok for them to drink from something like that? Wouldn't it grow some kind of bacteria after a few days? I told my BF that I would ask here on the board and see what everyone thought of it.
Thanks for any advice on the water "argument".
Tzugroomer

[SpikeyTheYorkie]

I once lived in a large house with 3 roommates, each of us had dogs, so 4 dogs total. We had one of those water bowl dispensers and it was NASTY.

I would always have fresh water for Spike in my bedroom, because I thought that was disgusting, and it's not "fresh" water.

I wouldn't drink water that's been sitting there for several days, that's for sure.

Tammy in Utah

[diamienono]

First of all, dogs will drink out of a toilet lol. Do you drink bottled water? That sits for a long time. I have one of those and I wash it everytime I fill it. I usually fill every 2-3 days.

[toomuchfunbnme]

I would cean it every day if I used one of those. They may be handy to have enough water during the day for multi dogs, but I would not think it would be healthy if they are not thoroughly cleaned each day.

[Tzugroomer]

Well, it might have been different if it were cleaned everyday, but this one was never cleaned, just refilled.
I don't drink bottled water. I do have a Britta System though.
I mainly drink water or coffee. Guess I better fess up. Right now I am actually drinking a beer. hehe
A friend came over one night,,,I am not really a drinker, but he brought some Ice House beer and I had a couple. It's good and doesn't bloat you.
Ooops, am I advertising for them? Sorry
Tzugroomer

[Arrooh]

Two schools of thinking

I am a water cleaning nut inside, but have a 5 gallon bucket outside that gets cleaned every few days. It looks clean, but. Now dogs often live long and hearty drinking out of an ol Horse trough with living things, and dead things in it. They also drink out of ponds and such, but do get sick sometimes from the bacteria in them. A Professional Handler that won over 300 Best in Shows gives seminars and said he was adament that water bowls get cleaned and scrubbed I think it was at least daily if not more often. He said he'd never had a sick dog in his care.

[pamperedpups]

Edited.

[sheilabgroomer]

I would clean that water bottle at least every other day and flush w/bleach water well since you can't get into it to scrub. Like others, it should be okay to use as long as it is washed well to prevent a build up of the nasty things. You can also add a little apple cider vinegar (the unpasturized kind w/the mother) to the drinking water to help keep it sanitary.

[lvdobes]

I like to always use stainless because some dogs have problems with all the chemicals and **** that are in plastics but if I were going to use one of those type containers I'd wash and refill it every day.

Lisa

[wet noze]

It only takes a minute to rinse out the bowl and replace the old water with fresh, cold water. I do it at least once or twice a day. Everytime my dog eats, he drinks and then I see food particles in there. Looks yucky.

[Luvkitties]

What do you all think of the electric pet fountains---I think one is called Drinkwell.

Hmmm...

[SpikeyTheYorkie]

Another thing, those water bowls get a nasty, slimy film in them, that can't be good.

Tammy in Utah

[keachy18]

this might be gross...

we used to have an irish setter/lab farm dog when I was growing up. He always had fresh water available. However, he wouldnt drink it. He would always either drink from the troughs or puddles. It was the oddest thing. He would only drink the fresh water as a last resort. He lived to be 16 yrs old. Then he developed cancer and had to be put down. However his eyesight and hearing and everything was pretty good when he got put down, as far as we knew. So I dont know. However having said that, I would clean the plastic thing everyday cuz they can start to be really gross if not cleaned properly. I always thought it was gross what our old dog did, so if I could have them drink fresh water out of a fresh dish I would.

[Arrooh]

My dog

or in this case one of my dogs, wet noze (cute name btw) eats and with food particles still in his mouth gets a drink out of his water bowl. There are pieces of food down there in the lovely shiney stainless steel bowl full of clean water. Luckily it is confined to his exercise pen (where he is when being fed and when I'm not watching the little imp) so only that bowl. Every time I wash it out which can be 3 or 4 times a day. Luckily my other dogs don't do that so the other bowls get cleaned once a day.

[ljbrooks]

rdefffffffffffffffffffffff

(I'm leaving that above because my cat typed it!)

Water bowls...good topic. My lab will eat and drink any nasty thing. I have a ceramic bowl for him in the house that is clean and nice and he drinks out of the toilets.

Now for my clients dogs, I have stainless steel bowls that get scrubbed between dogs (of course!). I have seen those inverted 2 liter bottle water bowls and thought, what a great idea, but am concerned with "things" growing in there as you can't scrub the bottle. Perhaps, if your BF drinks alot of soda (bad BF :-) ) you could get a clean one once a week or so. I agree with the rinsing it with a diluted bleach solution. Just keep it clean and change it frequently, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the larger bottle system. Follow your instincts. I bet they're good.