Manky bowls - are ceramic any better...?

[Kat_Bath]

H has stainless steel bowls, but they seem impossible to keep properly clean and are always slimy, not matter how many times they get washed (including a dishwasher). Because his bowls have been in the dishwasher a few times now (we moved in Jan and now have one - woohoo!), the paint on the outside is peeling off, so I thought I'd get him some new ones. I don't even know if slimy bowls are really an issue, but it seems pretty gross... Are ceramic bowls any better?

I really feel like I've spelt "slimy" wrong, but I've also typed it so many times that it feels weird

 

[Barton Bounty]

Its just the saliva that makes it slimy Harry has a steel one and Gixx has a plastic one, she prefers that

 

[meleeka]

I use plastic bowls. I have found the same with metal ones and the noise of my dogs collar hitting it drives me mad.

I think ceramic is probably preferable to metal.

 

[AmyMay]

Providing they’re washed after every meal, they shouldn’t be slimy. I have a mixture of bowls here - ceramic, metal and plastic. They’re washed in hot soapy water after use and remain slime free

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I have the really heavy stone ware type ones and I just alternate them so they get washed in the dishwasher every few days.

 

[Red-1]

Ours are stainless. They are washed by hand in plain water before refilling and dishwashed once a week. No paint so even the ones that are decades old look good.

I think they all get slime from slimy dogs! It is just that the stainless shows it more. But then, I would rather see it as it makes me up my cleaning game!

 

[honetpot]

Never had a problem with SS, they go in the dishwasher.

 

[splashgirl45]

Only problem I have with SS bowls is the hard water do do them with Viakal every so often . They are given clean water every day and I never see slime

 

[Prancerpoos]

Another one never to have had any problems with stainless steel. I just put them in the dishwasher after every use, so I have a few of them.

 

[Ratface]

Never had a problem with steel or stoneware dog/cat dishes. A good squirt of washing-up liquid, rub round with a pan scrubber, rinse with boiling water and leave to drain.

 

[Marnie]

I have stainless steel food bowls for the dogs and ceramic for the cat - I just put them in the dishwasher. I have a number of stainless steel water bowls dotted around with spares and probably put those through the dishwasher once a week - but I have small dogs who don't appear to be slimy

 

[Rokele55]

I have stainless steel for my terrier. Wash water and feed bowls most days despite the lack of slime (this may be because she prefers to remove her food from the bowl, take it into the front room and eat it off the cream carpet...). No slime with previous terriers. Terrier much prefers the slimey water in the sheep water troughs in the field anyway so rarely drinks out of her pristine metal water bowl.

Previous neighbour, often absent and left me the dogs to feed, had horrible slimey bowls with her labradors. Get a terrier and do a comparison ;-)

 

[FinnishLapphund]

I bought my first dog 1990, so I must've bought some of my oldest stainless steel dog bowls somewhere around then, or within the next 1 or 2 years. I also have some plastic, and ceramic bowls, to both dogs, and cats. I don't have a fixed cleaning schedule, they might get rinsed off with water, scrubbed with sponge + washing-up liquid, or put in the dishwasher, whichever I feel they need (or if I want to fill up a gap in the dishwasher).
Regardless which method I use, or the material in the bowl, all of them becomes clean, and none of them feels slimy after I've cleaned them.

I'm guessing that either you've been tricked into buying bowls of some weird quality stainless steel, or the problem isn't really with the bowls.

If the bowls feels slimy after you've washed by hand, have you tried using hotter water, and more washing-up liquid?
If the dishwasher in your new home isn't new, have you cleaned the filter/filters? If the filters aren't removable, have you used some type of cleaning tablet for dishwashers?
If the dishwasher is new/the filters are clean, does it make any difference if you use less dishwasher detergent?
Is it possible that you perhaps rinse the dog bowls either more, or less, before putting them in the dishwasher, compared to the rest of your dishes?

Really hope you find a solution to your problem, it sounds odd to me. Have you considered buying a new stainless steel bowl of another brand, to see if that one also gets slimy?

 

[rabatsa]

My greyhound made his water bowls slimey, the GSD doesnt. I put it down to the greyhound having poor mouth hygiene, he needed regular dentals/teeth removing.

 

[Goldenstar]

I don’t have problems getting SS clean the bowls are washed after every meal and the water bowl daily .

 

[druid]

Food bowls all stainless here bar one who has Mason Cash as he hates metal. Dishwaser every 2 day (4 meals). Waterbowls are road refreshers. No slime, and we have 10+ dogs usually

 

[kathantoinette]

Nothing to add other than I read this as ‘manky bowels’ and thought ‘what an interesting thread, I must read this immediately’

 

[ArklePig]

I find stainless ones manky too feel like I'm washing it all the time.

Also we have a ceramic water bowl upstairs and stainless steel downstairs, and she prefers the ceramic one I have a theory it tastes better but Mr AP looked at me like I was mad when I said that.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

It’s the biofilm. Occurs on both ceramic and stainless steel bowls, ime, but worse on ceramic. I use a steel scrubber on my bowls.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

I find stainless ones manky too feel like I'm washing it all the time.

Also we have a ceramic water bowl upstairs and stainless steel downstairs, and she prefers the ceramic one I have a theory it tastes better but Mr AP looked at me like I was mad when I said that.

My OH won’t drink out of cans (except coke). He says beer/cider tastes better out of bottles.

 

[Kat_Bath]

Wow, what a response to such a boring topic Thanks everyone I think it's time we got new bowls, and more of them so they can rotate and go in the dishwasher proper. Maybe I'll go wild and get a selection! To be honest as well, Harvey does drool so, so much before food, so I am not surprised he may be extra slimy...

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Wow, what a response to such a boring topic Thanks everyone I think it's time we got new bowls, and more of them so they can rotate and go in the dishwasher proper. Maybe I'll go wild and get a selection! To be honest as well, Harvey does drool so, so much before food, so I am not surprised he may be extra slimy...

I know that a biofilm (thanks @Cinnamontoast for using the word I tried, but failed to remember) can occur on the surface of dog bowls. We had a plastic water bowl, for both dogs and cats, in our Summer cabin that stood so some sunlight could reach it, and even if we rinsed it every day when we changed water, it could sometimes still build up a slimy biofilm on the inside, if we failed to clean it thoroughly enough.

I can understand if maybe the individual chemistry in a dog's drool might lead to a biofilm being created on the surface inside of a bowl, or if the dog have tooth problem etc. Or that an older bowl perhaps can have invisible wear and tear on the surface, where bacteria might hide, so even after the bowl have been washed, a new slimy biofilm soon builds up again.

It's the fact that the biofilm is still there on your bowls after that you've thoroughly washed them that intrigues me, Kat_Bath.

The only times we've had bowls, and plates that came out of our dishwasher feeling as if they've had some type of film on the surface is when someone have put too much detergent in the machine, so it didn't all get washed off.

 

[satinbaze]

I use stainless steel bowls both for food and water. I recently had to buy extra small for weaning the puppies and I could only get ones with a black coating on the outside. After 1 week the black paint started to peel off when put in the dishwasher. All hand washed now. Never any