Why Does My Dog’s Bowl Get Slimy?

Why Does My Dog’s Bowl Get Slimy?

You pick up your dog’s water bowl to refill it and notice something familiar.

The inside feels slippery.

Maybe the water still looks perfectly clear. Maybe you just filled the bowl that morning. But when you run your fingers along the inside, there it is — that thin, slimy film.

So what exactly is it?

That Slippery Feeling Has a Name

The film that develops inside your dog’s bowl is commonly called biofilm.

As your dog eats and drinks, saliva, tiny food particles and other organic material can make their way into the bowl. Bacteria and other microorganisms can attach to the surface and become part of a film that builds up over time.

That’s the slippery feeling you notice when you touch the inside of a bowl that hasn’t been thoroughly cleaned.

And because your dog returns to the same water bowl again and again throughout the day, it doesn’t take long for the cycle to start.

Fresh Water Doesn’t Necessarily Mean a Clean Bowl

It’s easy to look at a half-full water bowl, dump out the old water, refill it and consider the job done.

We’ve all done it.

But replacing the water doesn’t necessarily remove what has attached itself to the surface of the bowl.

Think about a drinking glass you’ve used all day. Emptying it and pouring fresh water into it changes the water, but it doesn’t actually wash the glass.

Your dog’s bowl isn’t much different.

If you can feel a slippery coating when you run your fingers around the inside, rinsing and refilling alone isn’t removing everything that has accumulated on the surface.

How Often Should You Wash Your Dog’s Bowls?

More often than many of us probably realize.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends washing and drying pet food bowls after each use and washing water bowls daily.

That may sound like a lot until you think about what those bowls encounter every day.

Your dog eats, drinks, licks the bowl, goes outside, chews a toy, investigates the yard, comes back for another drink — and repeats the process.

Their bowls are some of the most frequently used items in the house.

Making bowl cleaning part of the everyday routine helps keep old food residue and that familiar slippery buildup from hanging around.

And It Isn’t Just the Bowls

Once we started paying attention to the things our dogs put in their mouths every day, we realized their bowls were only part of the picture.

There are slow feeders.

Lick mats.

Rubber toys.

Treat-dispensing toys.

Balls.

And all the other things our dogs happily cover in slobber before dropping them on the floor and picking them right back up again.

Some of these items have grooves, ridges and small spaces where food and residue can be especially easy to miss.

They deserve regular cleaning too.

A Simple Test

The next time you change your dog’s water, don’t just look at the bowl.

Touch it.

Run a clean finger along the inside surface, especially near the waterline and around the bottom.

If it feels slick or slippery, a refill isn’t what the bowl needs.

It needs to be cleaned.

It’s a remarkably simple habit, but once you know what you’re feeling for, you’ll probably start checking the bowl without even thinking about it.

Why We Made Bowl & Toy Cleaner

This is one of those little parts of living with dogs that helped shape Shepherd’s Naturals.

Franky and Skippy eat from these bowls. They drink from them. They lick their toys, chew their balls and work every last bit of food out of their slow feeders and lick mats.

We wanted a cleaner specifically for those things — the items that spend a lot of time in our dogs’ mouths.

That thinking eventually became our Bowl & Toy Cleaner and one of the simplest rules we follow in our own home:

If they lick it, we clean it with this.

Because sometimes taking better care of the things our dogs use every day starts with noticing something as simple as a slippery bowl.

Thoughtfully,

Shepherd's Naturals

Every Ingredient. Clearly Listed.
Safe for pets. Tough on messes.

Questions? Comments? Email us anytime at hey@shepherdsnaturals.com. We'd love to hear from you.