Elevated pet feeding bowls

[Stephen Tashiro]

Anyone have experience with feed cat or dogs from elevated bowls? (They sit off the floor a few inches, usually in a stand of some sort.)

I notice some pet supply websites tout elevated feeding bowls as being more natural and healthy for cats and dogs than bowls set on the floor. Eating at floor level seems reasonably "natural" for animals , but perhaps having your head stuck inside a bowl while doing it is not.

[Matt Marsh]

I made my black lab Wilson one out of scrap oak about a year ago. He is a real tall and lean, 97 pound dog, and he seems to strain and have to gulp more when the dish is on the floor. This thing really helps!

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[Tom Fischer]

I think it's mostly for large dogs, who can develop "twisted stomach" a very serious thing, often requiring Euthanasia.
For these dogs, the elevated bowls somewhat minimize the "gulping" of food.
Don't know if it works, but seems to make dog owners feel better, feel that they are doing something about it.

[Erik Loza]

We did this for our German Shepherd. Nothing fancy, just a low wooden bench with his food and water dishes on it. Reasons same as Matt, above, described.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Lee Schierer]

I made this bowl holder that also raises the bowls off the floor for our Brittany to keep the bowls from migrating around the kitchen.258796

[John McClanahan]

Or you could just do like we did and get a Corgi. ;)

John

[Matt Marsh]

Or you could just do like we did and get a Corgi. ;)

John

We have one of those too! Eddie can eat standing up or laying down.... not much difference LOL

[Stephen Cherry]

For the 15 seconds that it takes my beagles to eat, I'm not sure it would make much difference.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Our two goof balls have an elevated dish.
The Husky mix eats from it.
The Lab mix gets a mouth full of food then carries it into the living room, spits it out, then lays down to eat it.
I think she sees my wife and I sit in the living room and watch TV while we eat & figured that's how it's supposed to be done.

[Harry Hagan]

Anyone have experience with feed cat or dogs from elevated bowls? (They sit off the floor a few inches, usually in a stand of some sort.)

I notice some pet supply websites tout elevated feeding bowls as being more natural and healthy for cats and dogs than bowls set on the floor. Eating at floor level seems reasonably "natural" for animals , but perhaps having your head stuck inside a bowl while doing it is not.

Your question reminded me of blurb I heard on TV from a veterinarian stating that dogs eating too fast can cause bloating—the number one cause of death in large breeds. Old age and “feeding from an elevated bowl” were also cited as increased risk factors.

[Jim O'Dell]

The elevated bowls started with a possible help for bloat and torsion. No real evidence it helps. Bloat with torsion is nasty. If you don't catch it quick, the dog won't survive. Some of the larger breeds are going in and tacking the stomach to prevent the torsion (where the stomach twists). Jim.

[Pat Barry]

Our daughters vet said that the dog should rest for 1/2 hour after eating (no chasing squirrels, running, etc) prevent the bloating issue which is apparently fairly common in large breeds like Great Dane.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Anyone have experience with feed cat or dogs from elevated bowls? (They sit off the floor a few inches, usually in a stand of some sort.)

We feed our barn cats in small bowls elevated a few inches up off the ground via wire racks. This helps reduce bowl travel and reduce some of the various bugs from getting into their bowls.

For the dogs, I made elevated bowls for all of them based on their height. The "Old Man" used to lay down his whole life to eat, but suffered a very serious knee injury. He lost a lot of mobility, so he started to stand while eating, but he was not very stable trying to lean down. The raised food bowl allowed him to eat with ease. The "Old Girl" had a herding injury to her shoulder and as age set in, it was hard for her to lean down and eat. The youngster was the reason I started making the elevated food bowl. She has a minor defect in her throat that makes it difficult to swallow at times. Elevated eating and drinking works so much better for her. I laser cut them out of MDF and painted them. I lined each "bowl hole" with foam weather stripping so I can easily lift the bowls out and gather them for feeding time. Nothing fancy, but they do what they need to do.

There are also medical conditions that it is safer for the dog to eat while their bowl is elevated. Laryngeal Paralysis and Megaesophagus are two of them.

[Don Morris]

We recently dog sat for a labradoodle, a 3/4 standard poodle, 1/4 lab mix. That means she is a large dog. She has a wonderful disposition and pushed the bows all over the place. The water bowl, at least, she came with for the week, was way too small and was emptied in seconds. Some on the floor, some in her. Even though there was a place mat under the bowl with a small rim, some of the water got out of the mat onto the wood floor, and after a week, we noticed when she left, the floor there is warped. I think, I'm going to build a raised feeder for the inevitable next time. Then we could at least keep something under it to soak up the spilled water. I wonder if anyone else has had this problem, hard to imagine no one else has....

[Peter Stahl]

How about this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUcCZTnImCI

[Mike Cutler]

We have a Nelson auto waterer outside that sits up about 8" off the ground. Our dogs have never had trouble with it.
We tried the elevated food bowls with a homemade stand similar to Lee's, but they just scooped their food up in their mouths and dropped it on the floor, and then ate it. It's a basement 1 step now.

Pat Barry
"Our daughters vet said that the dog should rest for 1/2 hour after eating (no chasing squirrels, running, etc) prevent the bloating issue which is apparently fairly common in large breeds like Great Dane."

I don't think that will work with a Vizsla. Gunnr, my Vizsla, will stop eating if she hears squirrels outside. She doesn't stop for much.