BENEFITS OF AN ELEVATED DOG BOWL OR DOG FEEDERS
What is an elevated dog bowl?
Also known as elevated dog feeders, elevated dog bowls are simply dog bowls raised from the floor with a stand of some sort to keep it elevated. They come in a variety of sizes, so they’re useful for both toy-sized and large-sized dogs. Elevated dog feeders make your dog’s food closer and easier to eat, so a lot of dogs tend to prefer them. Elevated dog bowl stands are also great to keep water and food bowls together on one feeder, instead of having two separate bowls sliding around on the floor.
An elevated dog bowl is just like it sounds; it is a dog bowl that is raised off the ground. When many people think of dog bowls, they see two bowls sitting on the ground. While this may be fine for some dogs, there are many reasons that a dog would benefit from a bowl that was a little higher up.
Top 10 Benefits of an Elevated Dog Bowl
- Better posture
When you raise your dog’s bowl, you will help improve their posture. Bending over all the time drinking water and eating food from bowls on the floor can cause bad posture that can lead to back problems in your dog.
- Comfort While Eating
When you elevate your dog’s bowls, you are helping to make them more comfortable when they are eating. Older dogs usually have arthritis and joint pain. Having to bend over to eat and drink constantly can be very painful.
- Certain Medical Conditions Require a Raised Bowl
Certain medical conditions, such as megaesophagus, can cause your dog to need elevated dog bowls. By elevating your dog’s bowls, it will help food move down their esophagus easier.
- Helps With Swallowing
Elevated dog bowls will help with swallowing. When your dog has to bend over to drink water or eat food, they have to move food and water against gravity up the esophagus into the stomach. When you elevate their bowls, it makes swallowing much easier.
- Slows Down Fast Eaters
Dogs who are known to eat fast can benefit from an elevated bowl. This can slow them down when eating because they have to eat at a more upright position. Also, slow feeder bowls are great to use with dogs who tend to eat very fast. Neater Pets makes a slow feeder bowl that is also elevated and is a great choice for and elevated dog bowl for dogs who eat very fast.
- Keep Dogs From Lying Down While Eating
If your dog is lying down when they are eating, this is usually the first sign that their bowls are not high enough. When they lay down, this is putting them in a more relaxed position to eat. Laying down and eating can cause problems with digestion. By elevating your dog’s bowls, you will allow your dogs to be in a more comfortable position that will help with digestion.
- Easier For You to Get to the Bowl
By elevating your dog’s bowls, you are making them easier for you to reach. Older people may have problems with arthritis and have difficulty bending over. If your dog’s bowls are elevated, it makes it easier for you to give them food and water.
- Keeps Feeding Area Cleaner
If your dog’s bowls are elevated, it is easier to keep the feeding area clean. Your dog is also less likely to make a mess with bowls that are closer to their mouths. Large dogs such as mastiffs may drip water out of their mouths after drinking. By elevating your dog’s bowls, they will make less of a mess with their food and water. A great choice for a bowl to help with a dog who drool after drinking water is a Neater Feeder. These bowls come in many different sizes and also come with leg extensions to elevate your dog’s bowls.
- Prevents Playing in the Bowl
Many dogs and puppies love to play in their water bowl. Some will even carry their bowls around the house. Most elevated dog bowls are in a stand that cannot be easily carried around the house. By elevating your dog’s bowls, you will spend less time drying off your dog and floor because it is more difficult for your dog to play in their water bowl.
Helps Bowls Stay In Place
Elevated dog bowls come in a stand that cannot be easily knocked over. Some dogs will scoot their bowls across the floor with their nose or may run into them when playing in the house. These stands stay in place much easier than bowls that sit on the floor.
How to Pick Out The Perfect Bowl?
When looking for an elevated bowl, there are many different kinds and sizes to choose from. There is not one bowl that will fit the needs of every dog and every dog owner. When looking at the sizes of bowls, there are ways to measure your dog and pick out the best size for your dog. It is best to determine the size that you need by measuring your dog from their shoulders to the ground. Then subtract about 3 to 6 inches. This is about the height of the bowl that you want. There are many different types of bowls for you to pick from that are elevated. The bowl you pick will all depend on what type of dog you have.
Pretty Bowls
There are bowls that are more decorated and may fit in with the decor in your house. These are wrought iron stands and pretty bowls. These come with a very pretty stand and bowls that would go well with most home decor.
Bowls for Dogs That Make Messes
If your dog makes a big mess while eating, there are Neater Pet bowls that help collect any water that your dog may knock out of their bowl.
Bowls for a Dog Who Eats Fast
If your dog is a fast eater, there are slow feeder bowls to help make them slow down while eating that can also be elevated. These bowls have many small indentations that your dog has to maneuver around to get to their food.
There are many reasons that you would want to feed your dog from an elevated dog bowl, when looking for a bowl there are different types of bowls that you need to consider. Most of these bowls have multiple purposes that you need to consider. When looking for a great elevated dog bowl, Neater Pets has a great selection of dog bowls for you to pick from that will help keep your dog happy and healthy for years.
Elevated dog feeders offer your dog some real health benefits. The improved posture causes less stress on your dog’s back and joints. This offers added comfort for senior, arthritic or dogs with leg, bending issues.
Veterinarians recommend elevated feeders for dogs and cats. Why?
- Prevent Bowls from moving around on the floor while your dog dines.
- Provide easier eating and drinking for dogs and cats with arthritis or neck or back problems
- Aid cats and dogs with megaesophagus, that have difficulty swallowing, or other digestive problems
- Help owners who have physical disabilities
Keep your pet’s eating areas cleaner
Elevated feeders keep feeding areas cleaner by keeping the dog dishes raised off the floor. They prevent cats from playing in their water. Dogs are less likely to drip water on the floor when drinking from an elevated water bowl. Moisture that may get under the pet dish and create a place for mold and bacteria to collect and grow. Elevated dishes, such as the Modern Red Feeder help prevent that.
Improve dog’s comfort and prevent pain while eating or drinking
Elevated feeders are more comfortable for some older pets. Pets with arthritis benefit from elevated feeders. Bending over to eat is not comfortable for dogs with stiff muscles or sore joints, particularly for dogs or cats with shoulder or back problems, such as intervertebral disc disease. Older pets often eat less anyway, which means they may not get the nutrition they need. If eating is painful or uncomfortable, they are likely to eat even less. If drinking is painful, they can more easily become dehydrated. Raising food and water to their level by using the Store and Feed Elevated Dog Diner also provides the added benefit of food storage and adjustable height options.
Improve your dog’s digestion
Elevated feeders may help in caring for dogs with a condition called megaesophagus. In this condition, the esophagus (the tube that leads from the mouth to the stomach) becomes large and flaccid. Instead of moving the food down to the stomach through muscular contractions, the enlarged and weak esophagus dilates and allows the food to accumulate there instead of in the stomach. This can lead to regurgitation. An elevated feeder will allow gravity to help get the food down to the stomach.
Make feeding your dog easier
Elevated feeders have one more helpful benefit. Some pet owners appreciate the elevated position a raised dog bowl feeder provides. For the physically handicapped, or persons with arthritis or back problems, elevated feeders can make a big difference.
Health benefits
Elevated dog feeders reduce food and water gulping. This will prevent some rare, but serious conditions: bloat (or volvulus), and mega-esophagus, which is a condition when the food accumulates into the esophagus instead of descending to the stomach .This can lead to regurgitation and vomiting.
Again, with an elevated dog feeder, the dog’s head being more raised as he/ she eats, gravity will draw the food down into his/ her stomach.
Elevated dog bowls are also much more comfortable for older dogs with arthritis, have bad backs, or joint or muscular pain. For a dog with stiff or sore muscles or joints, bending down to eat can be uncomfortable or painful. An elevated dog dish will encourage him to eat more in a more comfortable manner.
Functionality
If bending causes you discomfort, you won’t need to bend down to pick up empty or put down heavy full dog dishes: the stainless steel bowls are light enough to be removed for easy cleaning and filling.
The potential risks of using an elevated feeder for your dog
Elevated feeders were, at one time, recommended to prevent bloat, also called gastric dilation volvulus. Bloat is a deadly condition in which blockages, gas, and/or stress can combine to cause a dog’s stomach to twist or flip over, shutting off both entry and exit points of the stomach. This results in pain, retching, decreased blood flow, and inability to pass gas or stomach contents and can rapidly progress to shock and death if life-saving medical intervention is not provided.
It was originally thought that an elevated feeder allowed dogs to eat without swallowing as much air, thereby reducing gas, which reduced at least one of the factors contributing to bloat. No studies or tests were conducted at the time to establish this benefit, most of the evidence supporting the reduced air intake with elevated feeders was anecdotal.
A subsequent study showed that, contrary to what was originally believed, there was an increase in cases of bloat associated with the use of elevated feeders–a substantial increase. However, further studies and studies of different types have not been conducted to confirm these results. And, the study did have a design drawback in that it was not randomized. That is, it studied owners who had chosen to use elevated feeders, not those randomly assigned to use them. This could mean that there are other factors associated with a dog owner’s decision to use an elevated feeder that contributed to bloat and not the feeder itself.
Still, the association between use of an elevated feeder and incidence of bloat was high, and no evidence supporting the use of elevated feeders to reduce bloat has been put forth. It is, therefore, not currently recommended to use an elevated feeder if you have, or suspect you have a dog that is susceptible to bloat. You should discuss your dog’s risk factors with your veterinarian before deciding whether an elevated feeder is appropriate for your dog.
Cons of Elevated Dog Bowls
As with most products in any category, there are some disadvantages to elevated dog bowls that may change your decision. Here are some disadvantages of elevated dog bowls:
Expensive Compared to Traditional Bowls
Dogs are expensive, no matter how you look at it. An elevated dog bowl is another expense that may be added to the list. While they may not cost hundreds of dollars, they can still get very costly for the more premium-grade models. Consider what the elevated bowl will do and if it would really help before purchasing one.
Harder to Clean and Maintain
With all of the nooks and crannies, the elevated dog bowl stands can be a real pain to clean and take care of. Some models may have multiple separate pieces, which can trap bacteria. Most elevated dog bowl stands are also not dishwasher safe, so you’ll have to handwash it.
Doesn’t Prevent Messy Eating
If you have a messy eater, don’t hope for a miracle unless you buy an elevated dog bowl designed to be mess-free. Water will still be dripped and splashed around, just at a higher height. Extra-large breeds with big muzzles like the English Mastiff are notorious for their messy drinking and eating, so an elevated water bowl may not help with that at all.
How to pick a raised dog food bowl?
If there are different heights for elevated bowls, how does one find the correct and perfect height of an elevated food bowl for a pet?
If you decide to switch from regular dog food bowls to using elevated feeders for your dog, height is the main component to consider, and it’s essential to select a raised bowl at the correct height.
Measuring is key.
How to measure:
The best way to measure your dog to get the right elevated dog bowl is to get your Fido to stand with his legs directly underneath him.
From here, get a tape measure and measure from the floor up to the point where your dog’s front legs meet the chest.
Alternately, you can measure from the floor up to your dog’s shoulder and subtract between 3 and 6” depending upon his overall height.
You want to subtract 6” for larger dogs, where for smaller dogs, you would subtract 3”.
Just remember: if you aim to reduce stress on your dog’s spine or neck, you should use a raised dog food bowl tall enough to do this.
Source-topdogtips.
5 Myths and Facts of Elevated Food Bowls for Dogs
1 .Elevated Dog Food Bowls Reduce Bloat in Large Breeds
This is FALSE.
When first promoted, raised dog food bowls were sold as something extremely beneficial for larger breed dogs at a higher risk of bloating.
This view was sold as “science” because it resulted from a statistical study (the Glickman Study).
However, this was no proper study, and the conclusion was extremely flawed.
All that this “study” did was look at the information of other available, non-science-based literature and anecdotal evidence that already existed and did no research into the matter at all.
In fact, the largest study on contributing factors to canine bloat in larger breed dogs to date says the exact opposite.
Elevated feeding may induce bloating in canines, especially in those with sensitive stomachs.
True, this study wasn’t perfect; however, it’s the best research paper we have to date on.
From what research the scientific community currently has, the idea that elevated feeders can prevent bloat in large breed dogs is questionable at best.
So, do elevated feeders for dogs reduce bloating in larger breeds? The correct answer here would be that we don’t know for sure, but, likely, they DO NOT.
2 .Elevated Dog Food Bowls Create a Healthier Posture for Dogs
This one is both TRUE and FALSE.
Companies promoted elevated food bowls for dogs as preventing bloating in large dogs because they are supposed to create a “healthier eating posture.”
The truth is that, most likely, dogs have evolved to eat in a head-down posture ,so eating in a different posture may not necessarily be a good thing.
With that being said, in theory, this altered posture can be beneficial in other instances, such as older, arthritic, or injured dogs.
When a dog has a case of canine arthritis, joint pain, or immobility issues, eating with a head-down posture can cause excess strain and pain.
By raising your dog’s food bowl, your pet no longer has to experience those pains and strains because they do not have to lean down as far to eat.
This has not been researched, though, and is mostly guesswork.
So, is elevated feeding good or bad for older or injured large breed dogs?
Since the evidence is scarce to support each side’s benefits and detriments, it is a matter of the owner’s preference.
3 .Elevated Dog Food Bowls Promote Cleaner Eating
This is FALSE.
Somewhere along the line (probably with new companies trying to sell the “revolutionary” raised dog food bowls and making stuff up) came the myth that elevated dog feeders promoted cleaner eating spaces for canines.
We aren’t sure where this idea came from, but this one is absolutely false and has no science or even logical basis.
Because of how dogs evolved to drink water and consume food, regardless of the height of your dog’s food bowl, your pet can still spill kibble, drop kibble, or even move kibble outside of his bowl.
When dogs consume food, they have their mouths in the same proximity to the source regardless of height.
There is no science on how elevated dog food bowls promote cleaner eating, nor do we need it; watch your pooch eat.
4 .Elevated Dog Food Bowls Don’t Slide Across the Floor
This is TRUE.
One concern that some dog owners have is the fact that their dog moves his bowl across the floor as he eats.
Elevated feeders can certainly prevent this from happening, and there’s no doubt about that.
However, it is worth noting that a raised dog food bowl is not the only solution to the problem.
Just off the top of my head, two other things that can solve this issue are bowls with rubber on the bottom that prevents sliding or rubbery dog food mats where you can place your Fido’s bowl to prevent sliding (which also helps to keep the area cleaner).
Therefore, because we have reasons to believe that elevated food bowls for dogs pose a potential hazard for some breeds to develop bloating, it may be better to choose alternative solutions to the “sliding bowl” problem rather than opt for an elevated feeder.
5 .Elevated Bowls Solve One Specific Problematic Behavior in Dogs
This is TRUE.
One particular behavioral issue in dogs that isn’t common but can be seen often enough for owners to start looking for solutions – attempting to swim or dig into the water bowls, even if the bowl is small.
Some dogs, particularly those with a high predilection for water, spend a great deal of time trying to paddle in their water bowls as if it’s the pool.
There’s no explanation for this other than they like to be in the water.
The issue is most common with puppies.
Elevated feeders definitely discourage dogs from turning their water source into a pool.
Common Questions About Elevated Food Bowls for Dogs
If you still have any lingering questions about elevated food bowls for dogs, the following information should help.
Should a Dog’s Food Bowl Be Elevated?
You should consider elevating your dog’s food bowl if he is elderly or has issues with his joints or bones. Stick to other options if your dog is a larger breed.
Why Are Elevated Dog Bowls Bad?
Elevated dog bowls are only bad for certain dogs. Specific breeds are at a higher risk of bloat if they eat from an elevated bowl.
Do Elevated Dog Bowls Help?
Yes, elevated dog bowls can help your dog, especially if he has bad joints or bones. It can reduce the strain on his joints, including his hips and neck.
Do Raised Dog Food Bowls Cause Bloat?
Depending on the breed, elevated food bowls for dogs can cause bloat. Luckily, there are some things you can do to reduce the risk.
Let your pup take advantage of an elevated bowl.
Are our Raised Dog Bowls Dangerous?
As long as you know the risk of bloat and take proper precautions, raised dog bowls are not dangerous. To be safe, consult your dog’s vet before switching him to an elevated bowl.
EDITED BY-DR UDAY KUMAR, CANINE SPECIALIST, PATNA
