Whats your water/food setup for your Newf?

[ShadieLady]

I was wondering what kind of bowls everyone uses for their Newfs? Whats the best thing to use for their water? I've seen Newfies get water all over people's kitchens drinking from bowls on the ground, and I've seen my boy's littermates drag their water dish all over the place. Any products out there that work well?

Also, how many of you use raised bowls for their food (and/or water)?
And, if you do used raised bowls, at about what age did you start using them with your Newf?

 

[Angela]

I use stainless steel bowls for their food and for the water.
One water bowl in the laundry room. Strangely enough, I haven't had one Newf who played in the water bowl, don't know if they were/are too smart or too stupid. :shuffle:I have never raised their bowls.

 

[ardeagold]

Stainless for food and water. Water is raised...it made a big difference with puppies. With adults, I keep a towel right in front of the water bowl(s) - we use the raised double bowl holder with only water in it. The towel helps a lot.

I also keep the raised bowl feeder/holder in a boot tray (plastic). That helps too.

The feed bowls are put on the floor at mealtimes, then picked right up afterwards.

Here's what we use for water. You can give it at "normal" height (like in the picture) when they're young, then raise it higher as they get older. Helps to keep the puppies from playing/laying in it. (It's cheaper at WalMart):

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753809

 

[ozzysma]

i found with puppies the bigger the water bowl the better to play in!! it slimes up fast so you are changing it regularly so you may want to get a smaller one so they are not playing in it!! the plastic boot mat is a great idea!!

 

[nowhavethreebears]

Stainless steel bowls for food..on the floor. Three gallon plastic automatic waterer for drinking with a towel wrapped around the base to catch the over-sloshing.

 

[4ondafloor]

Raised water and food bowls. Both stainless too. Adjustable so as she grows so does the height that it is set on.

 

[Murphy]

I do not really have a suitable area in my house for Murph meals. Kitchen is too small... So, scheduled meal and water times are outside on the deck.. Raised stainless steel bowls. If the weather is brutal we move into the garage which is carpeted. During Murph's early recovery days he was hand fed his meals and his water was held for him while he drank while lying down. Nana would still do it that way if permitted. :shuffle:

 

[LiquidBlue]

We also use the 3 gallon automatic waterer in a boot tray...it gets changed daily, because they almost empty it daily We haven't done raised bowls because Kuai Le lays down to eat.

 

[Emma & Nigel's Mom]

Ok, we've tested some different choices so I'll chime in.

When we had just Emma and wee baby Nigel we were given some raised plastic dishes..the platform looked like a huge dog bone, I thought it was cute. Emma did fine with that. That lasted until we fostered Oliver.....he was a powerful chewer and LOVED plastic, so all of a sudden our plastic dishes were chew toys, so we broke out the metal bowls. Today, Nigel uses a big metal bowl with a rubber bottom, Emma uses a smaller metal bowl, neither are raised, and they share their water.

We have a stainless steel bowl for water, actually I found an old stand mixer bowl at a yard sale, it's a bit narrower than the traditional steel water bowls, and that helped with the water play. However, when it's not freezing outside we bring the water bowl outside on the deck to minimize the drips and water on the kitchen floor. Summer seems to bring more water bowl floods in the kitchen.

 

[godbout]

Raised water and food bowls. Both stainless too. Adjustable so as she grows so does the height that it is set on.

I would recommend not raising the food dish, it has been correlated with higher instances of bloat. I have not heard anything specific about raising water dishes.

My pup loves to play in his water dish (stainless) but we keep it on a boot mat as well and of course we have lots of towels at the ready...

 

[4ondafloor]

I would recommend not raising the food dish, it has been correlated with higher instances of bloat. I have not heard anything specific about raising water dishes.

My pup loves to play in his water dish (stainless) but we keep it on a boot mat as well and of course we have lots of towels at the ready...

Thank you for the input. I'll take it under advisement. I've never had any issues with any large breed dog that I have ever owned and all have had elevated food and water dishes.
If the food consumption rate is monitored as well as the food amount then I am of the opinion that is is a non-issue.
Ask 10 different people and you'll likely get a variety of answers. I think it really depends on your dog and how they are during their feeding.

 

[migrandl]

9 Qt. stainless bucket for watering, with one of those round feed pans (think chicken coop) underneath lined with some newspaper to catch the drips - of course, with Phoenix around, we're going to have to rethink the area in front of the water bucket, since he trails water after a good deep draught. Feed dishes are also stainless, and they are raised up - nothing fancy, just a couple of plant stands from WalMart - way cheaper than what you can find in the pet supply.

 

[ladybugnessa]

raised water and food bowls for the pups one at each end of the counter. harley is so big that when it's feeding time we swing his out perpendicular to the counter... otherwise he has to bend in half to eat....

I was always taught btw that NOT elevating their bowls is what lead to bloat...

 

[charityd]

Our water bowl is just about 8" off the ground. It is stainless steel and rests inside a large shallow rubbermaid container. It is surrounded by bricks on all sides inside the plastic container to prevent it from being tipped over. The plastic container captures about 90% of the flew run off. I put mine in a little corner where they have to back out after drinking. This slows them down enough to allow most of the water to go back into the water bowl or the plastic container.

 

[2newfs4now]

Stainless for both food and water indoors on washable, rubber backed rug. Outdoors, no matter how many water dishes I put out, they like the bird bath or wading pool!!!

 

[luvmynwfy]

I use stainless steel for water and feeding - not raised. She is fed outside but her water is by the back door and I keep a washable mat under it. She has never bothered to play with her water but she can be messy (the washable mat helps a lot).

 

[mulenag]

It sounds like I'm in the minority, because I use ceramic food and water bowls for the cats and dogs. They are raised...even the cats.

I think raised water dishes do help keep a puppy from playing in the water all the time.

eta: I don't remember what age Ebony started using a raised bowl, but Ross used one right when he got here...he was 12 weeks old.

 

[luvmynwfy]

see above sorry

 

[godbout]

I was always taught btw that NOT elevating their bowls is what lead to bloat...

Yeah that is what I was taught as well but it is old research. A leading bloat researcher at Purdue University (Dr. Larry Glickman) has recently completed (2004) one of the most up-to-date comprehensive studies of bloat. They found that raising food bowl more than doubles the incidence of bloat. They found several other things that have strong correlations with bloat (like gulping food, eating dry foods that contain citric acid, high fat kibble, etc). But putting food at ground level is a pretty easy thing to do.

My pup has recently bloated (luckily I got him to the vet before there was stomach torsion and I insisted on abdominal xrays) and I have read quite a bit of the new research and there are lots of simple things that you can do. 1 in 40 newf will bloat in their lives and not many are lucky enough to live. If anyone is interested in the papers you can PM me.

 

[gitchegumee]

We use stainless steel bowls for both food and water. They are in a stand that can be raised up but we keep it low. The stand was originally purchased so we could raise the bowls, but the breeder recomended against raising the bowls too high. So the stand is mostly used to keep Gitche from moving the bowls. The stand is then placed in a plastic boot tray which has 2.5 to 3 inch high sides. This seems to capture most of the spillage.

When she was a puppy Gitche used to play in her water quite often. At least the stand kept her from tipping the bowl over.