Looking for non metal, non-plastic, non-Chinese dog bowls (symptoms, testing, cheap)
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Although I think thrift stores are great options for so many things..... if your dog is highly sensitive to anything I would suggest only glass, and new.
Some pottery would not be safe, as it can have bubbles or hairline cracks, and some of the glazes are not safe.
Pyrex is made in the USA, anchor is too I believe, and since you are feeding honest kitchen you could make a batch or 2 ahead of time, and use the covers/ lids to store It. The sets I have are extremely sturdy, and freeze well too.
I find the lids useful when I have raw food defrosting on the counter, or even when traveling. Meals are already in the dishes.
I still have the bowls in case anyone knows how to get them tested. Do you?
The seizures stopped when I stopped using the bowls. I don't know if it was a contaminant in the steel or some kind of coating, but it was bad for my dogs. I recently read that Chinese made jewelry can be high in cadmium. And apparently there has been some recycled radioactive material included in steel. I'm using US made stainless steel bowls now and they have been tested for various heavy metal contaminants, but I'd prefer something else.
Wow. I haven't the FAINTEST idea how to test steel for contaminants. And even if there were some portion of some heavy metal, I would still say it won't leach out - water would be the leaching agent, and it just doesn't react with a hard steel very well. It should be inert once included in the steel. It's not like lead solder that contaminates some water in the piping. You could get something over time, but we're probably talking years here. The steel would have to begin to rust.
But using the Chinese bowls, and getting a reaction, versus using a similar product that is US made, and NOT getting the reaction, certainly says something! You COULD rule out coincidence by going back to the Chinese made steel temporarily - but I STRONGLY doubt you would WANT to do that!
Could it be the photosensitive epilepsy type thing pointed out by katie1? I doubt that very much - a stainless bowl is not even a flashing light source. So I'm very skeptical about that as well. But it's a thought.
What sort of seizures does your vet think are happening? And what does your vet think is the causative agent?
I tell ya what, you also make me wonder if the Chinese bowls are not stainless steel at all, but some other metal alloy. And, the "coating" comment - of course - if the bowls were surface treated with something - that could be a culprit. But you would think any surface coating would wear off pretty quickly.
And radioactive compounds could have made their way into the steel - but then it would BE radioactive, and THAT can be tested. You can buy geiger counters online, and there are other ways to test for radioactivity. Google it, lots of stuff online.
Those are my thoughts. You've got a working solution, and plenty of great ideas if you want a change! So this discussion is probably academic at this point. But it may be useful at some point.
BTW! Simplepeace brings up a good point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by simplepeace
Although I think thrift stores are great options for so many things..... if your dog is highly sensitive to anything I would suggest only glass, and new.
Some pottery would not be safe, as it can have bubbles or hairline cracks, and some of the glazes are not safe.
. . .
Not all pottery is safe for food! The glazes CAN contain contaminants, that CAN leach into food. I remember when I was a teenager, a ceramic jam jar from the UK was all the rage to use as a coffee cup or whatever. But the glaze, I don't recall exactly - it was safe when used for jam, but not when heated or something. It was a big to-do in the news for a while.
I found some white porcelain "cereal" bowls at Target last week that are just the right size for my dogs. They are heavy and smooth, and cheap. I plan to get some extras because they are so slippery when wet that I might break them when I go to wash them. My dogs seem to like them. One did manage to flip his dish over but it didn't break. They are made in Indonesia, but at least they are designed for humans so maybe safer.
For feeding larger dogs, go to a flooring store and buy one large ceramic tile. Dump the dog food on it. I use flat rubber mats (bowls scare one of mine), so I feed them both on floor level. They just lick it right up off the mats and they are easy to toss into the sink to wash.
My "scaredy" dog is even nervous about drinking water from a bowl, so they drink from oversized coffee cups from the dollar store lol.
Our min schnauzer has gotten very picky about her food and this summer she would not eat out of any bowl—glass, stainless, plastic—
She would only eat off the floor—which I didn’t really want to do because we travel and I don’t want her eating off just any floor
I found a black slate cheese board/server at Target—about 6x8
The only downside is the edges are not level—more rustic/hammered look so she has to have food on the inner parts
Easy to wash
Pack it w/her food when we travel
Only think is that have to mix her food in separate bowl and then place on slate
And can’t really hold liquids
Which sometimes she needs when she is having gastric bouts
I found some white porcelain "cereal" bowls at Target last week that are just the right size for my dogs. They are heavy and smooth, and cheap. I plan to get some extras because they are so slippery when wet that I might break them when I go to wash them. My dogs seem to like them. One did manage to flip his dish over but it didn't break. They are made in Indonesia, but at least they are designed for humans so maybe safer.
Made in Indonesia—I wouldn’t bet on them being “safer”
And if you want to keep them from breaking—put that bowl inside a heavier, maybe metal one to hold it steady
These bowls are a lot heavier than their Basis metal bowls were. I wanted to get away from metal bowls. I'll see how these hold up. I'm more likely to drop them than to have the dogs break them. They are so slippery when I wash them. But being slippery and heavier makes it much easier for them to clean out every last bit of their Honest Kitchen meal.
You could always use a heavy borosilicate glass (Pyrex) baking dish. Chemically inert, has handles but hard to break, easy to wash, not expensive considering how long it will probably last. OTOH, there's probably a way to eliminate every single dish possibility if you try hard enough.
Last edited by Parnassia; 02-11-2019 at 04:54 PM..
The vet prefers that I not give food or water to my seizure prone dogs in anything but US made stoneware or glass bowls. Metal bowls from China were definitely a big seizure trigger for both of them, so I agree. I've been looking for these alternatives, with no success. The only thing I found was a place that makes them by hand for very high prices. Given that one strong seizure could easily break the bowl, I don't really want to go that route.
Does anyone know if it's even possible to find non-metal, non-plastic, US made, or at least non-Chinese, bowls any more?
Is it because the vet tries to avoid lead and cadmium in the glaze?
You could find old Lenox made bowls during yard sales, Craigslist- according to Lenox they are lead and cadmium free. You can place the bowls on an appropriate stand, so your dog would not move it.
Same for Pyrex glass bowls. Check with Anchor- they make bowls in China, but I think they free from toxic substances?
If it is NSF certified stainless steel bowls made in Italy? Is it still bad for you dog? What are you trying to avoid?
IKEA says that all their product are made to the strictest codes of the country they are selling in- it means EU. That means bowls made in China for IKEA must be allowed to enter EU with their strict regulations- due to their care for the health of EU citizens and universal health care. IkeA US products then will be of the EU standard
Last edited by Nik4me; 02-11-2019 at 03:55 PM..
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