Feeding: bowl or plate?

[dandysmom]

This is an old question but it hasn't been up for a few years so thought I'd re-post it, as we have many new members.

Do you use a bowl or a plate? Any particular reason why?

I've always used plates, probably because my Mom fed our cat on a plate. Also, I read somewhere that some cats dislike having their whiskers touching the rim of the bowl as they eat.

I've picked up a nice assortment of mismatched small plates at the flea market over the years.

[Donna]

I prefer bowls as Misty tends to lick food off the plate onto the floor... in a bowl its harder to lick food up the sides and onto the floor.... she is a messy eater!

[Tink]

I have found that my cats really prefer a plate. The deeper a bowl is, the more they seem to hate eating out of it. I think they don't want to get their faces or whiskers dirty. What's funny is we have a lot of food bowls around here for the pets but not plates so I just end up using the human ones for them; I should really start looking for some just for them so we have more plates to eat off of :wink:

[angieh]

Mine have bowls - as Donna's explanation really. Food gets pushed off the back of a plate and left.

Pip likes to lick the gravy (from Harley's food) off a spoon! (held by me - yes I know.)

[Manyana13]

Harry and Vinnie will NOT eat out of a bowl. I have no idea why not, but they refuse to eat in anything other than a plate! Harry is messy, so their feeding area is a total mess. Lola will eat out of anything!! :mrgreen:

[Mags]

Cassie has a bowl as I find it much cleaner. On the odd occasion I did try her with a plate, more food ended up on the floor than on the plate!:)

[dandysmom]

I've been lucky, no messy eaters with plates. Tink, flea market or thrift shops are good sources for plates for the cats. Dandy had a lovely English bone china one until he knocked it off and it broke :roll:

[yola]

With 3 persians, each with different eating skill levels I tend to use both. Biscuits are in a deeper bowl as they get scattered all over the place . . . wet food I usually put in shallower bowls; not plates but little ceramic dishes which came with some desert or other which are about 1.5cm deep so the cats can reach the meat but don't distribute it all over the place either.

Milk I will put on saucers so they can lap it up easily and then I just wipe the residue off the floor when they're finished.

[Tink]

I remember when my mom ran a daycare center; we had very hardy, plastic child sized plates (with Sesame Street on them, lol). Maybe I should start looking for those...though I do love thrift store shopping too! Another excuse to shop :-D

[Moli]

All mine have cat dishes.....even at that they still tend to get some over the side...

[Shelley123]

I think it's true that most cats prefer not to get their faces dirty in a deep dish. Tom and Jerry have shallow plastic bowls which they seem to like and they are easy to clean. However i read somewhere that plastic isn't good as apparently chemicals can leak out ?

[dandysmom]

I remember reading that somewhere too, Shelley; didn't pay too much attention as I don't use plastic. I think the article suggested metal bowls.

[Tink]

I read that too but because there is a theory that it is porous enough to harbor bacteria. My holistic cat care books recommend metal/ceramic.

[angieh]

I have these bowls (http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product.asp?dept_id=321&pf_id=4344) and find them excellent. Very good value too!

[dandysmom]

Those look very nice, Angie.

[calismum]

I use bowl, have a fair mixture of depths. Tend to put the wet food in shallow ones. Liquid or dry in deeper ones.

Kittens still manage to make a fair mess - hoping they get a bit tidier with age!

[PoshPuss]

Posh is a very messy eater, I blame her lack of dentition, but she's a spiller. I have tried shallow bowls, saucers and plates but she noses the food off them all. Because of her flat face she gets fed up stooping over so I elevate her bowl/plate on an upturned bowl, to save her bending too far. The queen that she is, she likes being had fed, of course :)

[angieh]

Did you see PP that Pet Planet now offer for sale a bowl especially designed for Persian and BSH cats with flat faces? They have grooves in them which is meant to keep the food in place. Whatever will they think of next?

[PoshPuss]

Thanks Angie. I haven't seen those but I'll check them out now ;)

[lisa01uk87]

i use double cat dishes although the kitten will have 2 seperate cat bowls till i can get another double dish