How High Should My Dog’s Food Bowl Be?
We know how useful food bowls are to our dogs. They help our dog contain their food and prevent them from making a mess. Without them our kitchen will turn into a huge disaster, not to mention insects like cockroaches and ants feasting on the floor. There are different types of food bowls made for our dog's need, usually, they are made up of plastic but some are made of ceramic, stoneware, silicone, and stainless. But the most important question that we should ask ourselves is, how high should my dogs food bowl be? Before answering your question. Let's talk about why should we be concerned with the height of our dog's food bowl.
Why Should We Be Concerned with the height of Our Dog’s Food Bowl?
Being concerned with the height of our dog’s food bowl is important. Since we love them so much, we want to make things comfortable for them. Having the right height will help our dogs eat without being stressed or stretching. It will also help them improve their posture, relieve stress in joints, and also to help our dogs with hip dysplasia. If we can get the right height, the food that they eat will go down efficiently in their digestive tract and if not, they will have indigestion and would feel irritated for the following hours. This is the reason why dogs put an attitude.
What Helped Me Determine How High Should My Dogs Food Bowl Be:
Measure their Height!
How High Should My Dogs Food Bowl Be? Measure! To help me determine the height of the bowl, I looked at how my dog stand from the floor then I measured his front paws up to his upper shoulder. He was feeling ticklish while I was doing it and he thought we’re playing so it took me almost 5 minutes to do this. After measuring, subtract six inches. The number that I got helped me determine the ideal height of my dog’s food bowl.
It Depends On The Built and Breed.
Identifying the breed of my dog helped me understand how high should my dogs food bowl be. There are many dog breeds, some are big, some are small and some are extra big! So below you can see how:
- For small dog breeds
If you are keeping dogs like Pug or Toy Poodle, Westies, and Dachshunds, the ideal height of their food bowl will range from 2 to 6 inches. Chow time will be nice and comfortable for them if you can measure it right. My dog Brutuce is a toy poodle, before knowing the right height for his food bowl, I often notice him accidentally pushing the bowl and it frustrates him. So I thought of replacing his bowl and measured him to get the perfect one.
- For medium dog breeds
If you are keeping dogs like Border Collies, Poodle, Spaniels, and Schnauzers they are an example of medium dogs. They will more comfortable to eat if their food bowl’s height is between 7 to 14 inches. This still depends on your dog’s built. Some are too small for their age, like my pet Chinny, she’s a picky eater I need to buy her favorite liver in the market to feed her because she wouldn’t eat anything.
- For large dog breeds
If you are keeping dogs such as Huskies, Chow-Chows, Boxer, Pitbull, and Dalmatians since them large dogs, it will be a burden to them if their food bowl is too low. The ideal height will be 15 to 20 inches, you’ll find your dog enjoying his food without accidentally being out of balance and pushing himself to his food.
- For extra-large breeds
These breeds are fast eaters, I know because happened to have one. If your pets are Great Danes, Bull Mastiffs, German Shepherd, Saint Bernards, and Borzois they are surely big. With their built it would be best if you keep their food bowl with 21 to 27 inches of height. You’ll see that their bowl isn’t going where after getting the ideal height.
Use An Elevated Dog Bowl
If you have a dog with a neurological issue like megaesophagus, or hip dysplasia, spinal injury, neck problem or other condition, you will ask yourself, how high should my dog's food bowl be? Don't worry, it would be best to use elevated dog bowls for them. Just like my dog named Whitey, who was a victim of a hit-and-run. He is suffering from a spinal injury so seeing him having a hard time every time he eats, it also breaks my heart. So I consulted his Vet, for a solution. She said using an elevated dog bowl will help Whitey eat with ease since she doesn't need to stretch down a little bit. It will also help you will measure their height to adjust the elevation, subtract 7 inches from your dog's front paw to his upper shoulder and you'll get the right height.
Conclusion
Food bowls are important, especially for our pet like dogs. They are playful and good in tracking so if you’re not going place their food in a container, good luck in cleaning the kitchen or house in mess. But it is not enough to just feed them in a food bowl, we must also make sure that we get the right height for them. Skipping this step can harm our dog, a very simple yet bigger problem in the future. Now that I have shared with you what helped me determine how high should my dogs food bowl be, you can also apply or adapt the strategies to help them enjoy their meal. All you need to do is follow the tips and see how your dog will react. Get more tips on dog bowls.