Every cat owner goes through the hassle of dealing with food and water dishes. Between the constant cat feedings, clean up around the dishes, and cleaning the cat dishes themselves, it’s almost more frustration than it seems worth. Learning the best ways to clean cat dishes will help save your sanity, and keep your cat healthy as she enjoys fresh food and water.
Cat Dish Routine Cleaning
The water bowl is the most important piece to clean routinely. As with any small space that contains moisture, it’s really a breeding ground for bacteria, germs and mildew. These things can be detrimental to the health of your cat, so routine cleanings for the water bowl are crucial.
Begin by making it a point to provide your cats with fresh water on a daily basis. Many bowls are large enough to accommodate enough water for a week, but avoid letting old water sit for that long as it will inevitably grow foul things in or around it.
Each day that you change out your cats water, take a sponge and wipe out any filmy material that has gathered on or around the bowl. You shouldn’t need any sort of cleaning material for this process, as you’re really surface cleaning and eliminating build up for the next time you deep clean.
Have Two Sets Of Dishes
Always have two sets of food and water dishes so that when it’s time to deep clean one set, you’ll have the others on hand to swap out. This will ensure that you do the job you need to do in cleaning the dirty ones without sacrificing or cutting corners. Too often we get lazy or low on time and end up just running warm water over filthy dishes so that we can throw them back down. The downside? Bacteria lives on.
Read More: Food You Should Never Feed Your Cat
Deep Clean The Cat Food Bowl
Once a week, take your bowls and let them soak in hot water and dish detergent. For stubborn stains or really smelly dishes, add in some vinegar. Once your dish has soaked for a couple of hours, run it through the dishwasher, assuming it’s dishwasher safe. If your bowls are free feeding bowls where there’s a smaller opening, scrub the interior with a brush to be sure that it’s clean. Once your bowls come out of the dishwasher, let them air dry before you fill them up with cold water, and empty them out again. The key in doing this is to make sure that all soapy debris has been thoroughly rinsed. Note that this weekly duty will be a much larger job if you don’t take your daily responsibilities seriously.
Cleaning your cat’s food and water dishes doesn’t have to be a stinky, smelly job every time you do it. Proactive and routine maintenance will make all the difference in the world when it’s time to deep clean!
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Do you have any tips to make sure you have clean cat dishes?
