Should I raise my dogs food bowl? Surprising Answer

How to measure:

The best way to measure your dog to get the right elevated dog bowl is to get your Fido to stand with his legs directly underneath him.

From here, get a tape measure and measure from the floor up to the point where your dog’s front legs meet the chest.

Alternately, you can measure from the floor up to your dog’s shoulder and subtract between 3 and 6” depending upon his overall height.

You want to subtract 6” for larger dogs, where for smaller dogs, you would subtract 3”.

Just remember: if you aim to reduce stress on your dogs spine or neck, you should use a raised dog food bowl tall enough to do this.

However, I recommend first reading this article and doing enough of your own research on using raised bowls, and heres why.

Elevated food bowls for dogs have been advertised as having many benefits for dogs health.

Unfortunately, not all of those advertised benefits hold.

Let’s take a look at some of these widely spread truths and falsehoods from a scientific viewpoint.

It makes eating a whole lot messy.

Another potential benefit? Elevated bowls can make the process of eating or drinking a lot less messy.

If your elevated bowl has a stand with a platform, it can catch any flyaway bits of food or water before they hit your floor. Plus, if the bowls are secure in the stand (which they should be!), your pup can’t push their bowl around the floor and spill their food everywhere.

So, in a nutshell, elevated bowls equal less mess—which equals less time you’ll spend cleaning up after your pup!

How to pick a raised dog food bowl?

If there are different heights for elevated bowls, how does one find the correct and perfect height of an elevated food bowl for a pet?

If you decide to switch from regular dog food bowls to using elevated feeders for your dog, height is the main component to consider, and its essential to select a raised bowl at the correct height.

RAISED DOG FOOD BOWLS ✅ (Dos and Don’ts)

Concerned dog owners want to make sure that everything is just right for their pets, whether it relates to what they eat or how they eat it. If youre wondering whether raised dog food bowls are good for your pooch, the answer is that it depends on his specific health needs. Theyre rarely needed.

Raised dog food bowls, which are also commonly known as elevated feeders, are typically not needed for pets, according to veterinarian Jon Gellar. Not only do dogs generally not need to eat from bowls that are raised high off the floor, these feeders are in some cases thought to be detrimental to them. Despite that, dogs with certain medical ailments do benefit from eating out of raised food bowls.

In the past, raised food bowls were believed to minimize dogs chances of developing bloat, which is a sometimes fatal gastrointestinal condition. Studies have shown, however, that raised food bowls do just the opposite. These feeders can make your pet more vulnerable to bloat, says veterinarian Jon Rappaport and other experts. Because of the potential dangers associated with raised food bowls and issues such as bloat, its important to never use them for your pet unless your veterinarian specifically instructs you to do so. If a pet has any type of health issue that calls for the use of elevated feeders, the vet might indeed suggest them.

Raised dog food bowls can be helpful for pooches with a couple of different medical problems. If a dog suffers from neck aches, it might be hard for her to eat from the ground. If so, a raised food bowl might be useful for her. Dogs with arthritis and tenseness in their necks sometimes benefit from elevated feeders. If a dog has megaesophagus, a raised food bowl may be prescribed by a vet. Megaesophagus is a neurological ailment that involves the esophageal muscles. When a dog has megaesophagus, these muscles no longer can push his meals into his belly for digestion. This condition is a result of the esophagus widening. Dogs with megaesophagus often experience problems swallowing food.

Elevated feeders are generally easy for shoppers to find at pet supplies stores, but its crucial to use them only with a vets approval. Theyre often linked to everything from decreasing gas in dogs after meals to maintaining cleanliness and order in their eating areas, but the risks can be greater than the benefits. When it comes to your sweet pets health and happiness, there is no such thing as “too cautious,” after all. In general, dogs with deep chests should not use elevated feeders.