ICK... MY DOGS DISH IS SLIMY. WHY?

Have you ever noticed when you walked over to pick up your dog’s dish and it’s slimy? 

YUCK!! What is it? Will it harm my dog?

Its official name is called biofilm,  a film that's contains bacteria on the dog’s tongue and mouth. As your dog eats his food it leaves behind this bio slime. Licking up every morsel of food in his bowl, this bacteria is left behind. Your dog may run around outside and come in to head for his water bowl. As she laps up as that H2O it leaves behind the bio slime bacteria. Disgusting right? 

Will it harm my dog? Yes and no. That bacteria has good elements and not so good elements. The good part of the bacteria can help in aiding in the digesting process. However the bad bacteria will get your dog sick. Its like you drinking out of the same glass day after day after day. Eventually that bacteria in the glass will get you sick, it’s the same concept.

What should we do? As pet parents you want the best for you dog correct? So if your dogs bowl is clean on Tuesday and your pets eat or drink out of it, on Wednesday those unwashed bowls still have healthy bacteria. By Thursday the elements might be turning bad. By Saturday in that unwashed bowl there presents bad bacteria and good bacteria. 

 Although you want to make sure your dog has good bacteria to help aid in their digestive system, you want to keep the bad bacteria at bay.

SOLUTION

its important to wash your dogs water and food bowl every other day. If you have a breed that drools more, clean your bowl more often. Washing your bowl means using warm water, mild soap, and washing the inside and outside of the bowl. PLUS washing the mat it may be sitting in as dogs do lick the floor around the bowls.

In conclusion, keep the bacteria in good standing by properly washing your bowl. As icky as the biofilm might be give it a day before you properly wash your bowl. Plus teaching a dog to give you their bowl when in need of washing is a good bonding experience. It might be a fun activity for you and your beloved canine companion to do.

This is Conor, Emillie, and Mom(June) giving you our knowledge and sharing our experiences in the K9 world. We have spent years traveling with our working K9 pack, Brom (APBT,14), Disney (Beagle, 7) Mazie (Chocolate Lab, 6) NuNaMe (APBT, 4) Stewie ( Dandie dinmont, 3) Apollo (Boxer, 2). We hope to share with you each week either an experience, facts, tid bits, or just generally something helpful. 

Stay tuned till next week when we talk about how to travel with one dog or fifteen. Good gosh AM I INSANE!?

-K9z on a Mission