July 3rd, 2020 by Amy Varley

I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of forgetting to take some water with us for our pooches at some point in their lives, so have you ever allowed them to drink from a communal water bowl? Often left outside cafes, pubs and pet shops – these bowls are seemingly left there for our convenience, but have you ever stopped to think how safe these are for our dogs, or wondered how long the water has been stood there for?

Bacteria

There are a number of different bacteria and parasites that your dog is at risk of from water bowls, here are some of the most common.

Giardia

Giardia is a parasite that affects the intestines in dogs, causing mild to severe diarrhoea (dependent on the age, health or the subtype of Giardia) and is spread by fecal contamination. This means it’s spread by the eating or simply sniffing of dog poop! This type of parasite thrives in water, so if a dog has stepped on any contaminated poop and then put their paw in the water – as many of our dogs like to do! – this then infects the water and any unsuspecting pooch who decides to take a drink from it!

Leptospirosis

More commonly known as ‘lepto,’ this is a type of bacteria that also thrives in water, and is spread through contaminated urine, most commonly from rats. This can, therefore, affect communal water bowls, if they are left out overnight and a rat decides to use it as a toilet! Lepto is typically one of the core vaccines your dog should get in the UK, however, there are many different strains of lepto and the most common vaccines only protect against either two or four of these, so it’s still risky to allow your dog to drink from a bowl that may have been contaminated.

Coccidia

Coccidia is another parasite that affects the gut and can cause abdominal pain and diarrhoea – most severely in very young puppies or elderly dogs, or any pooch that may have a weakened immune system. In the majority of healthy adult dogs, there may be no symptoms that your dog is carrying the coccidia parasite, however, they could infect other dogs who aren’t as healthy.

Cleanliness

As a general rule, you should be washing your dog’s own water bowl at least twice weekly, if not more often! This is because when your dog takes a drink of water, bacteria from their mouth goes back into the bowl. If you’ve ever noticed a ‘film’ sort of substance in your dog’s water – this is called Biofilm and is a grouping of different types of bacteria, which should be removed from your dog’s bowl, and can be done simply by washing with hot soapy water regularly.

So taking this into account – allowing your dog to drink from a communal water bowl is fine if you know it has been recently cleaned – however in most instances you will not know when the bowl was last cleaned, so it could be risky allowing your dog to drink from it.

Location

Where a communal bowl is may determine if you will allow your dog to drink from it. A bowl left out at a park, for instance, may never have been washed properly, whereas a bowl left outside a pet shop, you would presume gets washed at least daily. A number of pubs and restaurants that are dog friendly now keep clean bowls behind the bar which are to be asked for, which is brilliant as you know your dog is the only one who will be using it and it will be cleaned between dogs!

Material

There are a number of different types of dog bowl available, but did you know that the material a dog bowl is made from affects the number of germs it may be carrying? Stainless steel bowls are the least likely to be harbouring germs, as they are easy to clean and difficult to damage – the lack of scratches or cracks means there is nowhere for bacteria to hide and multiply! Ceramic bowls are increasingly popular and are also easy to keep clean, however, they are easy to chip, and once chipped or cracked there is more scope for bacteria to lurk, especially Biofilm that is able to almost hide on the material, so very risky for our four-legged friends! Plastic communal bowls are possibly the worst type of bowl to allow your dog to drink from, as they are so easily scratched, chewed and generally damaged, creating a breeding ground for germs and nasty bacteria, even allowing them to hide from cleaning in micro-cracks that aren’t visible to the human eye!

The solution

Taking all of this into account, you may be wondering how best to provide your pooch with water when you’re out and about. There are many products on the market now that are lightweight and practical - such as collapsible water bowls with a clip on to connect to your dog’s lead, or doggy water bottles that have a small trough attached for your pooch to lap the water up from. If you forget water or run out, the majority of cafes or pubs will give you a small glass of water that you can then empty into your dog’s bowl.

If you need to let your dog use a communal bowl, it may be worth asking the owner of the shop or pub to wash it for you, just to be safe – so now that lockdown is easing and we will be venturing back to the pubs soon with our pooches, take care when allowing them to drink from communal bowls, and take your own if you can to prevent any risk of them catching any nasties – and have fun with your furry best friend!