Off the ground feed/water bowls

Other than to help those with back or particular limb issues, is there any reason or recommendation to use feed and/or water bowl that is off the ground ?

It's actually recommended nowadays that you don't use raised bowls. Research has shown a link between raised bowls & bloat.

Obviously, if you have a dog with spinal problems you may wish to use one, but you should always monitor your dog for at least an hour after eating in case of bloat.

I'd agree, but there are also other medical conditions where off the ground feeders can be recommended. We had a lurcher who had had a larynx tie back and the vet pretty well insisted on off the ground feeding to minimise the risk of it all going down the wrong way.

Nifty staffy wrote:Other than to help those with back or particular limb issues, is there any reason or recommendation to use feed and/or water bowl that is off the ground ?

I've seen it recommended for dogs that are food aggressive and tend to "claim" their food by putting it between their paws

Never heard that one! Resource guarding dogs will guard their resource (food, toys, whatever they see as needing to be theirs) whereever they are and the solution is to teach them they don't need to guard. I personally have not come across a dog where a raised bowl would have made a difference (and I've come across a fair few resource guarders in the kennels). Having said that, dogs do all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons, so I suppose it could happen!

I've never heard that, either!

I never thought about it. I use a water bowl called “Big Dog” that is raised.  It recirculates  the water through a charcoal filter like a fish tank, It supposedly aerates the water to keep it fresh and it has  something like a 10 liter  (2 1.2  Us gallons) self-feed or whatever.  So I’m not always changing water, but it seems to be cruddy because I think Molly uses it to floss. Probably just food in her mouth when she drinks.   So time I save  is now cleaning  the dang thing out and buying filters from Amazon.  Neither one  has  spinal issues just I have it raised on a small stool so they don’t need to bend over as far. In fact Zeus don’t need to bend over at all.  In the wild, drinking out of a stream, it wasn’t elevated, so perhaps I am defying evolution and doing some harm. When I see the Vet next, I will seek out his opinion and report back if you like.  When I was a kid we just drank out of a hose and never give it  a thought.  Now we are packing filtered purified water in plastic bottles like camels in a desert.  Supposedly, polluting the ocean, marine life and the earth.