Does your sheltie eat and drink from raised food bowls?

[atjl]

Hi! Izzy is getting taller and has her head all the way down to eat. I wonder if this is uncomfortable for her? Sometimes she stops eating and walks away and I have to coax her to go back and finish her food. (This might be a combination her milk teeth falling out too, so I’ve been soaking her kibble too.) I’ve tried putting a tupperware box under her bowl and she seems to eat better now.

Her height is 16”. I think a raised stand of 4” will help? What does your sheltie use?

 

[Chris]

We actually use fairly shallow, flat bowls. It's easily for the older ones to get every bite.

 

[Ann]

I have raised bowls for all my senior dogs' food, and all my water bowls are raised too. I think it's better for them and less messy. Mine are all about 4" which seems to be a good size for Shelties. There's a good variety on Amazon to choose from.

 

[SheepOfBlue]

Angus/Sca no but Spitfires is. Doesn't seem to matter much here.

 

[Shelby's mom]

Shelby’s bowls are raised too. DH made a stand for our 1st Sheltie, Hollie. We also use flat bottom bowls. Shelby has an underbite and this makes it easier for her to pick the kibble up.

 

[Caro]

I've got raised bowls for both of mine, more for convenience (so I don't trip over them), dogs have long necks so bending down isn't really an issue. Tully has a very low one - being female with a shorter ruff hers ends up in the bowl and gets dirty if the bowl is elevated too high, she's 14" and its probable a 1.5" high, Deska is over 16" and his is possibly 3" high. Actually Deska uses the one I originally made for Tully which was too high for her. Originally I brought an off the shelf one for Deska but it was too high, so he ended up with Tully's. My platforms now are home-made from MDF with dowel legs with a plastic cap on the end, very easy to make, but the beauty of it is the dowel legs are easy to cut down when it was too high.

You'll know if it's too high if a) the ends of the ruff get dirty or b) they drop their food on the floor to eat it (both for Tully). I'd suggest using pieces of wood or books with a towel on them to test for a comfortable height.

Like Chris I use a shallow bowl for them both - I think that makes the biggest difference. Long nose dogs have issues with deeper bowls, esp if they're like Deska and have an underbite. They're human ones. This is a pic from 9 years ago before I made their raised bowl holder, the bowls were cheap but they've lasted all these years and can go through the dishwasher.