Tip for owners of large dogs

[Linda Z]

When my son's dog came to live with me, I was appalled at the sloppy mess he made of the floor around his water dish. When he drinks, he sounds like a horse drinking, but then he is a small pony of 120 lbs. I'm not talking puddle--I'm talking lake.

While at the pet store, I noticed they make these disposable absorbent pads to put on the floor for puppies and other incontinent dogs. I got a brilliant idea. If I put one of those pads under the water dish, maybe I wouldn't have a lake in the kitchen all the time. The one drawback to the puppy-training pads is that they were pricey...about $25 for 24. I didn't care. I figured it was worth it not to have to mop the floor every day.

Then one day, as I was passing by the adult diapers section of the drugstore, a lightbulb went off in my head. What about those underpads used for adult bed wetters? I wondered how they'd compare in price and absorbency.

Well let me tell ya, they're much cheaper...around $8 for 18 of them, and they're so much more absorbent that they last a lot longer than the puppy-training pads.

So if you're tired of cleaning up spilled water from all over your floor, try it. It's been a godsend for me.

Edited January 27, 2008 by Linda Z

[pond]

my cat is tall very long legs i put his dish up on a table so he has to stand on his hinds to drink .

they have these thing that are tall and you put the bowls in them for dogs.. so the bowl is at face level and they do not drip as much at any store .

[Linda Z]

Thanks, Pond. I've seen those holders for dogs' water and food dishes.

My method works for me because I also have a smaller dog and a cat who drink from the same water dispenser (it's one of those with the bottle you fill that keeps into the dish full). My small dog and my cat might have trouble reaching a dish at a higher level, and I have limited floor space so I don't want two water dishes in the kitchen.

The pads don't look bad or anything; they're sorta like a big rectangular, flat disposable diaper.

[bowtwi]

We use those puppy pads for our mini Yorkie. The dog we got through Dot occasionally uses them as well now. When it's above freezing we take the Yorkie outside.

Thanks for the tip, Linda - I'll start buying the people version now that I know they're less expensive.

I use one of those bottles of water upside down above a dish for the husky that mostly stays outside. That was a wonderful invention! I still keep an old soup pan for water out there - I guess more out of habit than need, but I wouldn't want her to be without water...

We had a cat show up on our doorstep last summer and it's fun to watch her eat the dog food and the dogs eat her cat food. We use one of those "always full" food dishes for the cat food. I pour out scoops of dog food twice a day. (They sure have me trained!) We keep a dish for each animal so they can eat together without fighting.

[Abigail]

Bow, just an FYI - cat food is very very very bad for dogs - it is harmful to their kidneys.

I love the tip, though. Do you have one for large dogs that somehow manage to spread the dried food all over the floor??