Ceramic dog bowls: how to choose one that lasts for years

Most ceramic dog bowls that end up in the bin within a year were never dropped. Three checks you can do in the shop or when you unbox one tell you in advance whether a bowl will last for years or start to smell musty within a few months. I also explain why a water bowl needs different things from a food bowl, and when I would not buy ceramic at all.

What should you look for in a ceramic dog bowl?

Choose stoneware or porcelain, not earthenware, because they absorb almost no water. Check that the glaze covers the whole inside and the rim with no hairline cracks, and that the seller states the glaze is food safe and cadmium-free. Buy a bigger bowl for water than for food, and replace any bowl as soon as the rim chips.

Ceramic is not one material

If you can tell the clay types apart, you will not buy a bowl that starts to smell after a few months. "Ceramic" covers any fired clay, and the three types you find in dog bowls behave very differently once water is involved.

Earthenware is fired at a relatively low temperature and stays porous. The glaze makes the inside waterproof, but the ring underneath is often left bare. That ring soaks up water whenever the bowl stands on a wet mat or in a puddle, and it dries slowly. My first ceramic bowl, a few euros from a garden centre, smelled like a damp tea towel underneath after six months. The inside was fine. The problem was the foot.

Stoneware is fired hotter, which makes the clay denser. Good stoneware absorbs less than 3% water. It is heavier and harder than earthenware, and a small chip does not expose a spongy core.

Porcelain is the densest of the three and absorbs almost nothing. It is also the most brittle: a porcelain bowl that falls off the counter onto tiles tends to shatter rather than break in two.

How to tell them apart without a label:

1. Look at the unglazed foot ring. Earthenware is often reddish brown or chalky there and feels rough. Stoneware is grey, beige or speckled and feels like stone.
2. Put a drop of water on that ring. If it soaks in within a few seconds, it is earthenware. On stoneware the drop sits there.
3. Tap the rim with a fingernail. Stoneware and porcelain ring clearly. Earthenware sounds duller.

If the packaging does not say what it is, in my experience it is almost always earthenware. Anyone who makes stoneware puts it on the box.

The glaze does the real work

The glaze decides whether your bowl stays hygienic, more than the clay underneath. A smooth, undamaged glaze gives bacteria nothing to hold on to. A damaged one does.

Crazing. This is a fine network of hairline cracks in the glaze. Sometimes it is deliberate decoration, sometimes it appears after a few hundred dishwasher cycles because clay and glaze expand at slightly different rates. On the outside it is harmless. On the inside every line is somewhere water and saliva can sit.

The test: rub some cold tea or coffee over the inside, leave it for a minute and rinse. Any lines that stay brown are crazing. Do this with a new bowl and once a year after that.

Coverage. The glaze should run over the entire inside and over the top of the rim. On cheaper bowls it sometimes stops just below the rim, so your dog licks bare clay with every mouthful.

Food safety. Some glazes, especially bright reds, oranges and yellows, have traditionally contained cadmium or lead. "Food safe" on a box means little if it does not say what was tested. Ask the seller whether the glaze is lead-free and cadmium-free. A seller who knows will answer within a day.

A water bowl is not a food bowl with water in it

This is where most people choose wrong, and once you see the difference, picking a water bowl gets easier. A food bowl is used for ten minutes and then washed. A water bowl stands full all day, collecting saliva, hair and dust, and grows a slimy film on the inside wall within a day.

That asks four things of a water bowl that a food bowl does not need:

1. More capacity. My Border Collie weighs around 20 kg. A 500 ml water bowl was empty by the afternoon in summer, and nobody faithfully tops up a half-empty bowl of morning water. For a medium-sized dog you want at least a litre. A Labrador or German Shepherd still runs short on one litre if you are out all day, and is better off with two bowls.
2. A taller, steeper wall. Water slops over a low rim as soon as your dog pushes with its nose. A 7 cm rim keeps far more in than a 5 cm one.
3. Weight. A full water bowl sliding across tiles leaves a trail. For a water bowl, the weight of stoneware is not a luxury, it is the reason to choose it.
4. A glossy glaze. The slimy film wipes off a smooth, glossy glaze in one pass. A rough or matt surface takes more effort.

Limescale. If you live in a hard-water area, a white ring forms above the waterline within a week. Soak the bowl for fifteen minutes in cleaning vinegar and water, brush the rim and rinse it well. A dishwasher usually removes it too.

Do not put the water bowl right next to the food bowl. Kibble that falls over the rim at mealtimes ends up in the water and turns to mush within the hour.

Shape and size for your dog

The right shape saves you a wet floor and a dog that eats around its bowl. Diameter and height tell you more than the number of millilitres.

• Flat-faced breeds (French Bulldog, Pug, Shih Tzu) eat most easily from a wide, shallow bowl with a rim of around 5 cm. In a deep bowl they press their nose against the bottom.
• Long-eared breeds (Cocker Spaniel, Basset Hound, Beagle) stay drier with a narrower, deeper bowl, so the ears fall outside the rim. A wide water bowl means wet ears after every drink for a Cocker.
• Fast eaters are not slowed down by an ordinary bowl, whatever it is made of. That is what slow feeders are for. Ceramic slow feeders exist, but the ridges are hard to get clean.
• A food bowl should hold one meal with a few centimetres to spare below the rim. Otherwise your dog pushes the kibble over the edge.

If you are still weighing ceramic against stainless steel in general, the full comparison is in ceramic vs stainless steel dog bowls: an honest comparison.

When ceramic is the wrong choice

For most dogs at home ceramic is the best choice, but in four situations a different bowl saves you money and broken pieces.

• Travelling. A stoneware bowl in a weekend bag is heavy and breaks in the boot. A collapsible silicone bowl or a light stainless steel one works better there.
• Puppies that pick up their bowl. A five-month-old puppy that drags its bowl across the room and drops it on a tiled floor will break it. Use stainless steel until that phase is over.
• In the crate. A bowl that clips onto the bars stays put. A loose ceramic bowl does not.
• Outdoors in winter. Water that freezes in a bowl expands, and that can crack stoneware too. Outdoors from November to March, stainless steel is safer.

And on price: an €8 stoneware bowl with a good glaze does the same job as a €30 one. What you pay for in a more expensive bowl is mostly finish, shape and how it looks in your kitchen. Buy on the checks above, not on the price tag.

When to replace a ceramic bowl

A ceramic bowl does not wear out with age, so you do not need to replace it on a schedule. Look for these three things:

1. A chip in the rim or on the inside. Throw it out straight away. The edge is sharp and bare clay is exposed under the glaze.
2. A crack through the body. Tap the bowl. If it sounds dull or rattles, there is a crack you may not see yet.
3. Crazing on the inside of the water bowl. A food bowl that goes through the dishwasher every day can carry on for a while. A water bowl with crazing should be replaced.

A chip on the underside of the foot, where no food or water reaches, is cosmetic. That bowl can stay.

What I use myself

For my own dog I use the Splatter stoneware bowl set, because it passes the checks above. It is stoneware with less than 3% water absorption and a cadmium-free, food-safe glaze, and it is dishwasher safe. The set is two bowls of the same size. The 14 cm set (14.5 cm outer diameter, 800 ml) costs €29.95, and the 16.5 cm set (17.5 cm outer diameter, 1000 ml) costs €30.95.

Because both bowls are the same size, I recommend the 16.5 cm for any dog over 10 kg. That way the water bowl is big enough and the food bowl has room to spare. The 800 ml 14 cm set suits small dogs and cats. As a water bowl for a Border Collie or anything bigger, it is on the small side in summer.

A bowl that passes the checks

Want a food and water bowl that already passes these checks? See the Splatter stoneware bowl set, sold in twos for €29.95 (14 cm) or €30.95 (16.5 cm).

Or browse every colour and size in our dog bowls collection.