Cat Bowls And 'whisker Fatigue'?

[Spask]

I recently switched my two kittens over to canned food and they love it! The only problem is they tend to push the food into the corners of the bowl and then give up unless I dig it out for them. So I got searching online for a more "cat-friendly" dish and stumbled across a product called 'Dr. Catsby's Food Bowl for Whisker Relief.' Just curious if anyone else has tried a dish like this or knows of a cheaper alternative? .. though I would gladly pay $20 to not hand feed Weruva if it works, haha.

Side note, still on the hunt for other quality canned foods for my babies. Heard a lot of good things about Weruva but I'd love other suggestions to rotate!

(P.S. Apologies if this is in the wrong section, I wasn't sure where to post and figured bowl discussion still falls under the topic of feeding!)

 

[lisahe]

One of our cats needs to be fed on a flat dish so I bought a small stack of plain white appetizer plates from Target -- they work very nicely as cat dishes. I don't remember the price but they were under $2 a dish.
Those Dr. Catsby dishes look very nice but $20 is a bit expensive!

As for canned foods, our cats' canned foods are Weruva (Cats in the Kitchen), Rawz, Feline Natural, and Tiki, though they've decided they don't much like Tiki anymore, after some recipe changes. Oh well!

Good luck!

 

[lisahe]

Since I somehow double posted, I'll edit to add that Nutro Natural Choice is also very decent canned food!

 

[Columbine]

I agree - those Dr Catsby dishes look very nice, but are a total rip-off! I use regular shallow steel cat bowls and plain glass saucers or small melamine plates (melamine/plastic isn't the best for hygiene, but it was what I could find at the time ). I generally check out yard sales, discount stores or charity shops when I need new cat bowls - it's often cheaper than purpose made cat bowls, and we have an abundance of charity and discount shops round here

 

[Vega's Dad]

I share plates with Vega.

 

[ScarlettGatsby]

I've never given feeding dishes much thought actually. We just bought some at petco and they've been fine. They have a rubber bottom so they don't slide across the floor when she eats, but really they aren't fancy at all and they were like $4 each.

On the food subject, I've tried a few flavors of Weruva and my cat won't eat it. I'm sure I could keep trying flavors but it's so expensive I gave up on that brand.
Her favorite wet food by a long shot is Merrick Perfect Bistro Duck Pate. She also likes the Fromm Chicken and salmon, and a couple of the tiki cat flavors.

 

[lisahe]

...I use regular shallow steel cat bowls and plain glass saucers or small melamine plates (melamine/plastic isn't the best for hygiene, but it was what I could find at the time ). I generally check out yard sales, discount stores or charity shops when I need new cat bowls - it's often cheaper than purpose made cat bowls, and we have an abundance of charity and discount shops round here

Yes to all of this! I, too, find that purpose made cat bowls (good term!) are often pretty pricey.

I share plates with Vega.

We used to, too! But we sometimes ran out of small plates, which is why I bought the appetizer plates, which are the perfect size.

I've never given feeding dishes much thought actually. We just bought some at petco and they've been fine. They have a rubber bottom so they don't slide across the floor when she eats, but really they aren't fancy at all and they were like $4 each.

Yes, rubber on the bottom is nice. I bought stainless steel dishes with (removable) rubber bandy things at the grocery store for $2.49 each. (I think they might be Hartz but don't remember for sure!) We feed raw food to our other cat in those bowls.

 

[lisamarie12]

Definitely whisker stress can be an issue with bowls that aren't wide enough.

I just use either espresso saucers or whatever interesting finds from thrift stores I come across. I recently bought a set of four Stratfordshire of England bone china saucers for a grand total of $4 so the furkids can eat in style.

I never spend money buying things like pet bowls, beds, etc, retail - way too overpriced usually. I'd rather put that money toward their food.

 

[arouetta]

I did the stupid cheap - gladware containers, the wide shallow entree ones.

For your situation though I don't think it'd work, since they have (rounded) corners. But soup bowls would work, they are also shallow and broad.

 

[Kieka]

We do raised wide dishes and it seems to work well for us. I went with raised for Link at first because he just looked so uncomfortable and scrunched up. But then Rocket and Nightfury started refusing to eat out of their bowls and waiting for him to finish to lick out of his bowl.

These bowls have a very slight raised section inside that keeps the food in the middle of the bowl. They are wide enough that they don't compress the whiskers as much as some bowls.

 

[xcourtney3]

View attachment 189226

We do raised wide dishes and it seems to work well for us. I went with raised for Link at first because he just looked so uncomfortable and scrunched up. But then Rocket and Nightfury started refusing to eat out of their bowls and waiting for him to finish to lick out of his bowl.

These bowls have a very slight raised section inside that keeps the food in the middle of the bowl. They are wide enough that they don't compress the whiskers as much as some bowls.

I have these bowls too!

I recently switched my two kittens over to canned food and they love it! The only problem is they tend to push the food into the corners of the bowl and then give up unless I dig it out for them. So I got searching online for a more "cat-friendly" dish and stumbled across a product called 'Dr. Catsby's Food Bowl for Whisker Relief.' Just curious if anyone else has tried a dish like this or knows of a cheaper alternative? .. though I would gladly pay $20 to not hand feed Weruva if it works, haha.

Side note, still on the hunt for other quality canned foods for my babies. Heard a lot of good things about Weruva but I'd love other suggestions to rotate!

(P.S. Apologies if this is in the wrong section, I wasn't sure where to post and figured bowl discussion still falls under the topic of feeding!)

This one's a little cheaper
Edit: Ok, my links never work on this site!
Look up 'ThinkPet Shallow Easy Meal Ceramics Cat Bowl for Whiskers Relief' on Amazon

 

[artiemom]

I bought a bunch of small, cute, cat saucers at PetSmart. Those were good for a while. Artie was eating more food, so I got some cat bowls at PS...again, still good...

Now that he is eating dry food, I just use a bread plate from my own setting. He eats the dry by taking one piece at a time off the plate and onto the placemat.. you can hear it: swish, plunk..swish, plunk....I wash and change it out every morning.