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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

How do you wash food bowls?

102 replies

PotassiumPermanganate · 21/09/2025 15:11

For those who hand wash their dishes rather than using a dishwasher, do you wash your cat's food bowls in the same dish as the rest of the washing up? Do you use the same cloth or scrubby thing? I wait til all the dishes are done and then wash out the food bowls separately with a sponge that is only for use with cat food bowls. But my husband just chucks it all in together, same dish, same cloth. Is he being disgusting? Or am I being too fussy?

OP posts:
TheSandgroper · 21/09/2025 15:13

Gawd. I never got that fussy. If a bowl needs washing, I wash it. Dogs, cats, ducks, horses, chooks.

Everyone fed, nobody dead so that makes it safe to me.

DiscoBob · 21/09/2025 15:14

I tend to rinse/scrape them out first so there's no cat food bits and then wash with other dishes that happened to be dirty. But if they were really grotty or there was nothing else needing cleaning then I'd wash seperately.

shellyleppard · 21/09/2025 15:15

I wash my cats bowls after I've done our dirty pots

Goldstarlight · 21/09/2025 15:45

Mine get washed up after everything else is finished, on their own & with their own cat shaped washing scrub sponge!
Would be really yucky to mix it all up with our stuff- I have had to train DH over the years though because he’s definitely not as fussy as me!

chiefscoutsgoldaward · 21/09/2025 15:48

With everything else. That's what the hot water and washing up liquid are for.

LemonTwix · 21/09/2025 18:05

I wash them separately, with their own scrubber kept separate from the one for my own dishes. TBH it’s because I’m so careless about my own washing up, which is little more than a rinse half the time, so don’t want any more bacteria on them than necessary.

Arlanymor · 21/09/2025 18:07

Everything gets scraped and gets put in the dishwasher - high temperatures and detergent don’t care what ‘food’ it is…

rainbowsparkle28 · 21/09/2025 18:07

Have a dishwasher now but when I didn’t, would do what you do. Everything else first, then just cat bowls with their own brush/sponge. The idea of using the same just made me 🤢

whyisitalwaysmyissue · 21/09/2025 18:07

Lots of animals in my house, so they have their own dishwasher!

dementedpixie · 21/09/2025 18:08

I wash them last and put them in the leftover soapy water from doing other dishes. I use the same sponge as the other dishes.

Topseyt123 · 21/09/2025 18:09

All were done in the dishwasher when I had a cat. Same with the dog bowls.

ExquisitelyDecorating · 21/09/2025 18:11

We tend to forget to put them in the dishwasher as they are in a different part of the kitchen, we usually clean them immediately before use in the sink with a separate sponge (we write CAT on it with a sharpie). The cats rarely leave more than a smear of food so they aren't sitting around for hours with decaying food in.

fivetriangulartrees · 21/09/2025 18:12

With everything else. If your washing up involves chopping boards that have had raw chicken on, or DC's bowl of week-old yoghurt you've just found discarded under the settee, why not a dish with a light dab of cat saliva?

Oldraver · 21/09/2025 19:15

Usually after other stuff has been washed or sometimes on their own

They do have their own half sponge

How do you wash food bowls?
SummerFrog25 · 21/09/2025 19:26

On their own in the utility sink (it's where they're fed) but when I didn't have a utility room & they were fed in the kitchen, then they'd be washed up in the kitchen sink with their separate dish scrub usually under the hot tap as they eat much earlier than me, & I don't like them sitting around dirty.

i live alone & wouldn't even want a meat eaters dishes done with mine, especially cooking dishes 🤣 so...

but OTOH if you're meat eaters, I don't really get the separation & it's human grade 'food' isn't it??

Henry8thHoover · 21/09/2025 19:31

Scrape off any leftovers then wash in hot soapy water with everything else, same cloth.

Quandri · 21/09/2025 19:34

Wash them up after I’ve done the pots.

Don’t tell the oh coz he would be grossed out but sure that’s what hot water and fairy are for?

Judystilldreamsofhorses · 21/09/2025 20:59

We do have a dishwasher, and the cat’s dishes go in that with everything else. He’s been known to lick human plates depending on what we’ve eaten, so we’re all friends here.

megacat · 21/09/2025 21:07

Oldraver · 21/09/2025 19:15

Usually after other stuff has been washed or sometimes on their own

They do have their own half sponge

Is that from a candle set? I have those, what a great use for when the candle is finished!

Ketzele · 21/09/2025 21:13

Now I have a dishwasher, I just scrape off residue with kitchen towel and put in with everything else. Can't imagine why that would be a problem.

Before dishwasher, I hand-washed separately with different sponge.

warmapplepies · 22/09/2025 11:06

TheSandgroper · 21/09/2025 15:13

Gawd. I never got that fussy. If a bowl needs washing, I wash it. Dogs, cats, ducks, horses, chooks.

Everyone fed, nobody dead so that makes it safe to me.

Same! Never been in an issue in all my years of owning and working with animals.

Hoppinggreen · 22/09/2025 11:47

Dcat only eat dried off so her bowls are pretty clean anyway but I pop them in the sink with no plug and then squirt a bit of washing up liquid and then blast with the shower hose attachment.
I tend to do that with all washing up as I don't like to wash in dirty water

greengagesummers · 22/09/2025 13:50

We wash the cat’s bowls in the utility room sink, and then once every couple of weeks or so I pop them in a separate dishwasher wash on their own just to make sure they’re properly cleaned.

verybighouseinthecountry · 22/09/2025 14:00

Oh goodness no, and I don't even consider myself very fussy. I use old cartons/food packaging and chuck it away after a week or so.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 22/09/2025 21:15

Charlie's bowls are washed up in the same bowl as ours with the same sponge. DH does the washing up and has the water so hot he must have asbestos hands so it's never occurred to me there might be a problem!

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