[814]

First of all this is going to sound a little wierd. (A male dog that loves pink but I don't fight it because he has been through so much, if he wants pink he can have pink)

Okay I am about to head out to the doc and on my way back I am going to be picking up some new dog bowls for my dogs.

Here is why, Zacks nose is looking red and raw in spots and the belief is it has to do with the plastic dog bowls....has anyone heard of this happening before?

Supposedly bacteria gets trapped in the plastic bowls no matter how well you clean them and that can cause discoloration and possibly infection for a dogs lips and nose?

Anyways I am looking to either get stainless steel or glass. Problem is this dog refuses to eat our of anything that isn't pink.

Which is better stainless steel or glass?

And if we go with stainless steel how to get him to eat out of it?

(If we go with glass I can find him a pink bowl)

I don't know what his infatuation with pink is, but he refuses to eat if its not in a pink bowl. the bowl he eat out of currently isn't even his bowl, its his sisters.

Thanks


Also what is with the infatuation with pink, I don't get it. He never had anything pink before we got our female Terrier mix. (Ofcourse we were having to force feed him and everything back then, he was very ill)

We bring in our Terrier mix and we get her a pink bowl, pink toys, pink bed, pink blanket. Well Zack was just drawn to the pink. He took her pink toys, pink bed, pink blanket and pink bowl.

Well thats fine Sasha would eat out of anything so we brought her in some other new stuff, we got her a purple bowl and some red and blue toys and stuff and he wanted nothing to do with those, so we knew that those were a safe bet, as in he wasn't going to take them from her.

So anyways, we had to replace his pink blanket and we got him a blue one, he wouldn't touch it. So we got a pink one and he went right to it. Sasha took the blue one. We went out of town and took our blue travel bowls, he wouldn't eat. So now when we go out of town we take their regular bowls and he eats very well.


So I don't understand why he is infatuated with this color? Could it be because everything we bought Sasha was Pink and so he wanted it because it was hers?

I have never seen this in a dog. And its weird because he is a male

 

[Olie]

OK - glass and stainless is always the safest. Easy to clean and they typically stay in one place better.

Now the pink issue I think it doesnt sound any different then a favorite toy and its relatable. It might be his way of having his pink thing because sister has things that are pink, you know.

Gender is not relevent to the color pink either..... I agree let him have it.

 

[KPoos]

Okay here's the deal. If he gets hungry, he will eat out of a stainless steel bowl. Buy one and put it down with food and if he won't eat it, pick it up and offer it again later on. Keep doing this until he will eat it. The dog doesn't see "pink" colored things. Dogs can't see that particular color so that's not really why he cares for that bowl.

 

[814]

Okay here is the thing, this dog will starve himself. So I don't want to do anything that will upset him or his routine too much.

 

[KPoos]

Okay here is the thing, this dog will starve himself. So I don't want to do anything that will upset him or his routine too much.

Um no he won't. Dogs don't starve themselves. Have you asked a vet about this because that's just ridiculous.

 

[Cdnjennga]

You kind of allude to the fact that you have issues with Zack in the past with regards to food (You were hand/ force feeding him?) While healthy dogs don't starve themselves, unhealthy or those with food issue might up to a point. Dogs are also creatures of routine, especially those with nervous temperaments. Changing his bowl might create a lot of tension in a dog who already struggles with other issues. I can see why you want to make this an easy transition for him if this is an area that has caused you problems in the past.

The first thing I would probably try is to just make the switch. Perhaps you could decide on a time frame you would be comfortable with him not eating within (ask your vet how long he can safely go without food) and commit to trying him out on the new bowl within that time frame. Stick to whatever your normal feeding pattern is and follow it with the new bowl. You could try putting a high value food in there for the first few feeds (whatever it is he really, really likes) to encourage him to make the switch. Just make sure you don't do that too often or for too long, as then he'll be wanting the high value food more than his regular food. If this is an area you've had problems with in the past though, I would definitely talk to your vet before trying anything. You don't want to have a setback so he won't eat out of any bowls.

I wouldn't worry about the pink thing. He is probably just attached to those exact items that you purchased, rather than the colour. So I'm fairly certain a glass bowl in pink won't make too much difference to him, although you could certainly try it! Dogs are thought to see in shades of grey I believe so he may be able to somewhat distinguish colours.

 

[wishpoo]

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/200810/can-dogs-see-colors

That link might help Who knows - maybe he IS attached to certain spectrum . As you can see - pink (which would be a "diluted red" )would be something yellowish in dog's world, so you might try that light-light yellow/cream as an alternative :rolffleyes:. He obviously sees blue clearly as blue LOL and maybe that is why he hates it LOL - your dog is reincarnated fashionista LMAO ; ))! That is why he trys to stay thin and is also on the nervous side JK JK

I really think that he might have preference to certain color - it is soothing for him for whatever reason ...


Best of luck with your quest !!!!


PS: The pink part on the spectrum on this illustration is actually "ultra-violet" in real life - so I think that the pink that he sees is in the red part of the spectrum which is YELLOWISH in dog's world .

 

[Cdnjennga]

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/200810/can-dogs-see-colors

Thanks for the link wishpoo, so interesting! So dogs do see (limited) colour. You can certainly see why a dog would reject a blue blanket, which is at the opposite spectrum from pink. Huh. I'll have to bookmark that one for future reference.

 

[Purple Poodle]

I like to use ceramic bowls when I can and since he is a little dog I would go for ceramic.

Also if you are looking to save a little, look at the bowls made for people. Most are much cheaper then dog bowls and come is an array of colors. I bought some new cat food bowls for 50 cents each. Much better then $2.99 and they were bigger and prettier!

I think the pink thing could be physiological. Like it was stated dogs have a very limited pallet when is comes to sights and the colors they see and he may just associate the lighter hue with happy content feelings.

EDIT: Just saw wishpoos post.

 

[wishpoo]

Thanks for the link wishpoo, so interesting! So dogs do see (limited) colour. You can certainly see why a dog would reject a blue blanket, which is at the opposite spectrum from pink. Huh. I'll have to bookmark that one for future reference.

You are very welcome Cdnjennga : ))) !!!! Maybe it also explains why dogs love tennis balls so much : ) !!! They are yellow and so easy than to see in their world : )) !!!

 

[Locket]

Instead of getting Zack a new bowl, could you just wash the bowl each night?

 

[814]

Thank you all and i did consult with his vet too. I went ahead and replaced the plastic water bowl they share with a Stainless steel bowl. And I have another bowl that I have used its a small ceramic bowl back when he was sick to get him to eat anything. (He got used to eating rice out of it when his tummy was upset, as some of you may remember I mentioned about his severe gastrointestinal issues that almost killed him early in life) So since I have 2 identical bowls, for now I am going to try to feed them both out of those ceramic bowls. Sasha will eat out of anything. It was suggested we mix some rice in with his food though because he is used to getting rice with that bowl and then over the next 4 days go with less and less until on the 4th day all he has is kibble.

So fingers crossed.

 

[814]

Um no he won't. Dogs don't starve themselves. Have you asked a vet about this because that's just ridiculous.

Zack suffers from gastrointestinal issues, we have almost lost him 3 times over it. He is under a strict diet and treatment plan. But this dog has been known to go several weeks with barely touching his food. So yes he will starve himself. (Vet says the more nervous he gets it makes the gastro issues worse, so he is currently being medicated for that but that has tapered off to as needed)

So yes I have talked to the vet about this, vet visits and doggy hospitals stays have been the first year and a half of his life. He hasn't had a real flair up in a year and I pray it stays that way. But I have the vet on speed dial, because I know he could have a flair up again.

The scariest thing in the world is coming into the house and finding your dog lying there, having trouble breathing, in a pool of his own vomit and blood. (he was coughing up blood and I rushed him to the vet, just to be told to prepare ourselves, amazingly he has made an excellent recovery.....but this happened 2 times)

So I'm extremely careful about changing anything out of his comfort zone (Maybe I'm too over protective but I'd rather be safe than sorry)

 

[taxtell]

I googled 'pink stainless steel bowl' and found a lot of cute ones!
http://images.google.com/images?cli...ess steel food bowl&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

 

[814]

Thanks next payday I'm going out and looking for food bowls (but that is 2 weeks away) all the stainless steel ones at the store I went were too small. (and right now I don't have the energy to be out very long) (By the way I have a 20lb Terrier mix too so all the food dishes they had tonight were too small) So I got the only big one they had to use as water bowl. (They share a water bowl) If the ceremic ones work though I might just use them for awhile.

I wash their food bowls everyday since I wet down their kibble and honestly both their food bowls were wearing out. So hopefully for now they will work.

I'm thinking of going to target, they always have nice food bowls but we will see. I'm just happy to get them the new water bowl

 

[Fur Elite]

My dog Yogi is a very picky eater and won't eat out of any bowl and doesn't like any food he hasn't had before (which is great because he is not interested in people food at all). However, because of his pickiness it is hard to keep sufficient weight on him for the show ring and hence, I feed him satin fat balls to add bulk.

I was going to suggest a pink plastic dinner plate if you can't find a pink stainless bowl.

 

[814]

Good news, He cleared his plate

 

[Linda Hughes]

My spoo Simon won't eat out of anytype of bowl... He eats off of paper plates.(dry food of course).
I have tried putting the food in a bowl and picking it up after a certain time if he didn't eat it but that didn't work... He would not eat it.
It was to stressful for me when Simon didn't eat so I just gave in to the paper plates.

 

[814]

I guess he is maturing. Its amazing over the last few weeks, he has stopped his barking for the most part (other than when he sees a big dog), he has started spending time with us, instead of going off behind the couch or somewhere to be alone, and today he ate out of a bowl that wasn't his normal bowl. I am pleasently surprised because if this had been even 2 months ago he would have put up a fight.

I'm proud of him. I guess I don't give him enough credit. Then again all this is new. Its just nice to see him growing up a bit and becoming more confident. (I think he would have always been this good if he hadn't had all those problems early on, making training inconsistent)