A few people noticed the white thing on the floor in the left-hand side of the picture of our new salt lamp and wondered what it was:
That’s actually Burger’s little food & water station. By tucking it behind the media stand, it’s out of the way for humans (yet still easily accessible for one small chihuahua). And we created this little food & water set-up ourselves from a few inexpensive Target items that were not at all meant for mutts.
Two small ribbed ceramic ramekins (at $2 each) + one white rectangular platter ($9) = a delectable little doggy buffet for Burger. And it has really stood the test of time. We’ve had it since 2007 and it’s super easy to wash since it’s not porous like plastic.
Just for fun, here’s the original post about Burger’s little feeding station when we first created it about a month into our blogging adventure. Notice that it has no comments at all- I swear we talked to ourselves for months. Thanks so much to everyone who stops in and reads (and responds to!) our posts. We totally appreciate each and every one of you!
Speaking of you guys, what do you use to dole out food and water to your four-legged friends? Metal dishes? Porcelain bowls? Designer doohickies? Do tell.
Blayne says
Our dog has an elevated feeder from the pet store. it is kind of a minty green and grey color plastic with stainless bowls that come out to be washed. Not the most attractive thing ever but not bad. Ruby is a VERY messy eater so I am trying to come up with a solution to catch all the water she spills. The tile floor underneath her bowls is constantly wet.
Christy – We feed our dog Blue Buffalo and we all think its great. They do have organic food as well. I like that it is available at PetsMart because we live in a small city and do not have a whole lot of shopping choices.
Magchunk – When I lived in a one bedroom apartment with my two cats I had the litter box in the bedroom :o( It was (and still is) in a litter box tent made by Littermate.
tracy says
Your home is beautiful and I’m so glad I stumbled upon your blog!
I love the white feeding station! It looks so clean, And I don’t see any dribbles on the floor! ~ such a neat pup!
Our two dogs, one 45lb and one 70lb eat in the kitchen with us at “their” spots. The little dog eats from a Fiesta-ware cereal bowl, and the big dog eats from a ceramic pie-plate. They eat in the down position…so, no need to elevate. We feed them high quality dog food, but we supplement with fresh cooked brown rice, carrots, zucchini, chicken, eggs ~ lots of healthy food and the big dog’s skin troubles have all gone away.
Renate says
We use cheap ceramic or glass bowls for our two cats, placed on top of a small jute doormat. We needed something that wouldn’t slide around, as both cats are notorious for pushing their bowls around when eating, so the non-slip doormat was just what we needed!
Jen says
I love this idea. My rug underneath our bowls to sop up the leftovers is sooooo unattractive. I’ll be searching for something like this as soon as it warms up a little and it’s garage sale season here up north. :)
Audry says
Burger is so stylish…love it! My boyfriend is a carpenter and we have hard hats everywhere, so our yellow lab Driftwood eats out of his very own hard hat. He carries it around every morning and evening to let us know that he is hungries. :-) We camp and fish a lot in the summer, so Drift even brings his hard hat on our boat.
Mary says
Hi Sherry,
Do you have a floorplan of your house that you can post on the blog? Sometimes when you post pictures of the layouts of your rooms and furniture, I am curious about where one door leads, etc. in regards to furniture placement.
Thanks!
Mary
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Mary,
Good question! Here’s the best example of our old and new floor plan (after the doorway widening and dining room to third bedroom conversion). Unfortunately it’s a bit old, but you’ll probably get the gist of things (be sure to look at the bottom floor plan, not the one on the top which is totally out of date).
You can also watch this video house tour by the Nest or this old house tour by us to hopefully get a better idea of how things flow. The first one isn’t exactly complete (it’s missing a few bedrooms and a half bathroom) and the second one is super out of date, but hopefully they help!
xo,
Sherry
Mary says
Thanks, Sherry! This is SO helpful. We are currently on the hunt for our first home which is why I may be so obsessed with floorplans right now!
Olga says
That’s very cute! One of my dogs is a greyhound and is much more comfy drinking out of a raised bowl due to his height. I’m debating some sort of a “ceramic dish on a stool” set up for him. The ramekin/corningware idea is a great one, I just have to figure out a way to deal with his water dribbling habit. ;)
Kimberly says
I stumbled upon your website while looking at “The Nest” last night and I am hooked. I have been reading it all day and the ideas you have are not only amazing, but beautiful and easy enough for everyone to do. Your wedding was beautiful, your house has such great style, and I have to say it’s almost like you got right into my head with all your renovation projects!
I laughed when I saw your doggie food station, I have a chihuahua too, as well as a dachsund, and this little setup is perfect for them. Keep the awesome (and classy) ideas coming!
Meg Lyttle says
Very cute!!
We have three dogs…so our bowls, like yours, have to be visually pleasing. So we got a friend to make wooden boxes and each dog has their name engarved in the box. And then a stainless steel bowl is inserted in the centre. They are quite cute!
I just wanted to make a note – not sure if ramekins are made of ceramic or not, but ceramic is actually NOT a good tyope of bowl for pets. It holds bacteria and actually can cause canine/feline herpes and acne. Just an FYI!! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Meg,
Thanks for the note! Your pet feeding stations sound very cute indeed and as for our bowls we’re happy to say that they’re vet approved (we toted them along to be sure they’d be safe for Burger before putting them into action). Hope it helps!
xo,
Sherry
Meg says
Hey Sherry,
That’s good then!! :) I didn’t know myself until out one cat and one of our dogs started getting all these pimples on their chin…it was quite lovely, I promise! Anyway, the vet said it was from the ceramic bowls. So we switched to stainless and have never had a problem since!
It probably also depends on how oily the animals skin is to begin with, kind of like humans!!!
Cheers!
Meg
Julie says
Love your blog – I’ve just discovered it and have spent hours here. Thank you so much for sharing.
Your furbaby is adorable, and I love the food and water solution. I’m a little worried about some of your commenters puppies though. I know they love their furbabies and wouldn’t do anything intentional to hurt them, so I thought I would point out that dogs are meant to eat in the “head down” position. Elevating their food dish, or having them eat in the “down” position, can promote bloat, which hits quickly and almost always kills the puppy after many excruiatingly painful hours. A friend of mine lost her pup this way, after feeding it from an elevated dish for 5 years, even though she got it to the vet right away and had him operated on. Although she “got away with it” for 5 years, she wishes so much she had known the danger.
So many companies are selling elevated dish stands now, and it’s so dangerous. Please try to warn your readers.
Crys says
My friends have 2 cats and they were sick of looking at the litterbox so Jeff repurposed a storage bench by cutting a hole in the back and placing the litterbox inside. The cats now crawl through the hole and do their business… their guests are none the wiser!
They also keep a box of baking soda in there as well to absorb any odor.
Alicia says
I have a 11 year old mini schnauzer named Angel and that would be such an upgrade from the plastic double bowl deal I currently use.
Margerette Lim says
This is a great share. Always think to feed my dog with the healthy food.
heal cold sores fast says
Hello Guru, what entice you to post an article. This article was extremely interesting, especially since I was searching for thoughts on this subject last Thursday.
Krissy says
We have stainless bowls that set into a holder with a rubber edge… if the bowls aren’t set into something, Murphy will flip them over when he’s done. He also does this obnoxious thing where he puts a foot in and drags the whole thing around the kitchen… I would love to have something prettier, but this is durable and goes with our stainless appliances and whatnot! I would love to find a cute mat to place under it though…
Cassie says
This is such a neat idea, I bought a platter and ramekins today and now my pup’s feeding station looks clean and fresh. Thank you for sharing!