Dog travel water bowls: a UK buying guide

There is one thing that decides whether a travel bowl was worth buying, and it is not capacity, material or price. It is whether it is with you. The best bowl in the world, sitting in the boot, is not a bowl.

That sounds glib and it is the actual finding. Almost every complaint in this category is a version of it. Everything below is written from that starting point.

How much water does a dog need on a walk

A rough working figure is around 50ml per kilogram of body weight per day, across everything. So a 20kg spaniel drinks roughly a litre in a normal day, more in heat and more with exercise.

On a walk you are not trying to supply the day's water, only to cover the exertion. In practice:

• Under an hour, mild weather: most healthy adult dogs are fine without.
• Over an hour, or warm weather, or hard running: carry water.
• Beaches, and anywhere with standing water: always carry it, so there is an alternative to drinking seawater or stagnant water.
• Puppies, seniors, flat-faced breeds and thick-coated dogs: lower the threshold. These dogs cope worst with heat.

Offer small amounts often rather than a large amount once. A dog that drinks a lot very quickly after hard exercise is more likely to bring it back up.

The four types

Collapsible silicone or TPE bowl

Concertina walls that fold down to roughly the thickness of a coaster and spring open into a bowl.

Best for: most people, most walks. Light, packs to nothing, and usually has a clip.

Weakness: a thin-walled one collapses when a dog pushes into it. Wall stiffness is the thing that separates a good one from a bad one and it is almost never in the listing.

Bottle and bowl combination

A water bottle with a flip-out trough at the top. Squeeze to release water, and unused water drains back into the bottle.

Best for: long walks with no tap, hot weather, and anyone who does not want to carry two objects.

Weakness: bulky, heavier, and the mechanism is the failure point. It is a bottle you have to remember to fill rather than a bowl you can fill anywhere.

Folding fabric bowl

Coated nylon that folds flat and clips to a bag.

Best for: minimum weight and bulk.

Weakness: never dries properly, so it goes back in the bag damp and eventually smells. The coating cracks along the fold lines with age.

Rigid travel bowl

A solid bowl, sometimes with a no-spill insert, kept in the car.

Best for: the boot, on long journeys, and for a dog who drinks in the car.

Weakness: it does not come on the walk, and it takes up real space.

What actually matters

• Does it clip to something you are already carrying? A carabiner through a tab on the outer wall, so it hangs off a lead or a bag. This is the single feature that decides whether the bowl gets used, because it removes the remembering.
• Where does the clip attach? Through a moulded tab on the side wall, not through the rim. A clip on the rim sits in the water and distorts the bowl where it hangs.
• Do the walls stand up? Open it and press the side. If it folds under light pressure it will fold under a labrador.
• Is it a real drink? Anything much under 400ml is a capful for a medium dog and you will be refilling constantly. Check the working capacity rather than the number to the brim, because a bowl filled to the rim spills on the first step.
• Weight. Under 100g is the point at which people stop noticing they are carrying it.
• Does it rinse clean? One-piece moulding with no seams or joints. Anywhere water sits is somewhere that grows a biofilm.
• Does it hold smells? Silicone and TPE do less than coated fabric.

Materials

Silicone and TPE. Flexible, light, easy to rinse, does not hold odour badly. What most collapsible bowls are made from. Quality varies enormously and thin-walled versions are the ones that collapse.

Coated nylon. Lightest and packs smallest. Slow to dry and it degrades along the folds.

Stainless steel. Best for hygiene, worst for carrying. This is a car bowl, not a walk bowl.

Hard plastic. Scratches, and scratches hold bacteria. Fine for occasional use, less good as the everyday bowl.

Heat, cars and the thing that actually kills dogs

A travel bowl is a hot weather item more than anything else, so the surrounding advice matters more than the bowl.

• Never leave a dog in a car in warm weather. A car at 22 degrees outside passes 47 degrees inside within an hour. A cracked window makes almost no difference. A bowl of water in the footwell does not make it safe.
• Walk early or late in summer. Press the back of your hand to the pavement for seven seconds. If you cannot hold it there, it will burn paws.
• Do not leave water standing in a hot car. Warm water in a plastic bowl for a week is not something you want your dog drinking.
• Know the signs of heatstroke: heavy frantic panting, bright red or very pale gums, drooling, unsteadiness, vomiting, collapse. It is an emergency. Move into shade, wet the coat with cool water, and ring a vet immediately. Do not wait to see whether it improves.

Common questions

Can my dog drink from puddles and streams?

A running stream is usually low risk. Standing water is not. Stagnant ponds and slow water can carry blue-green algae, which is severely toxic and can kill within hours, and puddles on paths carry whatever has run off them. Carrying water means you can call your dog away from something rather than having no alternative to offer.

Is seawater harmful?

In quantity, yes. Salt water causes vomiting and diarrhoea and in larger amounts is genuinely dangerous. Dogs playing in the sea swallow more than owners realise. Offer fresh water regularly on a beach walk and it reduces how much they take in.

How do I stop it spilling in the bag?

Empty it. A travel bowl is not a water carrier. If you need to carry water, carry a bottle and fill the bowl when you stop.

How do I clean it?

Rinse after every use and let it dry fully before it goes back in the bag. A weekly wash in hot soapy water, or the dishwasher if it is silicone and rated for it. The film you can feel on a bowl that has been damp in a bag is biofilm and it needs scrubbing off rather than rinsing.

How long do they last?

A good silicone or TPE bowl should last years. Fabric ones tend to give out within a season or two along the fold lines. Replace any bowl once the surface is scratched, cracked or permanently discoloured.

What we would do

One collapsible silicone or TPE bowl, around 500ml or more of working capacity, under 100g, with a carabiner through a moulded tab on the side wall rather than the rim. Clip it to the lead or the bag and leave it there permanently, so the decision to carry it is made once rather than every time you go out. Rinse it after use and let it dry. Carry a bottle separately on long or hot walks, and remember that the important part of a hot day is where and when you walk, not what you carry.