# Dishwasher hygiene



## Bonnie82 (May 4, 2011)

Do any of you use your dishwashers to wash your cats' bowls?

We have been washing them in ours but I wondered how hygienic it is for humans as a couple of people have commented saying how gross it is! 

If you do use your dishwasher for your cats' bowls, do you put them in at a higher temperature than normal? Do you wash them with human bowls at the same time or do them on a separate cycle?

One colleague said she puts her dogs' bowls in the dishwasher but only after she's washed them first by hand, then washed them on a separate cycle in the dishwasher, then run an empty cycle afterwards before washing her own bowls. I thought that was a bit overkill though!

So... what do you do?


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## Guest (Jul 13, 2011)

I don't have a dishwasher as I hate them and I wash the cats bowls up after our glasses/mugs/plates and cutlery but before the saucepans/baking trays, I'm not really that fussed to be honest if I had a dishwasher they would all go in together, I would not waste extra water and electricity just to wash up a few bowls.


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## MoggyBaby (Mar 8, 2011)

I wash my cat bowls by hand in the sink but, when they go in the dishwasher - which they occasionally do, I just do them along with our own stuff. Given that most of us feed our cats better food than we eat ourselves, I can't see the problem.

Some folks are just TOOOOOOO anal as far as I am concerned!!!

If I can kiss my cats on the nose 10 mins after they have been in their litter trays and not die from it, sharing the dishwasher with their bowls sure ain't gonna kill me!!!


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## TatiLie (Nov 2, 2010)

I don't understand... do they mean that their saliva is gross?
If so, I suppose we shouldn't touch their fur, as it's licked-clean... or let them lay on the sofa, bed, chairs as everything else would be 'contaminated' with their fur...
If that's the point, I find grosser to use forks and glasses at restaurants!


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## koekemakranka (Aug 2, 2010)

I have no problem with putting my cats' bowls straight in the dishwasher. It is high temp water with diswasher soap; will kill any germ, surely? I think us humans are a bit too fussy about germs TBH, and I honestly believe that is why kids nowadays are often so sickly : they are not exposed to enough germs in our sanitised environment so their immune systems don't work properly. A germ a day keeps the doctor away. I remember as a child playing in muddy streams and having mud fights with cow dung and I turned out OK.


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## K337 (May 20, 2011)

It all goes into the dishwasher together on a hot cycle. If there aren't many dishes then I just wash them by hand with whatever else needs doing. One of my boys even prefers his bowl to be freshly done, so it's still warm 

I'm guessing some people don't like the idea of cat food being near their plates etc? I'm just not that fussy - if there are no clean cat bowls and the boys are meowing down a storm and clearly "cannot wait another second" they get fed on plates  Rare, but does happen on occasion...


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## gskinner123 (Mar 10, 2010)

Funny you should ask this considering that when I had visitors in my kitchen earlier this week, I noticed one of them looking with great distaste at all my cat plates in the dishwasher 

I do rinse them off first but have always put the cats' plates and bowls into my dishwasher with, to the very best of my knowledge, no ill effects to us or the cats.


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## messyhearts (Feb 6, 2009)

I don't understand that the issue with this would be. Anything in the dishwasher is cleaned by the time you open it.

I think people pull their nose up at a lot of things though. This is exactly why there is dog crap on the pavements that doesn't get picked up. My family pull faces when they see that my cats eat on a table away from the dog's reach or that food is out in the living room for my dog because it smells, shoch horror, like dog food.


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## TatiLie (Nov 2, 2010)

Ah, I see. They find gross cat food!
They probably don't know how much care and research we put into getting the right food.


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## koekemakranka (Aug 2, 2010)

Do your cats have their own "dinner service"? I have a set of brown "creme brulee" dishes that our now exclusively theirs for their wet food. My mother thinks I am crazy....


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## wellsandmittens (May 29, 2011)

I think I have heard that some of the ingredients in cat food may not be human food standard from the point of view of hygiene etc so I am careful not to let the cat food come into contact with our own utensils etc and to clean surfaces. However, I see no problem putting their bowls in the dishwasher as they will effectively be sterilised - apparently doctors often advise there is no point in sterilising baby bottles if they have been in the dishwasher. If it's a saliva thing then as you say, we kiss them all the time and put our faces down so they can gives us head rubs so I think that it's hardly worth worrying about bowls!


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## Lumboo (Mar 31, 2011)

We don't have a dishwasher, but I wipe the cats bowl with kitchen roll and then rinse it with very hot tap water and then wash it along with our items. Have had the kittens for over two months and it hasn't caused us any digestive issues so far.

Don't care if people say it is yuk - no more so than allowing my cat to lick my face or put its wet nose against mine.

I will wash my hands after holding my cat though, just in case I eat something and have touched their bums, and have told my son to do the same. He insists on washing his hands each time he strokes them as well, but he is slightly OCD regarding clean hands.


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Like GH I dont have a dishwasher as I dont see the need.I wash dishes as I use them and do them all together human and cat dishes.Why would you want to waste soapy water doing things separately.Like ,keep cats of work tops,tables ect too much" hygene" is not healthy


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

I guess _we_ are all biased as we have cats, right?
I do actually have a separate ( matching and carefully chosen! ) set of crockery and silverware for cat food use, but after a good rinse under the tap with hot water it all goes into the dishwasher from whence it emerges sparklingly clean.


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## Sephie (Jun 2, 2011)

I normally handwash our kitty bowls with hot soapy water, rinse as well with hot water and I use a different sponge for the kitties' bowls than with our bowls because we feed mainly raw and the occasional wet and we didn't want either of us 5 to get ill. 

I do run the kitty dishes in the dishwasher once a week after they have already been washed with the normal hot soapy water and rinsed and left at the dish rack to dry. 

We've had our kitties for 3 1/2 weeks now and we are all fine! No contamination or illnesses!


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## missye87 (Apr 4, 2011)

Not fussed, ours get washed up by hand anyway, and with a seperate sponge. Wouldn't really care if it was dishwasher but it's a bit icky when your sponge has bits of cat food on it so we keep a seperate one  

What I DO find really gross though, is stepping on cat food in the middle of the night  Storm likes tkaing his out of the bowl and eating it off our carpets


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## lymorelynn (Oct 4, 2008)

Much to my husband's horror the cat bowls go in the dishwasher or are washed in the sink after other (human) dishes if there's not enough for the dishwasher. It has never worried me. They walk on work surfaces and sit on the kitchen table - none of us have died from any nasty bugs yet


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## PolkaDotty (Jun 24, 2011)

We don't have a dishwasher (not unless my hubby counts:lol. When we looked after a friend's cat we washed the cat's dishes with a separate sponge and then disinfected the sponge in the microwave. 

I'm not worried about germs from the cat's saliva or anything but I think that practicing good hygiene in food areas is important.


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## TatiLie (Nov 2, 2010)

Here we use the our cutlery to serve Ari. I used to let Ari drink the water left over in my glass (an attempt to improve her liquids intake as she found my glass more interesting than her water bowl). And my husband very often uses Ari's bowls for his pistachios.


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## dexter (Nov 29, 2008)

we've always put our dogs bowls in the dish washer with our own used crockery and cutlery


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## charleecat (Nov 26, 2009)

Charlee's bowls go in the dishwasher along with my own plates and cutlery. I can't see an issue as the temperature is very hot.


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## Bonnie82 (May 4, 2011)

I'm glad that you don't all think we're gross for putting the cat dishes in with our dishes!  I expect some of our visitors might find it disgusting (particularly my mum) but I'll just do it when she's not looking, I think. 

Everything comes out so spotlessly clean that I can't see WHY it would be unhygienic but I really wasn't sure what the general consensus was, especially considering some people have looked at me in absolute horror when I said I washed them at the same time as ours!

Our kittens seem to prefer their food to be served in dishes that are still warm from the dishwasher.


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## salkei (Apr 15, 2011)

Yep everything all goes into the dishwasher at the same time, dont see any problem with it, i use the normal cutlery to serve with the guys food and then it goes in the dishwasher.

As a kid i can remember getting covered in dirt most days and eating the dog's biscuits! i'm still ok

(woof!)


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## Guest (Jul 13, 2011)

I use the same sponge but they are fed at specific times and they eat all that they are given, but even so I wash up in hot water with Fairy Liquid and even though I've not eaten their food it to me is the same principle of any tin/pouch of human foods being eaten of a plate, mine have little porcelain bowls from chinese dinner bowl set that used to be Grandma's.


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## TatiLie (Nov 2, 2010)

Bonnie82 said:


> I'm glad that you don't all think we're gross for putting the cat dishes in with our dishes!  I expect some of our visitors might find it disgusting (particularly my mum) but I'll just do it when she's not looking, I think.
> 
> Everything comes out so spotlessly clean that I can't see WHY it would be unhygienic but I really wasn't sure what the general consensus was, especially considering some people have looked at me in absolute horror when I said I washed them at the same time as ours!
> 
> Our kittens seem to prefer their food to be served in dishes that are still warm from the dishwasher.


I would feel gross if I had to put my aunt's dogs bowls in the dishwasher as I've seen they stay without a wash for days (?? maybe more). That's absolutely gross IMO. Because they're bad quality porous bowls and are rarely washed. There's moist kibble sitting there for ages. Bird poo. The bowls are smelly. The water bowl has green and brown algae growing. Yuuuuk! Ari's bowls are ceramic, washed after every meal. Hygiene for her stuff is as important as for mine.


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## Guest (Jul 13, 2011)

When I had the dog I would rinse her bowls separately but thats because she was a St Bernard and the drool and slobber left in the food bowl and water bowl was off the scale, stop reading if you have a weak tum because her water would go thick and gloopy  oof makes me queasy just remembering it even though it was changed twice a day, but small dog or not dribbly dog then I would still wash up them up the same.


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## MoggyBaby (Mar 8, 2011)

koekemakranka said:


> Do your cats have their own "dinner service"? I have a set of brown "creme brulee" dishes that our now exclusively theirs for their wet food. My mother thinks I am crazy....


Our cats have their own set of cutlery and TWO sets of bowls!!!

This is the posh one that the boys didn't like to begin with but do now ( _'I' _think it is very cute though........ ) :










This is the bog-standard one that boys prefer as it is more macho:










Abby does not have one of the heavy duty ones but does have a smaller Mason & Cash pie dish like this (but without the pie in it. Although she would prefer it WITH the pie...!!!)










Hubby & I eat off the SAME plates EVERY day!!!!!!! :001_huh: :001_huh:


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Just to add a bit more :tongue_smilie: to the conversation for the squeamish.When my daughter was small she used to eat out of the dogs bowl and likewise given the chance he would eat out of hers.She cut her teeth on bonio biscuits and she never had any of the "nasty" illness's folks would have you believe are lurking round every corner.


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## MoggyBaby (Mar 8, 2011)

buffie said:


> Just to add a bit more :tongue_smilie: to the conversation for the squeamish.When my daughter was small she used to eat out of the dogs bowl and likewise given the chance he would eat out of hers.She cut her teeth on bonio biscuits and she never had any of the "nasty" illness's folks would have you believe are lurking round every corner.


And I'll bet she has lovely shiney hair, sparkling clear eyes and a gorgeous little wet nose!!!!!   

A picture of perfect health. :thumbup:

BTW - I used to eat dog food when I was a kid. Tasted ok to me.... :001_huh: Didn't do me any harm either!!!! I find the ability to be able to lick various parts of my body clean very useful.


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## TatiLie (Nov 2, 2010)

buffie said:


> Just to add a bit more :tongue_smilie: to the conversation for the squeamish.When my daughter was small she used to eat out of the dogs bowl and likewise given the chance he would eat out of hers.She cut her teeth on bonio biscuits and she never had any of the "nasty" illness's folks would have you believe are lurking round every corner.


What does not kill you... improves the imune system!!


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## Guest (Jul 13, 2011)

I loved Bonio's as a child plus Winalot shapes apart from the Charcoal ones as they were gritty and ick  I also use to eat Cow Cake and stick my finger in the milk powder that we used to feed the calves on as it was so sweet and creamy


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## lymorelynn (Oct 4, 2008)

GreyHare said:


> I loved Bonio's as a child plus Winalot shapes apart from the Charcoal ones as they were gritty and ick  I also use to eat Cow Cake and stick my finger in the milk powder that we used to feed the calves on as it was so sweet and creamy


I liked the yellow or pink ones the best  Bonios were okay too :thumbup1:


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## Cazza1974 (Sep 23, 2009)

We don't have a dishwasher but I don't see anything wrong with washing the cats bowls along with ours and we are all ok.


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## dexter (Nov 29, 2008)

dexter said:


> we've always put our dogs bowls in the dish washer with our own used crockery and cutlery


after they've licked the plates lol


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## Kori (Jul 13, 2009)

I put our cat bowls/plates in our dishwasher along with our stuff. I think it's fine. Some things have to be washed by hand like their combs or plastic bowl. I use a separate sponge for things like that.


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## shyboots (Jun 29, 2011)

I have allergies and I can put everything in the dishwasher together and it gets it cleaner even than handwashing (the water in there is hotter than you can do by hand) and makes everything safe for me to eat off again. If it is safe enough to get ride of allergens...surely ok for cat bowls?? Just a thought anyway, if anyone has the scientific info on that...!


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## Bette (May 14, 2011)

missye87 said:


> Not fussed, ours get washed up by hand anyway, and with a seperate sponge. Wouldn't really care if it was dishwasher but it's a bit icky when your sponge has bits of cat food on it so we keep a seperate one
> 
> :


I do this too-I do them separately in any event because they always get fed first before I even start to make my own food!


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## koekemakranka (Aug 2, 2010)

MoggyBaby said:


> And I'll bet she has lovely shiney hair, sparkling clear eyes and a gorgeous little wet nose!!!!!
> 
> A picture of perfect health. :thumbup:
> 
> BTW - I used to eat dog food when I was a kid. Tasted ok to me.... :001_huh: Didn't do me any harm either!!!! I find the ability to be able to lick various parts of my body clean very useful.


Well, I still taste my cats' food now and again, especially new brands: I like to know what kind of flavours they like.  Am I the only one?


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## MoggyBaby (Mar 8, 2011)

koekemakranka said:


> Well, I still taste my cats' food now and again, especially new brands: I like to know what kind of flavours they like.  Am I the only one?


Having seen just how meaty the meat Smilla is, I have to confess to being very tempted to pop it in a pie dish, add a crust and then serve it up to the hubby. I'll bet any amount of money that he'd be none the wiser. 

Maybe I should taste it first though...... Don't want to kill the poor b*gger - he ain't insured yet!!!!


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## missye87 (Apr 4, 2011)

MoggyBaby said:


> Having seen just how meaty the meat Smilla is, I have to confess to being very tempted to pop it in a pie dish, add a crust and then serve it up to the hubby. I'll bet any amount of money that he'd be none the wiser.
> 
> Maybe I should taste it first though...... Don't want to kill the poor b*gger - he ain't insured yet!!!!


You are evil  I'll await results though


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## MoggyBaby (Mar 8, 2011)

missye87 said:


> You are evil  I'll await results though


Yup!!!! You had BETTER believe it!!!! :devil:


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## IndysMamma (Jan 15, 2009)

we just dump the cats dishes in with our own (sink not dishwasher, we ain't got one)

years ago we had a vague relative we didn't like coming to dinner once a week (tagged along with the grandparents who *were* invited) so after dinner one day we put the plates down for the dogs (springer and a lab) to lick clean and put them straight in the cupboard - in front of said horrified relative - and said "isn't it great when the pets help out with the chores?"

she never came back...:aureola:

note - we washed the plates etc as soon as she was gone


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

MoggyBaby said:


> And I'll bet she has lovely shiney hair, sparkling clear eyes and a gorgeous little wet nose!!!!!
> 
> A picture of perfect health. :thumbup:


Yep grew up to be fairly "normal"which was quite an achievment with the parents she has .She has now swapped the dog food /hair ect for horse and cattle muck :tongue_smilie: and still hasnt gone down with anything nasty.


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## Cyberfyn (Nov 25, 2008)

Cat.... Dishwasher?










Dexter used to love sleeping on the open door when it was still hot! And yes, we always wash the cats ceramic bowls in it.

Ian.


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## MoggyBaby (Mar 8, 2011)

Cyberfyn said:


> Cat.... Dishwasher?
> 
> Dexter used to love sleeping on the open door when it was still hot! And yes, we always wash the cats ceramic bowls in it.
> 
> Ian.


Oh what a babe!!!! He's lush!! 

Abby likes to stand on the dishwasher door and watch it being loaded. I think she's making sure it is being done correctly. Hopefully, she might train her Daddy how to do it right coz I bl**dy well can't!!!!!!


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## HelloKittyHannah (Nov 18, 2010)

I used to really hate it when someone I used to live with would put the cat bowls in the dishwasher  They were putting them in with food stuck all over them and you'd open it up to find chunks of cat food all over the cutlery and plates  With a young baby at the time I just couldn't handle it, even when you couldn't see the cat food on everything I used to assume it was there :shocked:

I am however extremely anal about my washing up anyway so ignore me


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2011)

HelloKittyHannah said:


> I used to really hate it when someone I used to live with would put the cat bowls in the dishwasher  They were putting them in with food stuck all over them and you'd open it up to find chunks of cat food all over the cutlery and plates  With a young baby at the time I just couldn't handle it, even when you couldn't see the cat food on everything I used to assume it was there :shocked:
> 
> I am however extremely anal about my washing up anyway so ignore me


That's why I hate dishwashers as if anything with food on it goes in it, it just whirls around and sticks to whatever then bakes on in the drying process and if you are going to rinse everything before you put it in then you may as well as just wash it up  I always have to check my Mums cups and glasses as they often feel grainy or have baked on crud in them :shocked:


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## HelloKittyHannah (Nov 18, 2010)

GreyHare said:


> That's why I hate dishwashers as if anything with food on it goes in it, it just whirls around and sticks to whatever then bakes on in the drying process and if you are going to rinse everything before you put it in then you may as well as just wash it up  I always have to check my Mums cups and glasses as they often feel grainy or have baked on crud in them :shocked:


Yeah, as much as I *hate* washing up, I don't think I'd trust anything to actually be clean coming out of a dishwasher! (This from the person that washes up once, then changes the water and washes everything all over again, so dishwasher users just ignore me  I'm sure your dishwashers would pass the average cleanliness test, just not mine :lol: :shocked


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