Customer Reviews

Contech DrinkBetter Dog Bowl

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is just one of those products that will not work well for everyone. I decided to take a chance on it because our 6 year old Golden Retriever/Standard Poodle mix leaves huge puddles of water from her bowl all down the hall and onto the carpet. Also, she would flip her old bowl upside down spilling what was left in the bowl and causing a very loud banging noise.
So..... We like this bowl. There is a plastic disc that floats at the top of the bowl and creates a very shallow pool of water the dog can drink from. Obviously the dog can dunk it down to get plenty of water but for us, it has significantly reduced the amount of water that gets sloshed around and dribbled on the floor. Our dog has to drink slower and she is forced to take smaller drinks rather than fast, big gulps - which is how she used to drink. I'm guessing how well this would work for others would depend entirely on how your dog drinks and how their snout is configured. (Our dog has a retriever snout.) Other things about the bowl: it's fairly small. I think it holds about 3 cups of water so I have to refill it more often than with other bowls. It appears very solid. It is made of plastic but it's thick and I think it would be very difficult for a dog to break it. It also doesn't slide around too much. We have this bowl, along with the Brake Fast food bowl that is often featured as a recommendation with this water bowl, just sitting on a ceramic tile floor. The water bowl does not slide around much at all. I'm a fan of the bowl. If something happened to it I would buy another one.

My 50 lb dog recently suffered from bloat, a very serious issue where the dog's stomach bloats up very fast (in minutes) and will then twist around itself unpredictably until it kills then (my last dog died of this within 1.5 hrs). To help prevent this from occurring, I feed at an elevated level to reduce air from being swallowed. However, despite my preventative measures it still happened. Thankfully my dog survived and now I have to take further precautions such as feeding small portions 4 times a day and limiting the speed at which my pup eats and drinks...thus my purchase of the Contech DrinkBetter Bowl. The bowl is extremely well made, surprisingly so, I'm not usually a fan of plastic bowls. The main bowl is made of a very thick and very durable plastic that I imagine could take quite an impact before any damage would occur, it is visually pleasing as well and doesn't look cheap in any way. The inner piece is also made of plastic which is thick and durable but for functionality's sake not as thick as the bowl. The entire unit is very easy to clean and doesn't have any crevices where bacteria could build up. The inner piece has a small rubber plug on the side which you remove and then you fill the hollow chamber with water, you adjust how high or low it floats by adding or removing water until you reach your desired floating level. The floating center piece is then placed in the full bowl of water and a small puddle forms above the wishbone shaped center. The idea is that your dog will only be able to drink as much water as is in the center puddle and only be able to drink it as fast as it refills itself thus limiting the speed at which your dog can intake the water. It is a good idea, and I can see it working if your dog is small and not able to push the entire center piece into the bowl of water beneath. My dog very quickly, within 2 or 3 licks, figured out the trick and would just push the floating piece down so she had full access to all the water and was not limited on her intake at all. So, sadly, this bowl did not work out for me and I sent it back for a refund...though I was tempted to keep it because the white bowl by itself was so nice :) All in all, I would definitely recommend this product to someone with a small dog, probably 10 lbs or so, maybe 15 lbs max...but for those of us that have larger dogs I would say you will probably have the same problem that I did. As luck may have it, I did actually come across a different bowl that works for my dog...Pow Wow Products Road Refresher Non-Spill Dog Bowl. It is designed for travel needs but actually works perfectly for my needs and don't be discouraged by thinking it is too small since it's designed for travel, it actually holds about twice as much water as the DrinkBetter bowl!! I hope my review helps some of you to decide what will work best for you, whatever you decide upon I give you my appreciative thoughts at shopping for items that will help prolong and better the lives of your furry friends :) They do so much for us and they deserve the same care and love right back!

I find that this bowl works great. If the float is sinking to the bottom, as some have said, there is either too much water in the float or it has a leak and it fills with water. You can adjust the amount of water coming through the holes in the float by adding to or emptying water from it. It is trial and error until you get the correct amount of water in it. I have small dogs and it keeps them from gulping water too fast and then throwing up. I am going to get another one because it works so well. I don't think it would work as well for a large breed dog.

I was convinced this bowl would work after reading the reviews but that wasnt the case. The bowl is to small for a labrador dog and although he has to drink slower bc of the insert in the bowl he is still able to do a mess with the water. I woudnt recommend this for large breed dogs but i do think it can work for smaller dogs and overall its a sturdy well made bowl.

This is a very attractive and substantial water bowl however it has not stopped or decreased the splashing or spilling that occurs when my dog drinks. Ultimately, I have removed the floating insert and just use it as you would a regular water bowl.

I saw this bowl in an upscale pet catalogue and liked it, but thought it was way too pricey. Later, I found it on Amazon at a much lower cost and decided to buy it. It really works the way it's supposed to. It's totally cool looking and the float inside the bowl slows down my dog's drinking. No more water trails leading from the dog dish to the living room! Yay!

I cannot tell you how excited I am about this product! I was very skeptical as Weimaraners tend to have jowls that collect the water and later lead to trails of water all over the place. My pup is very well behaved otherwise and having just moved to a condo, I was really concerned about the cleanliness of our place.

I bought the bowl after much deliberation and I have to say, I am SO glad I did. At first I filled the little insert with water most of the way and she got used to the concept of having the little floater in the middle (of course at that point in time, there were water trails but as with any learning process, patience is a must). After I saw that she was non-plussed by the floater, I then removed half of the water from the floater and that restricted some of the water flow but now she was somewhat licking the water off of it and getting used to the sensation. Still water trails of course. Finally, after a week or so of this, I removed all of the water from the floater and she now drinks in a way that leaves no water in her jowls. I am happy to report "0" water trails in my condo. What a pleasure this is!!! I don't have to wipe after her or stress about stepping into gross doggy drool anymore! I recommend this to anyone out there but you HAVE to make sure you are patient and train your dog gradually to drink slower. You won't regret it!

A really happy customer :-)

This bowl only comes in 1 size from what I can tell, which is fairly large for a dog under 15 lbs. It doesn't keep him from drinking a large amount of water (he'll just stay at the dish longer to drink). However, it does keep him from gulping too fast and then choking/vomiting on the water. Essentially it works as intended, however I had hoped that it would help him pace his drinking better, instead of attempting to drink all of his daily water intake in 2 or 3 trips for example, like he still currently does. It's also a bit difficult to get the floating piece on top to float exactly in the middle of the bowl. My dog has a fairly narrow snout and if the floating piece is tilted even slightly, he can angle his snout in there just right so that he can gulp water again. Have to fill the floaty piece about 95% of the way with water I've found. If you fill it all the way, it doesn't float, but if you fill it too little it will float at a bit of an angle.

This really seams to help my dog from drinking too fast. However the floating device does not stay centered in the dish and she can still drink too fast at times. If it had been made completely circular on the outside edge is would float evenly and not tip making it stay centered and keep the amount of water limited better.

I really bought this bowl for our compulsive drinker and it does seem to help somewhat, but it really helps for our dribbler. She doesn't seem to be able to get that huge mouth full of water and walk off spilling all the way. Overall good purchase