Aside from grooming and temperament, cats aren’t high-maintenance creatures. They don’t require a long list of accessories. But something every cat needs is a bowl. They’ll need two; one for water and one for food. Of course, bowls are a super simple product and it should be easy to pick one out for your cat, right?
It can be, but if you start searching online, you’ll realize there are far more options than you might have expected, and many have some scary negative reviews despite having loads of good feedback. You certainly don’t want to end up spending money on a poor product that you have to replace. Luckily, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve tested a ton of cat bowls with our felines to find the best ones of all. The following reviews will compare some of the best cat food bowls available, but we only recommend the top three.
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A Quick Look at Our Favorites in 2024
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Best Overall
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Hepper NomNom Cat Bowl |
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Budget Buy
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Van Ness Non-Skid Cat Bowl |
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K&H Thermal Cat Bowl |
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Prima Pets Collapsible Bowl |
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Signature Housewares Ceramic Cat Bowl |
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The 14 Best Cat Food Bowls
1. Hepper NomNom Modern Cat Bowl – Best Overall
One obstacle pet owners are faced with is having to buy multiple bowls; one for water and another for food. With the Hepper Nomnom Modern Cat Bowl, you’re getting two dishes in one, eliminating the need for a second. Even better, both dishes are nestled into a wrap-around tray designed to catch any drips of water or spilled food. And the dishes are whisker-friendly; shallow and wide with flat bottoms.
Of course, some cats love to chew, so much so that they might even chew on their bowls. Luckily, this dish is made from chew-proof, PP plastic. When it’s time to clean, snap the stainless steel bowls out of the wrap-around try and pop them in your dishwasher; simplifying and speeding up the process.
The only real downside to this product that we could see is the cost but since you’re getting both the food and water bowls, cat-friendly design and materials, ease of maintenance and a modern style, we think it’s worth every penny.
All in all, we think this is the best cat food bowl and the best stainless steel cat bowl you can get.
At Pet Keen, we’ve admired Hepper for many years, and decided to take a controlling ownership interest so that we could benefit from the outstanding designs of this cool cat company!
2. Van Ness Ecoware Non-Skid Cat Bowl – Budget Buy
Let’s get back to the basics with the Van Ness Ecoware Non-Skid Cat Bowl. This is a basic bowl with a non-skid bottom made of silicone and a cute cat face design on the bottom of the inside. It won’t scratch your floor and it won’t slide around. Best of all, it won’t hurt your wallet or pocketbook because this bowl is dirt cheap. So cheap that we think it’s the best cat food bowl for the money.
Even though it’s priced affordably, this bowl is well thought out. It’s made shallow and wide so it can hold plenty of food or water, but it’s also easy on your cat’s whiskers. Forty-seven percent of the material it’s made from is renewable bamboo that’s BPA-free and absent any chemicals or heavy metals. Remember, you’ll need to get two since this is just a single bow. But if you’re in California, you’ll have to find a different dish as this one can’t be shipped to your state.
3. K&H Pet Products Thermal Cat Bowl
Not every cat is an inside cat. Many cats spend their lives in barns or simply living outside. But in the winter when water freezes, it can present a real problem for these cats. That’s where the K&H Pet Products Thermal Cat Bowl steps in. This bowl can be plugged in to prevent the water inside from freezing. Now, you can be sure all the neighborhood cats have water all winter long!
The warmer inside this thermal cat bowl is 12 watts. Ensuring no accidents occur, the power cord is wrapped in steel to make it chew-resistant. With an overall size of 32 ounces, there’s room to hold enough water for the whole night, even if several cats are drinking.
Of course, this bowl isn’t perfect. It’s a pretty expensive water bowl. When you consider that you’ll still need to purchase a separate bowl for food, it seems even more expensive. Still, it’s an excellent product that serves a specific purpose, even if it is a bit pricey.
4. Prima Pets Collapsible Travel Bowl
Cats can make excellent travel companions, but it requires some planning and forethought. While cats don’t require you to pack a whole lot of extras, you definitely will need to bring bowls for water and food. Regular cat dishes can take up quite a bit of space and are often difficult to fit in your luggage. But the Prima Pets Collapsible Travel Bowls are collapsible, so they fold flat for easy travel.
Depending on your needs, you can opt for a bowl that holds 1.5 cups or one that holds five cups. All the bowls come with a carabiner attached, making it easy to hook the bowl onto any other gear so you don’t even have to make space for it. You have several color choices to pick from, and bowls of both sizes are affordably priced.
While we probably wouldn’t use these for bowls at home in a permanent location, they’re perfect for taking on vacation or for RVers or anyone who travels often.
5. Signature Housewares Ceramic Cat Bowl
Here’s another super simple design that’s priced affordably. The Signature Housewares Ceramic Cat Bowl is a heavy dish since it’s made from ceramic. You can choose from a one-cup or three-cup size, though the three-cup model is a bit deep for cats. Because it’s ceramic, if you drop it, this bowl will break. On the other hand, it’s also less likely to tip for the same reason.
The bottom of this bowl is non-skid to prevent it from sliding around and scratching the floor while your cat eats. It’s a decent-looking dish, but you don’t get any options. There’s just one design and color. It’s black with a white arrow design going around the outside. It’s an attractive enough bowl, but only if you find it to your liking.
Overall, this bowl is adequate, but certainly not special in any way. While affordable, it’s not as cheap as some other options, which is why it’s situated right in the middle of our list.
6. Loving Pets Stainless Steel Cat Bowl
If you’re looking for a highly inexpensive option, try this Loving Pets Stainless Cat Bowl. They are incredibly inexpensive, though they are also a bit small. For most cats, they work just fine, though. They also have other sizes if you feel the need to upgrade the overall size of the bowl. They have a stainless-steel interior like all the other bowls in this article. They are naturally bacteria-resistant and straightforward to clean.
They have a poly-resin exterior that is quite attractive and also relatively easy to clean off. There is a rubber base that is removable for cleaning purposes. This base prevents it from skidding around and eliminates noise while your cat is eating. The whole bowl is dishwasher safe as long as you remove the rubber base.
7. K&H Pet Products Stainless Cat Bowl
For those looking for a bowl that is the best of the best, the K&H Pet Products Stainless Cat Bowl is what you need for your cat’s water. This bowl is thermostatically controlled. The electronics are sealed inside, and the cord is wrapped in steel to prevent abrasions. They are also considerably chew-proof. The cord is 5.5 feet long, so you likely will not need an extension cord.
This bowl is designed to prevent the water from freezing. If you keep your cat bowl outside, this bowl may be essential to ensure that your cat has fresh water available all the time. It may also encourage your cat to drink more since the water will be warmer. Cats are notorious for being dehydrated, so this can be particularly helpful for cats with specific health problems.
This item can be used outside, as all the electronics are suitable for outdoor use.
8. Mr. Peanut’s Premium Collapsible Cat Bowl
Initially, we were pretty excited about Mr. Peanut’s Premium Collapsible Cat Bowls. As avid travelers, we’re always looking for convenient ways to feed our pets on the go. These travel bowls come as a set of four bowls for a very low price. They’re also advertised as being 34 ounces, so we thought they’d be sizable enough for a full meal. But when they arrived, they were far smaller than expected! As it turned out, all four bowls are 34 ounces together, not individually.
Like most travel bowls, these are collapsible bowls made of silicone. Unlike others we’ve tested, these are not very durable. The silicone is thin and brittle, so the bowls tend to crack along the fold lines where they collapse. Since you’ll be folding and unfolding these bowls very often, a weakness here is a major flaw.
We liked the inclusion of carabiners on all four bowls so we can easily attach them to bags, backpacks, suitcases, and more. Despite being very small bowls, four bowls for this price is a good deal. Or, it would be if the bowls held up.
9. PetRageous Designs Metro Oval Cat Bowl
At first appearance, the PetRageous Designs Metro Oval Cat Bowl looked to be a solid option. It’s designed with cats in mind; shallow and wide. In pictures, it looks like an ideal dish. But in person, it’s much smaller than it looked in a photo. Still, it’s whisker-friendly and reasonably priced. Plus, it’s dishwasher and microwave-safe, so you can easily wash it with your other dishes or heat your cat’s dinner without worry.
Though this bowl does look rather attractive, it’s built poorly. Ours started chipping from regular use after just a few days. Once it’s got a few chips, it starts to become a safety hazard for your feline. If you drop this dish once, it’s going to shatter since it’s made of ceramic. Unlike other cat dishes in the same price range, this one doesn’t have a non-skid bottom. Because of this, it tends to slide around. Ceramics can easily scratch your flooring, so this was a major downfall in our eyes.
10. Platinum Pets Stainless Cat Bowl
The Platinum Pets Stainless Cat Bowl is very basic. It is designed as a dog bowl. However, you can use it as a cat bowl as well. There are various sizes available, though all of them are not available in all colors. You can probably safely use a smaller size for most cats since they are usually much smaller than most dogs. Larger cats may benefit from a larger bowl, however.
The pawprint design is quite attractive, and the bowl comes in many different colors. It is durable and FDA-compliant, so you can ensure that it is safe. It also features a silicone base that prevents damage to your floor, skidding and tipping.
The bowl is entirely dishwasher-safe and lead-free. They also do not include any BPA.
The main reason this bowl isn’t higher on the list is due to the rubber bottom. It pops off often, when with little use. This can be a significant problem, especially for cats that are a bit rougher with their bowls. The stainless steel also seems to be lower quality, as it scratches easier than other options. If the bowl is scratched, it must be discarded, as the scratches cannot be easily cleaned.
11. PEGGY11 Stainless Cat Bowl
The PEGGY11 Stainless Cat Bowl is another average set. This package comes with two bowls, though you can purchase a singular bowl as well. They are entirely stainless steel with little design, which may be helpful if you’re looking for something more minimalistic. There are several sizes, though they are all on the smaller side. Consider the size of your cat when choosing the perfect size.
The bottom is coated with silicone to protect your floors from scratches, prevent noise, and eliminate sliding. They are completely dishwasher safe, including the rubber bottoms.
These bowls are incredibly lightweight. This makes them easy to slide around, even with silicone bottoms. Even kittens can knock these bowls all over the place with little effort. They also tip relatively easily. If you have a rough cat, this probably isn’t the best option for you. If you need the bowls to stay in one place, this isn’t the set for you.
12. Ethical Pet Stoneware Cat Bowl
Made from heavyweight ceramic, the Ethical Pet Stoneware crock pet dish is difficult to tip over, helping to prevent messes. The weight is also supposed to help stop slipping and sliding, which can easily scratch your floor, but without a non-skid bottom, we still found that this dish did end up sliding on the floor.
You can choose between four different sizes, depending on how big your cat is or how many cats you have to feed and water. It comes in one-cup, 1.5-cup, six-cup, and nine-cup sizes. Compared to other bowls that are very similar, these are a bit pricey. They’re also not as well-designed for a cat’s face. These bowls are a bit deep and not wide enough for a cat’s whiskers to avoid hitting the sides.
Though the Ethical Pet stoneware crock pet dish is a great choice for many pets, we don’t think it’s the best choice for cats specifically. For the price, we think there are far better options, such as the Van Ness Ecoware bowl in the second position on this list.
13. JW Pet Skid Stop Basic Pet Bowls
If the JW Pet Skid Stop basic pet bowls were better made, they probably wouldn’t rank so low on our list. They’re great in concept but poorly executed, particularly for cats. Still, it’s not all bad. We liked the skid-free rubber base that prevents sliding and messes. It’s also dishwasher safe, so cleaning this bowl is very easy and quick. Our favorite thing about them is that they’re bacteria-resistant. Despite all these positive attributes, there were too many flaws for us to forgive.
First, the design is not whisker-friendly. It’s too deep and not wide enough, so your cat’s whiskers will hit the sides of the bowl. While this bowl does come in several colors, you don’t get to choose which one you get. If you have a particular color in mind to fit your décor, chances are, you’re not going to get it.
To be fair, these bowls are priced affordably. Even so, they’re too cheaply made to have any real value. They’re made from flimsy, thin material and break very easily. Plus, you’ll need two if you plan to use them for food and water. Likely, the two you get won’t match!
14. OurPets Stainless Steel Cat Bowl
The OurPets Stainless Steel Cat Bowl is quite inexpensive. They are made of heavyweight stainless steel and shaped a bit differently than most bowls. While they are incredibly shallow, they are also quite wide. This prevents your cat’s whiskers from touching the side. Some cats are more sensitive to this than others. For those who are particularly sensitive, this feature can be game-changing.
The whole bowl is ultimately dishwasher safe. It is also available in a variety of sizes. Most sizes are on the smaller side, making most of them useful for cats. Consider how much water your cat drinks when choosing a bowl. You don’t want to have to refill the bowl constantly.
While the cat bowl does say it is dishwasher safe, the rubber padding sometimes melts. They leave a nasty goo on anything they’re set on after that, on top of the safety problems they then pose to cats. These bowls also have a giant sticker that comes in the middle of the bowl, which can be difficult to remove. It can also leave a sticky residue on the bottom of the bowl.
Buyer’s Guide: Choosing the Best Cat Food Bowl
It’s one thing to know which cat bowls were our favorites, but it’s an entirely different thing to understand how we decided on which ones were the best choices. You can certainly run with our recommendations and call it a day, but if you want to know more about how we compared these cat dishes, then this buyer’s guide is to help you find the best cat food bowl for you and your feline.
What to Look for in a Cat Bowl
Cat bowls are relatively simple products, but there are a few features that can make particular ones better or worse than others. Do you want a stainless steel cat bowl? Or maybe a ceramic one? How about one that prevents spillover? The following traits are the ones we think are most important. Determine what you need in each of these areas, then look for cat bowls that meet all of these qualifications.
Non-skid Bottom
For us, a non-skid bottom is one of the most important features of any cat bowl. Many people are placing their cat bowls on a hard floor of some type, whether it’s wood, tile, or something else. If you keep your cat’s bowls on the carpet, then this might not be as important for you. But on hard floors, cat bowls without a non-skid bottom can slide all around as your cat tries to eat or drink. This can easily scratch your floors, causing expensive damage.
Appearance
You’re going to be forced to look at the cat you dish you choose pretty much every day. So, you better pick a design you like! If you think the cat bowls you choose aren’t attractive, then you’ll probably find them to be an eyesore once they’re taking up space in your house. Make sure you pick a cat bowl that you like the looks of, because, after all, you have to live with it.
Shape and Design
Cats have very sensitive whiskers. To protect them, most cat dishes are made whisker-friendly. This means that the dish is designed to be shallow but very wide, allowing it to hold plenty of food. The main advantage is that your cat’s whiskers won’t hit the sides or be forced against its face while eating and drinking, making things much more comfortable for your cat. But many dishes we tested weren’t designed with this in mind. We like our cats to be as comfortable as possible, so we suggest always looking for whisker-friendly cat dishes.
Materials
Cat bowls can be made from a variety of materials, including stainless steel, plastic, rubber, ceramic, and more. The type of material your bowl is made from will provide some inherent properties.
For instance, a ceramic bowl is heavy. Therefore, it’s hard to tip over and won’t slide as easily. However, if it doesn’t have a non-skid bottom, it can easily scratch floors. Ceramic is also easy to chip and can shatter if dropped.
Plastic bowls are easy to clean and inexpensive. But they’re not heavy enough to stay put. A non-skid base can help, but these are often light enough to still get moved during feeding!
You can choose a cat bowl made from any material you prefer, just be aware of the pros and cons of each different material.
Two-For-One
Your cat is going to need two bowls, one for food and one for water. But most bowls are sold individually, so you’ll have to purchase two. Some of our favorites came as a set in a single container. We like these two-for-one bowls that contain dishes for both food and water in a single unit. They’re often more expensive than individual bowls, but you have to factor in the fact that you only have to purchase one!
Price
At the end of the day, everyone has a budget for pet products that they must stick to. If your budget is large, then you might pick out the most premium option that tickles your fancy. But you don’t have to spend a ton to get a great cat bowl. Just make sure you determine what you need from your bowl, then look for products that can meet those needs. Once you have a list of suitable cat bowls, then you can compare them on price to find the best deal at the lowest cost.
Final Thoughts
While testing all these different cat food bowls, we found many that we liked. However, we can only recommend three, so we had to do some careful scrutinizing while writing our reviews. In the end, we settled on the three that we felt had the most to offer.
Our favorite cat dish and overall best cat food bowl are the Hepper Nomnom Modern Cat Dish. It’s got some excellent features, such as a wide skirt around the dishes that prevents messes, snap-out stainless bowls for easy cleaning, and a whisker-friendly design. Plus, you’re getting two bowls in one, making this a double value.
For a truly affordable option no matter your budget, we suggest the Van Ness Ecoware Non-skid Cat Dish as the best cat food bowl for the money. It’s dirt cheap but still has great features like a silicone non-skid bottom that prevents slipping, spilling, scratches on your floor, and messes.
The K&H Pet Products Thermal-Bowl is our premium choice recommendation. It’s a large water bowl that holds 32 ounces and can be plugged in to activate the thermal heater that prevents water in the bowl from freezing, even at subzero temperatures. The cord is chew-resistant since it’s wrapped in steel, so your cat and the bowl are protected.
