Best Dog Water Bowls for Sloppy Drinkers (and Some Other Solutions)

Does your doggo make a mess every time he drinks from his water bowl? Sick of stepping in wet puddles on your kitchen floor? If so, you may be in need of a spill-proof dog bowl.

Spill-proof bowls help cut down on these kinds of messes, and some models offer a few other benefits too.

Below, we’ll explain everything you need to know about spill-proof dog bowls, including the way they work and how various models differ. But first, we’ll jump right in and share a few of the best water bowls for sloppy drinkers.

Best Dog Water Bowls for Sloppy Drinkers

Despite the fact that many owners have never even heard of a spill-proof or no-spill water bowl, there are a surprising number of them on the market. However, they’re not all created equal — some just flat-out fail at their intended purpose.

To help, we’ve rounded up a few of the best ones for different situations.

1. Torus Pet Maxi Filtered Water Bowl

About: The Torus Pet Maxi Water Bowl is a gravity-fed, no-spill dog bowl, which holds 2 liters of water but only provides a small amount of water to your pet at a time. As your dog drinks, more water seeps from the internal reservoir into the bowl, while passing through a carbon filter in the process.

The Torus Pet Maxi requires no batteries or electricity (it’s gravity-fed), and it comes with four rubber feet to prevent it from scooting across the floor.

Features:

• Filters Your Pet’s Water: This no-spill dog bowl features a carbon filter, which cleans your pet’s water as it flows into the bowl.
• Large Capacity Design: Holds a whopping 2 liters of water, thereby reducing how often you must refill it.
• Maintains a Low Water Level: Most of the water resides in the reservoir, meaning that only a small amount of water is made accessible to your dog at a time.
• Requires No Batteries or Electricity: This is a gravity-fed system, which doesn’t require any power to function.
• Solid and Stable: In addition to being solidly built, this bowl comes with anti-skid rubber feet.

2. Neater Feeder Mess-Free Bowls

About: The Neater Feeder Mess-Free Bowls doesn’t stop messy drinkers from causing kitchen chaos in the same way some other water bowls for sloppy drinkers do, but it ends up providing one of the most effective solutions to the problem.

Essentially a hollow food-and-water station, this item features a wraparound shield and a plastic grate that leads to an internal reservoir. Any splashing water will be contained and funneled down into the reservoir.

Features:

• Internal Reservoir: This feeding station features an internal reservoir that is designed to contain any water that spills while your pet is drinking.
• Easy to Clean: The unit disassembles easily and every component is dishwasher safe.
• Elevated Design: Elevated feeders are often helpful for dogs with injuries or joint issues.
• Available in 6 Colors: You can purchase this food-and-water station in colors that’ll match your decor.
• Works with Other Dishes: Though it comes with two dishes, you can use many other commercial dishes of the same size if you choose.

3. UPSKY No Spill Water Bowl

About: The UPSKY No Spill Water Bowl utilizes a clever “floating platform” design, which ensures your pooch has constant access to water while preventing splashes.

To use it, you’ll simply fill the water bowl, place the floating platform on the surface of the water, and then attach the gasket to keep the platform in place. A small amount of water will then seep through the cute little paw print hole. As your pup drinks the water, the floating platform descends along with the surface of the water.

Features:

• Lightweight: Whereas a lot of no-spill bowls are heavy, this option is ideal for owners who want a lightweight alternative.
• Requires No Electricity or Batteries: The “floating platform” design uses simple physics and doesn’t require power of any kind.
• Easy to Clean: You can quickly assemble or disassemble this three-piece water bowl for cleaning.
• Easy for Dogs to Use: Even skittish dogs tend to use this bowl without issue.
• Slows Access to Water: As an ancillary benefit, this bowl prevents dogs from drinking water too quickly.

4. Ray Allen Buddy Bowl

About: The Ray Allen Buddy Bowl utilizes a pretty common design principle among no-spill water bowls, but it adds a few neat features others don’t.

At its core, this is just a water bowl with a circular shield around the top that cuts down on the splashin’. However, it uses an internal cone design to keep the water inside the bowl even more effectively than most competing products.

Features:

• Effective and Innovative Design: The splash-guard system used in this bowl is similar to some other models, but it includes additional features to improve its efficacy.
• Water Retention: This bowl’s internal cone prevents it from emptying completely if flipped upside down (though a small amount of water will spill).
• Great for Travel: The bowl’s combination of light weight and spill-proof design make it great for use in the car or your dog’s crate.
• 44 Ounce Capacity: This bowl holds enough water to keep most dogs hydrated while you’re at work or school.
• Convenient to Clean: This three-piece bowl snaps together easily, allowing for quick refilling.

5. Petmate No-Spill Bowl

About: One of the simplest no-spill water bowls available, the Petmate No Spill Water Bowl relies on a donut-shaped lid to keep your pet’s water inside the bowl. As simple and no-frills as it gets, this is a great option for owners who want dry floors but don’t want to use a complicated gizmo to get them.

Best of all, this is the most affordable dog bowl for sloppy drinkers by a healthy margin.

Features:

• Effectively Reduces Spillage: This bowl’s lid helps keep your dog from splashing water everywhere and discourages “water digging.”
• Simplicity FTW: With only two pieces, this bowl is easy to set up, use, and maintain.
• 48-Ounce Capacity: While not enough to keep large dogs hydrated for hours on end, it’s likely sufficient for small and medium-sized pups.
• Dishwasher Safe: To clean this bowl, you can simply pop the top off and throw it in your dishwasher.

K9 of Mine Staff Experiences: Hands-On Reviews

Hey there, pet parents! K9 of Mine Managing Editor Ben, here.

I have two wonderful yet wet-faced woofers who take sloppy water drinking to Olympic-caliber levels. So, I was keen to try out some of these no-spill bowls and see how they worked for my gals.

First, introductions are in order:

That’s Willow (codename: Crazy Pants) on the left and J.B. (codename: Protocol Patrol) on the right. Willow only speaks in the third person; J.B. utilizes perfect grammar but has a thick German accent.

They’re the goodest girls in most respects (aside from the fact that they don’t get along), but they both make a mess while drinking.

Willow’s face floof is always wet and drippy after drinking. She’ll also play with her dog food bowls and water dishes at times.

J.B., on the other hand, tends to do the gulp-water-so-fast-it-splashes-and-spills-everywhere thing. About one-third of the water in her bowl ends up on the floor; one-third ends up on her face; and one-third ends up in her belly.

One last thing before we get back to the bowls: Both of these 90-ish-pound pups are skittish. That’ll come up again later.

As for the testing, I opted for four of the options we listed above. I’ll share my thoughts and experiences with each one below.

Ray Allen Buddy Bowl

The Ray Allen Buddy Bowl was well-constructed and felt like a higher quality product than any of the other no-spill dog bowls I tried.

It features a nifty internal cone and an outer splash guard to help contain messes. It’s also super easy to disassemble for cleaning (though I wasn’t enthused about it being a handwash-only bowl).

But unfortunately, I couldn’t really get either of my gals to use it. Willow lapped up a tiny bit of water from it before backing away, but J.B. just looked at me like I was asking her to engage in some sort of gom jabbar ritual.

To be fair, the opening was a little small for both gals. Perhaps they’d have felt more comfortable using a larger model.

But before moving on to the next spill-proof bowl, let me share something really cool about it: This bowl keeps the water mostly contained when flipped upside down, thanks to the internal cone.

Check it out:

On the left, you can see that the bowl is full to the “fill” line. In the middle photo, you can see that I flipped the bowl upside down. And on the right, you can see that the bowl only spilled a small amount of water.

This is huge for owners who need a no-spill dog bowl to use in the car or while their pup is in a crate.

Final verdict: High-quality product, but too scary for my girls. That said, it should work very well, and I love that it keeps the bulk of the water inside when inverted. It’s undoubtedly the very best option for use in a car or crate.

Petmate No-Spill Bowl

This product is so simple it’s genuinely hard to think of what to say about it: It’s a bowl with a donut-shaped lid to prevent splashes. It’s also dishwasher safe, comes apart easily, and bears a very affordable price tag.

I kind of like elegant and super-simple solutions like this, and this bowl more-or-less lived up to my hopes.

But would my gals even use it?

Willow wasn’t troubled by it at all and started drinking right away.

In fact, when I put this one right next to the Ray Allen model as a sort of A-B test, she went right for the Petmate bowl and started lapping up water like she’d been using it her whole life.

It also worked pretty well. It kept her face (mostly) dry, and there wasn’t a drop of splashed water to be found on the floor.

However, J.B. politely declined to drink from the dish at all. Skittish pupper is skittish.

Final Verdict: I’d want a larger size for my gals, as this bowl doesn’t hold a ton of water. But aside from that, I love it’s simplicity, the fact that it’s dishwasher safe, and that it actually works well.

UPSKY No Spill Dog Bowl

I am a little leery about buying products from manufacturers and retailers I’ve never heard of, but the UPSKY has earned a pretty positive reputation. So, I gave it a whirl.

As explained above, this bowl features a “floating platform” design. That dark grey square inside the bowl floats on the surface of the water, while the paw-print cut out allows your dog access to a small amount of water at a time.

As your dog drinks, the surface level drops, taking the platform lower and lower with it.

You can see it disassembled here. Note that it also features a hard plastic gasket to help keep everything in place and working as it should.

Willow used this one without issue, and it appeared to work relatively well. I didn’t see any splashed water on the outside and because the bowl only provides access to a small amount of water at a time, her face stayed (mostly) dry.

But once again, the big scary Rottmonster wouldn’t try it at first. This is yet another reason to avoid Rottweilers at all cost (spoiler alert: I kid).

But she did eventually give it a go.

Once she got over the initial fear, she started using it regularly for the rest of the day.

In both cases, the bowl proved effective at preventing spills (the small amount of water you may be able to see on the floor in the pic with J.B. was from me accidentally kicking the bowl while trying to snap photos).

As with Willow, J.B.’s face stayed relatively dry after drinking from this bowl — there were only a few drops of water on her snoot.

Final Verdict: This bowl felt a little cheap, and I don’t love that it’s likely not dishwasher safe (the manufacturer doesn’t disclose whether it is or isn’t, so I’m guessing it isn’t). But it definitely works, and the price is right.

Neater Feeder Mess-Free Bowls

The Neater Feeder isn’t like the bowls mentioned above, as it is more of a mess-containing food-and-water station.

It comes with an elevated platform and two standard-issue stainless steel dog bowls. But the platform features a wrap-around shield to keep splattering dog food and splashing water contained inside the station.

It also features a little grate area and an internal reservoir. When water splashes out, it rolls downhill to the grate and then passes into the internal container.

This helps not only prevent messes caused by food or water, but it offers more protection than the splash-proof bowls discussed above. Throw in the fact that many dogs prefer elevated feeding dishes as well as the whole contraption being dishwasher safe and my curiosity was piqued.

So, how did it work for my little ladies?

Pretty well. Pretty darn well.

They were both willing to use the station (for eating and drinking), and it effectively prevented food and water from ending up on the floor. I was actually surprised at how well the design worked — splashing water makes a beeline for the grate holes and drains away quickly.

However, it did not prevent the moist-muzzle issue like some of the no-spill bowls did.

I think one of the coolest things about this feeder is that you can use other bowls with it. It comes with two durable stainless steel bowls, but these kinds of bowls tend to be loud and they startle J.B. (she refuses to eat or drink from them).

So, I just swapped out the metal bowls for some of the plastic bowls I already use. This probably won’t be an issue for most pet parents, and I’m sure the metal ones would work just fine for the average owner.

It’s also really cool that the whole thing — including the platform — is dishwasher safe. I don’t think it would actually fit in my dishwasher, but I’ll try at a future date and update this article to reflect my experiences.

Final Verdict: This was my favorite option of the four I tried. I love that it contains splashing water as well as the few kibblets that always seem to end up on the floor after meals. It was also the one that my dogs were most comfortable using. Also, also, I love that it’s dishwasher safe, though it’s still going to be a bit challenging to wash, given its size.

Another Option: Use a Spill-Proof Mat

A no-spill dog bow is not the only way to stop your dog from dripping water all over your kitchen floors; you can just use a feeding mat instead. In fact, because they cover a large area, feeding mats are a better solution for some pet parents.

As a bonus, feeding mats help keep kibble and wet-food-splatter contained too.

There are a litany of feeding mats on the market, but for our money, it’s hard to beat the one Loving Pets offers.

Loving Pets Bella Spill Proof Mat For Dogs

About: The Loving Pets Bella Spill Proof Dog Mat is a small mat that sits under your dog’s bowls, taking the brunt of the mess when your dog get’s carried away eating or drinking.

Features:

• Multiple Colors and Sizes: This mat is available in several sizes and colors to match your pup’s sense of style.
• Non-Toxic and BPA-Free: This mat is made from only pet-safe materials to ensure your wagger’s safety.
• Includes a Raised Lip: To help keep spilled food or water contained, this mat has a raised lip around the perimeter.
• Slip-Proof Design: This mat features skid-resistant feet that help keep the mat in place.

Which Dogs Need a Spill-Proof Water Bowl?

Most dog owners can benefit from a spill-proof dog bowl, but they’re more useful in some cases than others.

Your dog might benefit from a spill proof water bowl if he:

• Frequently “digs” at his water dish, creating a huge wet mess on the floor.
• Gulps the water down so fast that he drops mouthfuls of water directly onto the floor.
• Pushes the bowl with his nose, causing it to slide and spill as he drinks.
• Already drools a lot, thereby making him even messier after drinking water.

The best water bowls for sloppy drinkers help reduce (if not entirely eliminate) these kinds of problems.

Super-fast food gobbling is often seen in the same dogs who drink water at Mach-3. Unfortunately, this can be quite dangerous and can potentially lead to deadly bloat. If that sounds like your dog, consider picking up a slow feeder dog bowl to keep him safe! These dog bowls work by making it slightly tricky for your dog to eat, thereby slowing him down!

So, Why Does My Dog Dig in His Dish?

Dogs “dig” at their water dish for a variety of reasons, but most commonly, it is because they are bored, overheated, or looking for cool running water.

Sometimes, stirring the water in a dog bowl helps it to taste cooler; other times, your dog is just playing with his reflection. If the digging is a symptom of your dog’s boredom, he may find another destructive outlet.

Just purchasing a spill proof bowl may not be enough of a solution if your pup has external needs that need to be taken care of.

If you suspect your pup is overheating, grab a puppy friendly pool and keep it halfway full in your yard, giving your dog the option to cool himself off when he needs to. Sometimes, keeping your canine cool can stop the sloppy drinking and digging at his dog bowl altogether.

If your dog is running hot, other strategies to cool him down include:

• Grabbing a cooling dog bed. Some dog beds are designed with cooling gels that activate when your dog lies down in the material. Elevated mesh beds can also cool your dog off, especially if he hangs around outside a lot. Raised mesh beds provide better air circulation to keep temps low for your pup.
• Try a cooling dog vest. Cooling dog vests feature a similar design to cooling beds, but you strap the cooling gel material to your dog, rather than having a cooling mat your pup needs to lie on.

Another option is to consider a running pet fountain — it keeps the water cool and fresh, which many dogs find more appetizing.

If your pet spends a lot of time indoors or alone without active stimulation, the digging could be a way of entertaining himself. If your dog seems to be bored, more mental and physical stimulation can be introduced in the form of extra walks, more play time, or treat-dispensing dog toys to keep your pup entertained.

Why Does My Dog Gulp The Water Quickly & Push The Bowl Around?

If your pup is gulping the water and pushing his dog bowl around, he may just be excited! He may also simply be trying to escape the heat, as mentioned above.

Some dogs have different drinking styles that make them much messier than others. In the video above, one owner records different dogs drinking in slow motion to determine why her own dog is messy.

Regardless of why your pup makes a mess, a on-spill dog bowl can provide a helpful solution by itself or in conjunction with other techniques. In addition to stopping sloppy drinkers, these bowls will slow down dogs who gulp down water. Gulping water quickly can cause dogs to hiccup (that’s right, dogs can hiccup too) or even vomit up water!

Best Water Bowls for Sloppy Drinkers: FAQ

Still have questions about finding the best no-spill dog bowl for your floof? We’ve got ya covered!

Check out some of the most common questions (and answers) about no-spill dog bowls below.

   

There you have it, dog lovers — five of the best no-spill water bowls, as well as a spill-proof mat. Hopefully, you’ll find that one of these options is a good fit for your needs.

Now it’s your turn! Tell us about your sloppy drinker — how do you contain your dog’s messy drinking habit? Do you use a no-spill dog bowl like one of the ones mentioned above? Are there other spill-proof water bowls we should check out? Let us know how you’re dealing with the problem in the comments below.