Feeding mats: what they are for, and what size to buy
Feeding mats: what they are for, and what size to buy
Feeding mats look like the most optional thing in the category. In an apartment with original hardwood, a radiator and no back door, they are close to the most useful. Water gets flicked, kibble gets scattered, and both of those meet a floor finish twice a day.
What a mat is actually doing
Three things. It contains splash and scatter inside a boundary you can lift and shake out. It stops bowls sliding, which halves the amount of splash in the first place. And it protects the floor finish from standing water, which is the part that costs money later — a wet ring under a water bowl on wood is a stain long before it is a warp.
Size before anything else
The single most common mistake is buying a mat the size of the bowls. It needs to be the size of the animal’s working area: bowls, plus the space where the head is when it is eating, plus the arc where water is flicked off a muzzle. For a medium dog that is comfortably a couple of feet across. Measure the gap between cabinet and wall first — a mat that has to be curled up at one edge to fit will be pushed out of place daily.
Materials, and how they fail
Silicone with a raised lip is the most effective at containing liquid, wipes clean in seconds and lies flat. It is also the least attractive to most people, which is why so many are bought and then replaced.
Woven jute and similar fibre mats look far better in a room that is also a kitchen, and they handle dry scatter well. They handle standing water less well, so they suit a food bowl better than a water bowl, and they need to be shakeable outdoors or vacuumable indoors.
Rubber-backed fabric mats sit between the two. The important detail is the backing: if it is a thin sprayed coating it will crack within a year of being washed, and once it cracks the mat starts creeping across the floor.
Cleaning it, realistically
Whatever you buy, the honest question is what happens on the day it is genuinely dirty. Silicone goes under a tap. Jute goes over a balcony rail and gets beaten. Anything that needs a washing machine will be cleaned less often than it should be. Choose for the version of you that is in a hurry.
Ants, and the summer problem
Warm months bring ants to any bowl left down with food in it, and a mat does nothing about that on its own. The usual solution is a moat-style bowl or a raised feeder with a water channel; keeping food down only at mealtimes solves it entirely, and costs nothing.
Multi-pet households
One large mat under two stations is tidier than two small ones and stops the gap between them becoming the place crumbs live. It also gives you one thing to lift rather than two, which matters more than it sounds when you do it every day.
What we stock and why
Our shelf runs to large silicone trays with a real lip, jute and woven mats in sizes that suit a fixed bowl station, and a couple of oval rugs that survive a shake-out. Every one of them is listed with its dimensions in inches, because that is the number that decides whether it works in your kitchen, and it is the number most listings elsewhere bury.
Where this sits in the shop
Everything discussed above comes back to one part of the shop: Feeding Mats, which currently holds 1 listing. The whole of it is picked and packed at Bark N' Bites, 702 W 35th St, Chicago, IL, during Mon–Fri 10am–7pm, Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 11am–5pm — so anything written here can be checked by phoning the counter on ((312) 265-1205.
From our shelves
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Email [email protected] and you will get a reply within 1 business day, or call (312) 265-1205 during shop hours (Monday – Friday, 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM; Saturday, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Sunday, 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM (CST). Closed: US public holidays).
Read next
- Measuring dog food: why the scoop in the bag is the problem
- Raised bowls: what height and whisker clearance actually change
- Storing kibble: airtight bins, fat oxidation and the open-bag clock
Ordering from Bark N' Bites
Orders of $49.00 or more ship free anywhere in the United States, and a flat $6.99 covers everything below that. Handling takes 1–2 business days and carrier transit is normally 3–7 business days. Unused items can go back within 30 days, and if the mistake was ours we pay the return postage.
Questions about anything above go to [email protected], answered within 1 business day, or call (312) 265-1205. Full detail is on the Shipping Policy and Refund and Returns pages.