Beco Bowl Review (for cats)

For the past few years, I’ve been using Beco Bowls to hold wet and dry food for the outdoor cats.

Beco Bowls are eco-friendly pet food bowls made from bamboo and rice husks. While we use them for food, the large sizes could also hold water.

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Beco Bowl Label

I love the bright colors of the bowls!

One day, these bright bowls caught my attention while browsing at a pet store.

We have a tan, blue, pink, and green in the small size. And in the large size pink and green. The medium size bowl is green.

You can see the bowls in the video below.

Using the Beco bowls for the outdoor cats

I bought one set of bowls for the outdoor cats to try out. I wanted to have bowls that were only for the outdoor cats that were not plastic (since some cats can have an allergy to plastic bowls).

Sometimes, with the smaller bowl, the cats will push the wet food off the side of the dish. However, the outdoor cats usually eat any food pushed over the side.

Also, I’m unsure if the bowls slide around a lot since I don’t watch the outdoor cats eat. The description of one of the small dishes on Amazon says, “Non-Slip: Grippy rubber pads secure the bowl to the floor, keeping dinnertime in the same location from start to finish.”

None of the bowls I purchased at the local pet store came with rubber pads. However, it’s probably been more than a year since we bought one of the small dishes, so I can’t make any comment on the rubber pads.

Outdoor cats using Beco Bowls
Pork Chop and Winter eating from the small Beco dish

No Whisker Fatigue from the small dishes

I don’t know if any of my cats have ever had a problem with whisker fatigue. Whisker fatigue is when their whiskers get overstimulated from touching things.

The small Beco Bowl dish has a shallow profile reducing the risk of whiskers repeatedly hitting the side of the dish while they eat.

The cats use the small size dish for their wet food. And we have two of the larger bowls for their dry food.

Cleaning Beco Bowls with the dishwasher

The label says that Beco bowls are dishwasher safe. I liked the bowls, so we bought enough so that the cats can eat wet food from one set of dishes while another set is in the dishwasher.

The bowls clean up well in the dishwasher, mostly. Sometimes the underside of the bowl will still have debris in it after the wash cycle is complete.

My dishwasher is more than 20 years old, so maybe it’s lost some of its rinsing power over the years. But with how the bowls are molded, it’s not easy to position them in the dishwasher in a way that allows for the bottom to be rinsed thoroughly and the front side to be cleaned.

The picture below is of the small dish size. The medium and large dishes have an even deeper crevice increasing the chance of water and debris still being in the bowl after the dishwasher is done.

bottom of a Beco bowl after dishwasher
The bottom of a Beco bowl after going through the dishwasher

Beco bowls will not last forever

Since the Beco bowls are made from natural materials, it seems that they began to break down over time.

Also, Beco recommends a low-temperature setting and having them on the top shelf when using the dishwasher. I have not followed these recommendations.

The dish below has a crack, presumable from cleaning it in the dishwasher. Also, the shiny finish doesn’t last.

Once the top surface is cracked, the bowl will need to be replaced, as I don’t want the cats to injure their tongues by licking a crack.

Related: Cat Tongue Safety Tips

Beco Bowl Crack
Crack in one of our older Beco Bowls

I love the Beco Bowls

Even with a couple of issues with the dishwasher not rinsing all the debris from the bottom and the bowls breaking down over time, I still love these bowls!

They are lightweight and colorful. And, they seem durable enough that a cat (or a raccoon) would not be able to break them.

Also, the small dish is cat whisker friendly.

I purchased all the bowls that we have from a local pet store. They are also available on Amazon. So far, I haven’t seen these bowls on Chewy. Or, if you live in the United Kingdom, you can order them directly from Beco Bowls.

Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:

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Heidi Bender is the writer and founder of the Joy of Cats. She enjoys sharing cat information and providing helpful cat tips. She considers herself a cat lady and currently cares for eight cats.

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