Your dog will eat off the floor, if there's something it likes lying there. So what's so important about cleaning the bowl it eats or drinks out of? Well, while dogs have a natural immunity to dirt they pick up when eating food from all kinds of places, that does not mean that the dishes they eat from should not be kept as clean as possible. Why tempt providence and anyway, the dog will be happy eating from a clean bowl with no stale food particles or odours. This is such an easy job that you need not even think of adding it to the job list of your home cleaning agency. Do it yourself in just a few minutes.
If you are using a gravity feed bowl to give food or water to your dog, all you need to do is remove the bowl from the supply canister and clean it, following the manufacturer's instructions. If there are no instructions then use one of the following methods which are for normal dog bowls.
Scrape out all the left over food from the bowl and place it in a dish washer. If the bowl is plastic, place it in the top most rack so it does not get over heated and melt. Wash the dog bowl just as you would any other dish. And there's no need to wash it separately. There's nothing wrong in washing your dog's bowl along with other crockery.
If you prefer to wash your dog's bowl by hand, just bring it to the kitchen sink, scrape of any food residue and get started with detergent and a sponge. If you need to, don't hesitate to use a steel wool pad to get rid of stubborn grime that has been caked on the surface. Just be careful not to damage the bowl's finish. Your dog may not mind, but that's no reason not to be careful.
Remember to rinse it thoroughly to ensure that not even the slightest bit of soap residue remains. Dogs are very sensitive to the ingestion of chemicals and even a little soap left behind could cause an upset stomach. That defeats the whole purpose of cleaning the bowls.
Once the bowl is clean dry it off and its ready for use. It's a good idea to clean the bowl every day. This will prevent the build up of dried food residue and the consequent growth of germs, bacteria and even fungus.