Are galvanized tubs & bowls okay for my dogs to drink from?

A. Hi. I don't know exactly what you mean by "steel" ... if it was uncoated steel it would quickly rust, and if it is coated, it's hard to discuss if neither of knows what it's coated with.

But if a water dish reacts with the water it contains, it's an unsatisfactory water dish -- I think you should return it.

Luck & Regards,


Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Hi Bill. Are you sure that what you are calling a "galvanized water dish" actually is 'a water dish', designed by a manufacturer to be a water dish? If so, I would guess it's probably okay for most animals since galvanized feed troughs & watering troughs have been used on farms for decades; in third world countries, sometimes the only water for the family and the pets is rainwater collected from the galvanized metal roof.

But if you're not sure exactly what something is, it's always a bad idea to use it for food or water! Some galvanized metal gets a post treatment with toxic hexavalent chromium, which would be bad to ingest; and it's easy to confuse cadmium plating with galvanizing, and cadmium is a very bad biocumulative toxin. If it's just a piece of metal that happens to be bowl shaped but was not intended to be a water dish I would not use it.

A. Hi, Chablis. Although it may be the only thing in their environment that you can think of that has changed, that doesn't necessarily mean it actually is -- this is a question for a vet :-) Although galvanized is not considered a food-safe surface because of potential overdose from acidic foods dissolving it, galvanized watering troughs and feeders have been very widely used by farm animals around the world for many decades. Some areas of the country may even still have galvanized water pipes.

So it doesn't sound especially likely to me that the galvanizing is the issue, but again: don't use things for purposes they weren't intended for because the designer was balancing the pluses and minuses of one material against another for use in a washtub, not a drinking bowl ... plus, dogs aren't people ... we should be careful about extrapolating our experience into believing that what is safe for people is necessarily safe for dogs.

Regards,

A. For many decades many countries have used galvanized steel roofing material to catch rain water for drinking, and in many places storing that water in galvanized steel water tanks.
No adverse effects have been reported nor have restrictions on these materials been introduced.

A. They referred you to us? What do we have to do with their unsatisfactory product? :-)

I don't know exactly what a "dog pan" is. A water bowl or a litter box? Galvanizing can turn black from alkaline materials like dishwasher detergent. If you washed it in the dishwasher, that would almost surely be the problem. Scrubbing it with cream of tartar ⇦ this on eBay or Amazon [affil links] and rubbing off any smut with a cloth or paper towel ought to help a lot. But it is the seller's responsibility to determine if a product is appropriate for its intended use ... not yours & mine to guess what it's made of and whether it's safe. If you have a house-trained puppy and you're speaking of a litter box, galvanizing will prove entirely unsuitable for urine. Good luck.

Regards,

Stainless Steel Dog Bowls

on eBay or

Amazon

(affil links)

Normally I would say you have the heat set too high and you are burning the pan but if the dog is still walking around you must not be cooking dogs. I have no idea what a "dog pan" is! I guess logically something must be reacting to the zinc that the pan is coated with. Food, water, dog or otherwise. Short of stopping contact with the above or contact with any other things that may be turning it black, I think the simple answer is to purchase a stainless steel or plastic dog pan! I suppose a pet shop, kennel supply or farm supply would be good places to start. Depending on the size, some sort of stainless kitchen pan would probably be cheaper. By sending you to us the people that sold it to you are obviously just trying to get rid of you. Personally I don't think I would give them any more of your money. I think if I had sold you said Dog pan, I would be replacing it for you with something different that actually did what it was supposed to do. As long as you are using your Dog pan, as a dog pan and not for a purpose other than what it was designed for.

A. Hi Charise. I don't know if you're viewing the situation well ...

Please consider, for example, that while glass is probably the least toxic construction material in the history of the world, it certainly isn't safe for your dog to swallow glass shards. What your dog is doing, chewing through a fence, and possibly ingesting sharp bits of steel as well as its coating, sounds like it could be life threatening to him, with or without a zinc coating on it. Not to mention that if I had children on the other side of that fence, on that third occasion I might demand that the court order the dog be put down :-)

Regards,

A. Hose the fence with bitter apple or a good extreme hot-sauce. Worked great for getting my dogs to quit chewing on things.

A. Zinc is actually an essential trace mineral, BUT the amount of it in the body is in an extremely small range. Too much is as bad or worse than too little. Fortunately, the bodies uptake of it is quite poor or people taking an excess of the zinc tabs for cold mitigation would be dead.

Galvanizing can be very adherent, so I suspect that the dog is tearing the fence up rather than eating it.

The invisible fence that shocks the dog might be an option, especially if you do not want the dog to injure himself.

A. Zinc absolutely IS a toxin to dogs. While there are inherent hazards in ingesting sharp bits of anything, the zinc present in galvanized steel can absolutely be toxic. Zinc toxicosis is characterized by a Heinz body anemia (i.e., red blood cell destruction due to oxidative damage), which can necessitate blood product transfusion. So, if a galvanized item, such as a screw or nut, is ingested by a dog, it must be retrieved either endoscopically or surgically to prevent complications that may include death.

I do not know if there are any data regarding drinking from galvanized containers, but I personally would not use them for the aforementioned reasons.

I and other veterinarians cannot stress enough that any questions regarding the health of your pets need to be referred to your veterinarian, not unregulated internet forums.

Thanks Dr. Gagnon. Professional consultations certainly trump internet blather! We never challenge veterinarians, and we remind readers constantly that dogs aren't people, and what is safe for people is not necessarily safe for dogs.

Dog fatally poisoned by one penny

If you know of a free veterinarian forum, please post the URL because asking people to stop posting in public forums simply isn't realistic (as billions of Facebook users have proven), and asking each dog owner to do an individual consultation with their vet regarding what material a dog bowl should be made of sounds a bit silly.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. Just as an addition to the toxicity of galvanized bowls and fencing. Animals that have these bowls or fencing where they may chew or lick are getting an excess in zinc as stated before. This is more a dietary issue than a toxicity issue. Zinc interferes with the absorption of copper if enough is ingested. Typical symptoms include loss of hair color , loss of hair, decreased vigor and activity, ataxia and sometimes death. Unfortunately the symptoms can be similar to other ailments.

A. Hi Jim. You've seen Kati's claim that a galvanized trough made her dog sick and killed her polliwogs, and you've seen Dr. G's advice that he wouldn't use a galvanized tub as a water dish and you should ask ask your vet about it. But a tub meant for livestock watering, and of proper quality, does not need further coatings to serve its purpose and probably should last many years. Good luck!

Regards,

A. Hi Michael. Dr. G, above, says that he would not use a galvanized watering dish; it surely can't be a big deal to get a plastic or stainless steel replacement, or use an old china serving bowl.

But I'm sure you realize that despite your misfortune, a dog dying from unknown causes isn't proof of whether or not the coating on their watering dish was the culprit.

Regards,

Thanks, Ted, for the response. I highly doubt that the galvanized dish has anything to do with my dogs' ailments, but it can't hurt to change, just to be safe. I am a farmer and many of my animals drink from galvanized troughs. Some even eat from galvanized feed dishes, and they're just fine. I think something else has happened with my dogs and I'll just have to wait to see what the vet says. Again, thank you for your help.