No spill dog water bowl for car (My honest review of those “no spill” dog bowls)

I Ruined My Car Seats: The Brutally Honest ‘No Spill Dog Water Bowl for Car’ Review

Look, if you’ve ever tried keeping a dog hydrated on a road trip, you already know the struggle. I found out the hard way driving down to Florida last summer. AC on full blast, my Lab Cooper panting in the back. I just put his normal stainless steel water bowl on the floorboard thinking it’d be fine.

It was not fine.

A truck drifted into my lane on I-95. I slammed the brakes. We didn’t hit anything, but I looked back and saw an absolute swamp. Like 30 ounces of water just launched forward. I spent the next hour at some sweaty gas station in Georgia trying to soak up the mess with thin paper towels. My car smelled like wet dog for the rest of the week.

I literally swore I’d never do it again. Started pulling over every single hour just to let him drink on the side of the road. It added so much time to the drive.

Then I finally caved and bought one of those no spill dog water bowls for the car. I kept seeing ads for the Road Refresher and honestly assumed it was overpriced plastic garbage. But after 2,000 miles of using it? I’m throwing my old travel bowls in the trash.

Here’s the actual deal with how this thing works, because the ads don’t really explain it well.

[ Link: Check the Road Refresher on Amazon]

Why normal travel bowls suck

If you go to a pet store, they’ll push these “splash-proof” bowls on you. They just have a curved lip. Don’t buy them. That curved lip does nothing when you take a sharp exit ramp at 40 mph. The water still flies out.

The floating plate thing

When I got the Road Refresher, it was basically three parts. The bowl, a locking ring, and this weird floating disk. The disk sits right on top of the water and has a tiny hole in the middle.

When your dog presses their tongue on the disk, water pools up through the hole. They drink, stop pushing, and the disk floats back up. It seals the water underneath.

Because almost all the water is physically trapped under that heavy piece of plastic, it can’t slosh out. You can hit a pothole or brake hard and the water just smacks the bottom of the disk. It stays inside. It’s a stupidly simple design but it actually does exactly what it says.

What I actually liked about it

It refuses to slide around. The base is super wide, but the best part is the Velcro on the bottom. I stuck it to the carpet in my SUV trunk area and it hasn’t moved since last November. Cooper steps on it, I bump into it with luggage, and it stays locked down.

What absolutely sucks about it

I promised the truth, so here it is: washing this thing is gross.

Because of how the floating plate works, dog spit and dirt just sit on the surface. Labs drool a lot. So you get a lot of backwash. If you leave it in a hot car for a couple of days, it turns into a slimy mess. You can’t just keep refilling it. You have to take the ring off, pull the disk out, and scrub everything with soap. If you get lazy, biofilm builds up and your dog won’t even drink from it.

Getting your dog to use it

Dogs are weird about new stuff. Cooper walked up to it, sniffed the plastic, and walked away. He had no idea there was water in there.

To fix this, just push your fingers down on the plate until a puddle forms on top. Show them the water. Once they lick it, they figure out the mechanism instantly. Took Cooper two tries.

[ READ ALSO- The Ultimate Dog Seat Hammock Review ]

I use it in my kitchen now too

This is the crazy part. I bought a second one for my house.

Cooper is what I call a messy drinker. Plunges his whole face in, drips water all over the hardwood floors. You step in it with socks on and your morning is ruined. Because this bowl makes him drink slower through that little hole, his ears and chin stay dry. No more puddles in the kitchen.

[ Link: See the LumoLeaf Bowl alternative here]

My tips for using it in the car

Don’t just fill it up and toss it in the back. I’ve learned a few things the hard way.

First, don’t fill it to the very top. Ignore the max fill line. Keep it at like 80% so the water has room to hit the disk without splashing over the edge when you hit a bump.

Second, use ice cubes. Drop them under the plate. Keeps the water cold and the ice actually acts like an anchor so the water doesn’t slosh as much.

Third, put it on the floorboard behind the passenger seat. Move the seat back to wedge the bowl in place. If you have to brake hard, the bowl has nowhere to go.

So, is it worth buying?

If you only take your dog on a five-minute drive to the vet once a year, skip it. Just hold a bowl for them in the waiting room.

But if you do road trips, go camping, or just drive around a lot with your dog, you need one. For 25 bucks, you never have to pull over just to give them water again. Your car stays dry, your dog stays happy, and you don’t ruin your car’s upholstery. Just buy it.