They are adorable, but they will rot from the slobber and the water unless you use marine grade polyurethane or something similar to protect them (especially the one with the crack, you'd have to fill in that crack). And not just the seat, the legs would have to be finished too.
I used to have a wooden stand for the dog bowls and it lasted for about 2 years.

Am I the only one that thinks bed-pan chair?

They kind of look like potties.

i wasn't thinking bed pans until you guys mentioned it! now i can't stop snickering at the separate "eat" and "drink" designations.

That's not a collie, it's a dalmatian.

@ck8g0: You are definitely not the only one. First thing that came to my mind was that.

I am so glad I wasn't the only person who thought of potties when they saw these! I was thinking, "Oh, gosh, here I am about to gross everyone out..."

Nope. Sorry. Potties. And seeing the dog stick its face into the bowl is really grossing me out.

Oh, and "drink" and "eat" are making me think of something else entirely...and now I am really grossed out.

Haters gonna hate, but I kind of think these would be awesome for a dog-and-cat household if they were too high for the dog to reach ... to keep the dog from getting into the cat food. But maybe use an old end table or something to avoid the potty/bedpan look.

Oh, dear. They look like potties to me, too. But I still think it's a great idea—if one were to cut off the back rests, they'd just look like custom food and drink tables. You'd lose the graphic element, but I think that's a fair trade-off for getting rid of bedpan/potty associations.

It's a curious re-use, but it certainly shows a sense of humour! And even if the chair is a bit odd, consider this sort of application in another piece of furniture like an old table or low cabinet?

These are pretty funny, and certainly worth a post. I for one didn't think potty at all. I am wondering why the copy says collie while the photo is a dalmatian.

I guess I'm the only one who didn't make that potty association. I've seen raised bowls before, so this didn't seem that unusual. My first thought was actually "that's not a collie, it's a dalmation."

What a waste!

They took two old oak school chairs that look like they could have been easily refinished and used for another 40 years, and cut them up so their dog wouldn't have to bend over?

That's two less chairs in the world for people to use. Two more MDF chairs that will be made and sold by Walmart/Target/Ikea and then countless other MDF chairs to replace those when they break.

What is wrong with people? This isn't sustainability nor is it rational behavior. It's vanity projected on their dog.

Don't want your dog to bend over (and yes, I understand that as dogs get older they have a hard time eating and drinking)? Go get some old wood pallets and make a stand for your bowls. Don't ruin two beautiful solid oak chairs. At least when you're re-purposing those old wood pallets, you can feel better about yourself knowing that your recycling.

Geez!

@Parnassus: The last paragraph explains that that isn't Jacque's sister's collie, but Jacque's own dog, a dalmatian.

@Parnassus: The last paragraph explains that that isn't Jacque's sister's collie, but Jacque's own dog, a dalmatian.

@Parnassus: The last paragraph explains that that isn't Jacque's sister's collie, but Jacque's own dog, a dalmatian.

The thinking used to be that elevated food bowls, especially for larger breeds, could help prevent or reduce the likelihood of bloat/twisted stomach (gastric torsion/volvulus) in dogs prone to the life-threatening condition -- i.e., deep-chested dogs like collies, labs, retrievers, etc.

However, research has shown that elevated bowls such as this may actually INCREASE the incidence of this extremely dangerous condition, so from that perspective alone, I think these bowls are a very bad idea.

yup. Potties were my thought too. 'nuff said.

I think this is great! And yes, I can see the potty chair association, but truthfully, all these elevated feeding stations looked like that to me at first. I just had to get over it. My real problem here is those poor napkin...er... curtains hanging behind the feeding station. Ick!

Also, I had NO idea there was a seating shortage for the people of the world, and these beat up old things were still needed! How distressing... Knowing that, I would much rather these people had just gone to PetSmart and bought an overpriced, Chinese-made, toxic outgassing purpose-built feeding station for their dog. Now THAT's thinkin' green!

ummmm...

I love the idea of elevated food bowls, but this is so weird looking! What if a guest accidentally sits on them? I can't see past the bedpan look of these.

It seems this sort of thing is for a big suburban house... two extra chairs take up a lot of space when you're living small. I'd go with a low
shelf with bowl holes... use the space below to hold leashes and doggie poo bags.

At least dogs don't mind drinking out of toilets

I realized they were dog feeding stations as soon as I saw the "Drink Eat". If they'd used old white enamelware, then maybe I'd be envisioning a 'two seater'. The owners stated they were not usable for seating. This appears to be more useful than the done to death plant in a chair seat. Looks like it works for the dog; and owners; woof woof, win win.

Looks like it works for the dog...

Uh, yeah, if it doesn't kill him...

Seriously folks, read my post -- elevated feeding bowls such as these can cause twisted stomach (boat/gastric torsion) and lead to death in dog breeds vulnerable to the condition.

Ya know, breeds like collies, dalmations... (look it up)

I don't actually think that elevated dog bowls are good for your dog..

Mschatelaine, your first post worried me & got me Googling like crazy about this. Thanks for the head's up. We have two big guys that we've used raised dishes for their whole lives- one is 6 and the old guy is almost 10. We got the raised dishes for them originally because wisdom at the time dictated this was helpful in preventing bloat in those breeds that are susceptible-- ours fall under that category. However, I see now (thanks to you) that this is no longer considered a good idea.
The thing is, in our case anyway, although neither dog (time has shown), has actually shown any tendency to bloat, they both now suffer from arthritis in their hips, knees, elbows, and shoulders. The old guy also now suffers from laryngeal paralysis, causing trouble breathing and an increased likelihood of aspirating food & water. All the literature I've read today still endorses raised dishes for help with these conditions.
So to sum up: If it were just a case of wishing to prevent bloat, I would be with you & I would get rid of their raised dishes today. But-- since bloat doesn't seem to be looming on the horizon for us, and we are dealing with joint pain and breathing difficulties right now, today, I'm going to keep them. It's certainly something people should think about when considering raised dishes for their dogs, but I think I'm coming down on the side of not just calling them bad out of hand.

But thank you so much-- again!-- for pointing this out & making me revisit the research. You did your good deed for today-- have a drink on me.

@thatkris - Let me be clearer for you then: It's a stupid mod to perfectly good and solid oak chairs. Chairs that could be used for another 40 years. And, as it turns out, the practice of using elevated bowl is also unhealthy for the dogs. So it's doubly stupid.

You still want to defend it?

I hate when people ruin perfectly good and serviceable furniture. I may not like painted furniture, but at least you still have a usable piece when done. They may as well have burned these chairs in a camp fire.

Reminded my of a high-chair when we were growing up as kids. It has a hole in the middle for your you know what. LOL. Good for multi-tasking!

Gruns, I think you might have started commenting without actually reading the article. The chairs weren't "perfectly good and serviceable furniture." They were broken and missing pieces.

You're anger about this is perplexing.

@MiklakMiklak - not really anger, more like frustration.

Did you link to the original site? The issues that the chairs had are far from insurmountable. Easy fixes. And they show the chairs and they looked really good, albeit needing a re-finish. I guess the thing that gets me most is that the chairs are probably oak and were worth saving.

I refinished an oak school chair last year, and I expect to have it forever. It needed some work, but its really nice now.

I absolutely thought this was a gag gift... or used to send a message to those one dislikes.

not that this would work for me, but my little dog can't eat with her head down for medical reasons (she is an idiot, not old) and I have only recently been able to feed her with a plate on the floor!

I also will poke a monster and say that I have gladly burned broken chairs. This is better!