Review: PawNosh – Recycled Glass Pet Bowl That’s Safe & Green
Sophie is one lucky girl. With her mom working in the pet world, she gets to try some truly fun and amazing products. PawNosh (pronounced like panache, but with a “paw”) is one. I came across the PawNosh Cubby Bowl while I was researching pet bowls for a story I did on Bark and Swagger. It immediately grabbed my attention, because it looked so substantial and it’s a great shade of blue. I decided to reach out to the company to get more information. What I found is pretty cool. The PawNosh Cubby Bowl is a post-consumer recycled glass dog bowl. What that means is it’s made from products that were used by folks and then recycled. It is made here in the USA, and it is really hard to break. I was intrigued, so I purchased one to try out with Sophie.
During this process, some questions came up for me, so I posted them and the answers I received or found. Hope it’s helpful!
Why Is It Called A Cubby Bowl?
Cubby & his
namesake bowl
Cubby is a gorgeous pale apricot colored kitty with the bluest eyes you’ll see. He is the inspiration for The Cubby Bowl, and if he wasn’t so purrty, a dog fashion and more site wouldn’t be putting him up as the featured image! The story goes that, after Cubby was rescued from their local Humane Society shelter, Cubby’s mom and dad, Sachi Ushihara and Don Takemura, were looking for a safe, good bowl for him. They had a hard time finding it. And like most great entrepreneurs, they decided to create their own. The Original Cubby Bowl is meant to be used by two cats or one small dog under 25 lbs. The new Cubby Bowl Deluxe is meant for dogs with wider mugs (broad-faced breeds) and/or over 25 lbs. It looks the exact same as the original, just bigger.
Why Is It So Heavy?
When it arrived, the first thing I noticed, besides that it was great-looking, is it is really heavy. I didn’t know why they would make the bowl so heavy, so I asked. The answer I got was two-fold.
* there is an impression of glass bowls being fragile. PawNosh wants to debunk that and make a product that is substantial; a long-term investment piece that will last. I saw a video “crash test” of the bowl being dropped on a solid piece of pine laid over a concrete floor, made to resemble the hard wood or linoleum floors in most kitchens. They did the test from 3 feet and from 4 feet, the maximum height from which the bowl is likely to be dropped. And, bowl me over :-), the Cubby stayed intact! Not even a chip. That was impressive. I guess that’s why the company sends a Lifetime Warranty against breakage with each bowl.
* there are dogs, maybe yours is one, who love to scoot their bowls around the room, and PawNosh is a serious contender for the best of them. I saw a YouTube video of one of their customers, a notorious bowl scooter, getting downright annoyed at the fact he couldn’t move this bowl around. He barked his head off at the thing. It was really funny.
The company also told me that you get used to the weight and, after a few days, it still felt heavy but not like it did when it first arrived. I did get used to the feel of the bowl and like how solid it is now.
Sophie eating from
her Cubby Bowl
Why Glass?
I researched the issue of ‘why glass’? I had looked into this around my dog bowls article and found it to be a preferred material, but I wanted to know more. It seems that glass is the only substance that is a completely natural, non-leaching, non-toxic, chemically inert material. Plastic, as I’d found, can leach harmful BPA’s into your dog’s food or water. What I just learned, is that stainless steel has instances of radioactive materials infiltrating the production process. And, some ceramic glazes contain lead. If improperly fired, the lead can leach into the food or water. I don’t want to take a chance with Sophie’s long term health, so none of those sounded great to me. I also liked that the FDA lists glass as the only food and beverage packaging material regarded as safe for humans.
Glass is 100% recyclable and can be re-used indefinitely. There’s no loss in purity or quality. So, it’s great that each PawNosh bowl uses a minimum of six 8oz glass containers that would otherwise be dumped in a landfill. And, using recycled glass to make these bowls requires 20-30% less energy than using raw materials, because recycled glass melts at a lower temperature than raw materials. The manufacturer of the PawNosh bowls has recycled close to 7,000,000 containers to date in its production of glass items. That’s pretty cool.
I also like that the bowl is very easy to clean, whether you want to put it in the dishwasher or do by hand. It has a great cut-out along the bottom edge for easy lifting.
Why Is It So Expensive?
I wondered the same thing. But when we received our bowl and I felt the weight of it and saw how much work goes into creating each bowl, it made more sense. This is the kind of bowl that should last for years, long outliving other, less expensive bowls in terms of wear and tear. That being said, it is on the costly side, but for us, the health factor combined with the lifetime warranty for breakage made it worth it.
Special Alert! PawNosh Is Offering Bark and Swagger Followers a Discount
If you want to buy a PawNosh Cubby Bowl for your pet, as a Bark and Swagger follower, you will receive a 10% discount. At check out, just enter the promo code SWAGGER10 and it will recalculate for you. Please note the code is case-sensitive.
In Summary
I’ve learned a lot about dog bowls in the last month. I like that I’ve chosen glass for Sophie and that the PawNosh bowl, in particular, is so unlikely to break, the one concern I’d have with glass. I love the look of the bowl – the color, the company’s cute paw logo with the circular arrow stamped into the side and the words PawNosh, Recycled and USA stamped into the bottom. I love how easily it cleans up, and how substantial it feels. But, enough about me. After all of this, how did Sophie like her new PawNosh bowl? She took to it like a champ! As long as her mommy’s home made meal was in it, she was game. And with that…I’ve just ordered another.
Do you use a glass bowl or another type for your dog or cat? What do you think, after reading this?
Until next time…
(Disclaimer: I am a PawNosh affiliate, so when you purchase a Cubby Bowl using my promotional code, I will get a small commission, which goes towards keeping Bark and Swagger running and towards the animal rescue and shelter organizations I regularly donate to. Thanks for helping! The opinion in this review is entirely my own. )
