Homemade foldable travel bowl for dogs

Active pet owners love to take their faithful four-legged friends with them everywhere, and a folding bowl is just what you need to keep your pet healthy and happy during long walks or trips.

On hot summer days, it is especially important for a dog to drink plenty of water. To help keep your pet cool, Trupanion recommends “providing enough cool, clean drinking water to keep them hydrated during the heat.” Your own folding bowl, which you can easily make with your own hands, will perfectly help you with this.

This fun yet functional portable bowl will ensure your dog gets all the fluid he needs. At the same time, it does not take up much space, and its manufacture does not require much time or money. You can make it in 10-15 minutes with a minimum of materials at hand. In addition to providing the pet with the necessary water and food, it makes good use of household waste that everyone probably has: a cardboard box and a plastic bag!

What you need

• One cereal box (or two if you make two separate bowls for food and water).
• Empty plastic bag. 
• Scissors.   
• Pencil or pen.
• Ruler.

What do we have to do

1. Take an empty plastic bag. Set the package aside.
2. Open the bottom of the box and flatten it out on a work surface. Cut off all four flaps on the bottom of the box.
3. After that, take a ruler and measure approximately 5-10 cm (the smaller the dog, the less you need to measure) up from the bottom of the box. This will determine the depth of your homemade folding bowl.
4. Keeping the box folded flat, draw a line across the entire width of the box. Make a cut along this line to get a four-sided cardboard strip that will form the base of the bowl. The rest of the box can be sent to the recycling bin.
5. Make a fold on one of the wider sides of the cardboard base at a distance from the edge equal to about half the width of the adjacent narrow side. This fold will allow the rectangular shape of the base to round out when the dog bowl is unrolled.
6. Then create a plastic tab for the bowl by cutting off the bottom of the bag. This cut should be made about twice the depth of the bowl from the bottom of the bag. For example, if your bowl is 5 cm deep, the bag should be 10 cm high.
7. Draw a line across the entire width of the bag and cut along that line. Throw away the top of the package.
8. Place the bag inside the cardboard base and spread the edges along the sides in the same way as you would insert a trash bag into a bucket. Flatten the bag so that it is securely attached to the sides of the base.
9. Flatten the bag around the cardboard base to level it with the surface where you will be feeding and watering your dog.
10. Ready! You now have an easy-to-carry DIY collapsible dog bowl!

You can take the dog bowl with you by simply rolling it up and putting it in your backpack or even in your back pocket. The small size allows you to carry these food and water bowls around without the extra weight and hassle. You can reuse (simply rinse) or throw away this container when your pet is done eating or drinking. And the cardboard base is recyclable, which means less waste in your home!

This foldable dog bowl will provide your four-legged friend with everything he needs to keep him safe and healthy, especially when traveling in the hot summer. Happy travels!