Caring for marble

Everyday washing

Warm water, a mild unscented soap, a soft cloth. Rinse and dry. That is genuinely all it needs, and doing it daily is better for your dog than anything else on this page.

The three things not to do

• Not the dishwasher. Sustained heat and harsh detergent strip the sealant and dull the polish.
• Not the freezer or microwave. Natural stone can crack under thermal shock. If you want cold water, just use cold water — the marble will hold the temperature for you, which is the whole point of it.
• No acids or abrasives. Vinegar, lemon, bleach and scouring powder all etch marble. So do most bathroom cleaners.

Re-sealing

Your bowl arrives sealed with a food-safe stone sealant. Refresh it every six to twelve months, more often if it is in daily use for water. Any food-safe natural stone sealer from a hardware shop will do.

Wash the bowl, let it dry completely, apply a thin even coat, leave it for the time the product specifies, buff off the excess. It takes about ten minutes.

Stains

Marble is porous, so oily food left sitting can leave a mark. Most lift with a paste of bicarbonate of soda and water, spread over the stain, covered with cling film and left overnight. Rinse, dry, re-seal that patch.

What is not damage

The veining, colour variation and small natural inclusions are the stone being stone. Every bowl is cut from a different part of the block, so yours will not match the photographs or anyone else’s. Verde Guatemala runs from deep forest green to grey-green; Calacatta Viola ranges from soft lilac to near-oxblood.

One safety note

A marble bowl is for feeding from, not for chewing or carrying. Stone chips if it is dropped on a hard floor or gnawed at, and a chipped edge is sharp. If your dog treats bowls as toys, this is not the right bowl for them.