State of the art Pet feeding bowls have to be washed regularly so as to maintain the hygiene good, to avoid unpleasant odours, or to discourage insects. Usually, washing the pet bowl is an annoying chore for its owner, and furthermore it is not hygienic if the bowl is washed with the same tools, or in the same place, as the family dishes.

Lots of patents describe ways to make this task easier or to remove it.

GB 2337447 describes a disposable liner shaped to sit in a bowl, thrown away after each utilisation, and having two finger access points to permit easy removal. With this system, it is yet difficult to throw away the liner without getting dirty fingers.

GB 2152794 claims an animal feeding bowl whose base has a depression to receive replaceable thin film"throwaway"liners and a hole in the bottom of the bowl. Such a bowl has the major following disadvantage: nothing prevents the liner to slip away from the bowl, while the animal is eating.

WO 9748272 protects a bowl for animals consisting of two components, a"throw away"bowl to contain the food and a supporting structure keeping it stable while the animal is eating its food. But the number of spare parts having to be fixed together to realise the invention increases the cost of the final product.

US 32991719 is about an animal feeding receptacle comprising a holder having a bowl shape for supporting, holding and storing a quantity of nested correspondingly bowl shaped liners, and a sleeve retainer. The animal- feeding receptacle described in this patent is a very complicated one, which

might be subjected to bad functioning, and which has a very high production cost.

The present invention aims to provide a new and inventive hygienic pet food bowl, stable, particularly directed for cat feeding, with the advantages of multiple use, easy removal of the feeding punnet without getting dirty, and less cleaning to do.

Summary of the invention The object of the invention is a support for punnet containing pet food, the support having a bowl shape and a cavity in the middle of it where the corresponding punnet can fit, characterised in that the support contains : an upper bowl shaped part, a supporting system for said fitting punnet, a lower part ending by a bottom comprising a hole which minimum size allows the nested punnet to be easily pushed by the underside of said support.

The present invention provides an hygienic pet food bowl, stable, particularly directed for cat feeding, with the advantages of multiple use, easy removal of the feeding punnet without getting dirty, and less cleaning to do.

Furthermore, the unit formed by the"bowl"and the fitted punnet is watertight.

The cavity of the support can be seen as a succession of three inverted truncated cones which have different angles, the second said cone supporting the locking system.

Detailed description of the invention In the present invention, the word"punnet"has to be understood as a tray containing pet food, or a canned pet food.

The support for the pet food has a bowl shape and comprises a cavity, comprising an upper part, a part dedicated to be or have a locking system, and a lower part, having or not a base sheet.

Preferably, the cavity is made of the succession of at least two truncated inverted cones, one supporting the locking system.

The upper, middle and lower part of the support can be seen as volumes, for example inverted truncated pyramids, cubes or parallelepipeds, inverse truncated cones, cylinders, or any other suitable volume form. In a preferred embodiment, they may be seen as inverted truncated cones. It can also be a combination of said volumes.

The upper part of the cavity can be an inverted truncated cone. It may be embossed or painted or printed with the pet food manufacturer's brand name. This cone can be replaced by a cylinder or any suitable volume form, but the advantage of said upper part being such a cone becomes evident if some food slips out the animal mouth: it will fall back into the punnet, not on the floor.

The second part of the cavity can also be an inverted truncated cone. Its role is to support the pet food punnet, which is a usual punnet characterised by a receptacle containing the food and exhibiting a cover. This cone has preferably a very obtuse angle and might also be a 180° angle, for example.

This second cone can contain any locking system, such as a lip corresponding to a complementary recess of the fitted punnet, or any other system to fasten the punnet, such as clicks, pinching or pressure systems, for example. These systems to fasten the punnet can be present in one, two or three points, but can also be present on all the perimeter of the said cone. The two points fasting systems are preferably chosen diametrically opposed, and the three points fasting systems are preferably chosen to form the apexes of an equilateral triangle.

The lower part of the support can be an inverted truncated cone, but can also be a truncated cone having its apex higher than its base. It assures the stability to the all tool. If the cone is inverted, the hole needed to push the punnet has to have a minimum suitable size, but if the cone is not inverted or if the cone is a cylinder, for example, the hole can have a perimeter equal to the external base of said cone or said cylinder.

If necessary, the part in contact with the floor can have any non-slip system, suction pads, or rubber, for example.

The support can also have a system to maintain in place the lower part of the punnet, in the aim of completely forbid said punnet to be removed by the pet while eating. This system can simply be an overhang coming from the third inverted truncated cone, present in two points or more, preferably three points, for example.

The hole increases the convenience of the herein discussed receptacle bowl, in the way it allows the owner to throw the punnet away without getting dirty by pushing the empty punnet from the underside of said support. The hole increase also the convenience in the way it allows the owner to maintain the punnet from the underside during peeling off the lid or membrane without getting dirty on the hand.

This hole can be of different shapes, for example round, oval, squared or rectangular, or any suitable form.

The extern part of the receptacle shaped as a bowl can be of any form, such as a truncated cone inverted or not, a cylinder, a cube, or a parallelepiped, for example, or any suitable form.

It can have a finger access point to facilitate the prehension of said support.

The"bowl"can be made with a plastic material non-toxic to animals, thermoplastic formed, for example. It can also be made with any suitable material, such as metal : aluminium or steel, and recyclable materials, for example. The plastic used can be polypropylene and copolymers, polystyrene and copolymers, PEHD (high-density polyethylene), ABS (acrilonitrile butadiene styrene), or any other plastic material thermo vacuum formed, for example.

For more convenience, the bowl can be made in soft material, to allow an easier clipping of the punnet in the fasting system present in the second inverted truncated cone.

The technique used to mould the herein discussed"bowl"can be thermo vacuum, injection, thermo set or any other suitable technique.

Drawings Figure 1 (A), (B) and (C) represent a cross section of the herein- discussed support, comprising the system (1) to maintain in place the lower part of the punnet, which may be present on all the perimeter of the third inverted truncated cone, a fasting system (2) dedicated to prevent any slipping away of the punnet, and a hole (3) allowing an easy removing of the punnet by the underside of the bowl.

Figure 2 represents a view of the bowl from three-quarters above, and shows the first inverted truncated cone (4), as well as the upper-removable part (5) of the fitted punnet.

Figure 3 represents a cross section of an embodiment of the fasting system. The bulging part (8) of the punnet (7) is maintained in place by means of a reflex angle (9) of the bowl (6). This takes place in the second part of the support cavity (11), coming after the inverted truncated cone (4).

Figure 4 represents a cross section of an other embodiment of the fasting system. The fasting system is located in the second part of the support cavity (11), which is here a cylinder. This part comes after the inverted truncated cone (4). The bulging part of the punnet (8) is maintained in place between a protrusion (10) coming out from the bowl (6) and the beginning of the third inverted truncated cone (12), which is here a cylinder.