This question can apply to any kind of animal, but I'm mostly targetting the aspect of cats and dogs sharing the same water bowl.
Does this affect the relationship between animals? Would it be preferred to have separate water bowls due to dominance issues, or is sharing the water bowl actually allowing the animals to bond?
My animals don't seem to mind it, although there have only been a few occasions where I've seen a dog and cat drink from the same bowl at the same time
It shouldn't pose a problem for cats and dogs living together to share the same water bowl(s).
As they live together they have in any case a lot of opportunities to share potential diseases in many ways.
The important point is that they should be able to chose not to share the same bowl. My two cats and my dog share 2 different water bowls, the cats have one more in the "cat zone" and th e dog gets another one in the "dog zone". It is not unfrequent to see them drinking at the same time from the same bowl.
Dominance is a loose concept, even more when applied to the relationships between different species. What can happen is resource guarding, the remark of the previous paragraph would solve that issue.
