Dog eating reeeeaaally fast

Tranceypoo

How can you make a dog eat slowly or slower, Archie literally hoovers up his food, Lily is still going for ages with her food after he's finished (and she gets a bit less!), I got him one of those special bowls with the knobbly bits and it's slowed him down a bit but not much, I'm switching them over to a new food from Burns and whilst the Burns is crunchy this new one seems a bit more chewy (it's Marcus Muehler from zooplus) and I'm not sure he's even chewing it!

He's a total hog when it comes to food (must be the Lab in him) anyways and so far has suffered no ill effect like bloat or anything but he seems to be getting greedier and more food fixate as he gets older (he's between 6.5 and 7.5 years old) and I want to get a handle on it if I can

SillyMangoX

Put the food into water, like don't soak it, just leave it floating in the water, might slow him down a bit!!

**Vai**

Pick up his bowl every few bites and make him sit and wait. Assuming he has no food aggression issues of course. It is something to do with labs from my experience. We've fostered 2 lab mixes in the last few years and both of them hoovered up their food, leaving my own dogs way behind.

tk123

You could maybe put it in a food dispenser like a buster cube or kong wobbler etc? I used to put a ball in my guys bowl to slow him down lol!

boomerang

And if you can, divide up his daily ration into smaller meals?

cocker5

Tranceypoo wrote: »

How can you make a dog eat slowly or slower, Archie literally hoovers up his food, Lily is still going for ages with her food after he's finished (and she gets a bit less!), I got him one of those special bowls with the knobbly bits and it's slowed him down a bit but not much, I'm switching them over to a new food from Burns and whilst the Burns is crunchy this new one seems a bit more chewy (it's Marcus Muehler from zooplus) and I'm not sure he's even chewing it!

He's a total hog when it comes to food (must be the Lab in him) anyways and so far has suffered no ill effect like bloat or anything but he seems to be getting greedier and more food fixate as he gets older (he's between 6.5 and 7.5 years old) and I want to get a handle on it if I can

There is a bowl on zooplus with bits sticking up in it... So a dog can't Hoover up the food!

or check out www.gobblenot.com it's a special bowl the stops a dog for wolfing down his food

Rafloution

Hi we have a special bowl with bumps in it for our greyhound which works well, another tip is put a tennis ball or similar in the middle of the bowl.

jimf

try raising his bowl off the ground where he doesnt have to stoop as much and add water it worked with 1 of mine

lorebringer

We have a hoover too so we bought her a Go Slow bowl - most large pet stores (we got ours in MaxiZoo) and online pet supply sites sell them, or something very similar. Really slowed down the speed at which she eats!

You can also force the dog to eat slower by giving the dog half their meal, when they are finished this then give them the other half - prevents it all being gulped.

borderlinemeath

tk123 wrote: »

You could maybe put it in a food dispenser like a buster cube or kong wobbler etc? I used to put a ball in my guys bowl to slow him down lol!

I love these, I've used them on gobblers and it's brilliant. It also a nice little bit of mental stimulation as well as slowing them down with eating.

tk123

borderlinemeath wrote: »

I love these, I've used them on gobblers and it's brilliant. It also a nice little bit of mental stimulation as well as slowing them down with eating.

I prefer the cube because we have wooden floors and they make one with a softer plastic so there's less noise. The wobbler had me driven mad with the noise of it whacking off everything so I gave it away lol! Premier Linkables are brilliant too and cheep enough on amazon.

borderlinemeath

tk123 wrote: »

I prefer the cube because we have wooden floors and they make one with a softer plastic so there's less noise. The wobbler had me driven mad with the noise of it whacking off everything so I gave it away lol! Premier Linkables are brilliant too and cheep enough on amazon.

I have an oval one (I was given it as a gift so don't know where it's from), it is plastic with rubber edges but the most noise it makes is the kibble inside it! It's got rubber little flaps at the ends so I can adjust the size to make it for smaller or larger kibble. For the bigger bits I sellotape back a couple of the rubber flaps.

Bid08

try putting a slitter ball in the bowl that will slow him down aswell

Tranceypoo

Yeh, I have that Go Slow bowl (that exact one, same colour and all!), it has slowed him but not a lot, maybe it's that the other dog is soooo slow at eating it makes him look faster, maybe he's the normal eater and she's just really slow!! I feed them twice a day I think I might divide it into 3 times now instead, their new food they need a bit less of so I want to make sure he's actually eating it as opposed to hoovering it!

Thanks all!!

spur

I have the very same issue - one dog who inhales his food and the other fella who slowly eats. The problem with the inhalers is that he eats so fast he's practically choking afterwards!
I tried a ball in his bowl - he pushed it aside and inhaled away! I didn't try any of the special bowls. What works for me is water - I put an egg-cup amount of water at bottom of his bowl and put his nuts in then and it works - I don't know how it works or why it works, but I got the recommendation from my parents who noticed it working with a dog when his bowl was wet from a shower of rain - that's how little water!

Now the quantity of food they get is very little - very rich food. You can see the bottom of the bowl when they're fed.

Good luck with it!

Tranceypoo

spur wrote: »

I have the very same issue - one dog who inhales his food and the other fella who slowly eats. The problem with the inhalers is that he eats so fast he's practically choking afterwards!
I tried a ball in his bowl - he pushed it aside and inhaled away! I didn't try any of the special bowls. What works for me is water - I put an egg-cup amount of water at bottom of his bowl and put his nuts in then and it works - I don't know how it works or why it works, but I got the recommendation from my parents who noticed it working with a dog when his bowl was wet from a shower of rain - that's how little water!

Now the quantity of food they get is very little - very rich food. You can see the bottom of the bowl when they're fed.

Good luck with it!

Glad it's not just me! Thanks for that I will give the water a go then, nothing to lose!

**Vai**

Tranceypoo wrote: »

Glad it's not just me! Thanks for that I will give the water a go then, nothing to lose!

Let us know how you get on. Id love to know if and how that works. Different bowls and balls are just skirting around the issue really but if that works well Id try it (if needed) in future.

jimf

i got the tip from a vet regarding lifting the bowl off the ground his line of thinking was its takes away their natural eating stance have his bowl on 2 concrete blocks laid on the flat with about 1/4 pint water added

Tranceypoo

jimf wrote: »

i got the tip from a vet regarding lifting the bowl off the ground his line of thinking was its takes away their natural eating stance have his bowl on 2 concrete blocks laid on the flat with about 1/4 pint water added

Before I got the new bowl I had both their bowls raised off the floor on one of those yolks from Argos, made not a jot of difference!

jimf

maybe its the water so i must try tomorrow morn without the water just as a matter of interest

and see does he go back to his old hoovering trick will post back and let you know how it goes

Whispered

Can you scatter feed him? If his food is spread all over the floor he can't get big mouthfuls at a time.

juniord

if you have the time, feed him directly from your hand then he can only eat at the rate you want him to

jimf

jimf wrote: »

maybe its the water so i must try tomorrow morn without the water just as a matter of interest

and see does he go back to his old hoovering trick will post back and let you know how it goes

tried this morn without water was clearly eating faster not as bad as he used to be but id say it would only be a matter of time before he was back to normal so based on what ive seen yes the water in bowl has a big bearing id say

RubyGirl

Thanks guys, I tried the water in the bowl this morning with my "hoover" and it works. Def slowed him down.

Tranceypoo

Well I guess the water it is then! What you all doing, cold water just a bit on the bottom of the bowl?

Whispered

That's amazing! How does that work? I wonder will they get used to it eventually.

Hope it works for you!

RubyGirl

Ya I just put about half a cup in his bowl this morning before the nuts. As he was eating them his nose kept touching off the water then he'd lift his head and start again. I keep his bowl up off the ground aswell but it did no good.

jimf

left the bowl on ground just now with the water and he was back to being nice and polite again with his eating isnt it amazing how something so simple can work