Pup eating too fast

Hooked

Hi All

Bit of a small issue with Jack - 16 weeks old tomorrow (Husky).

He eats at a rate of knots... Like it's the last meal he's getting.

Now, to date - he's been on the kibble he was on from his breeder (small) kibble, and I've fed him in a large bowl - with an upturned granite pestle placed in the centre - so it creates a sort of ring of kibble, that he has to slowly work around. All fine.

However, yesterday we started him on Markus Meule, and the kibble is much larger. Problem being (A). He just swallows them whole (no chewing) and (B). He's still eating at a breakneck speed IF I remove the pestle.

Any thoughts - especially on getting him to chew his larger kibble?

NOTE: He has been regularly wormed, etc.. so the eating speed is not related to anything like that. And he's certainly not underfed.

Thanks all

tk123

I was going to suggest a slow feeder bowl or a dispenser like a buster cube/wobbler etc...but that will just slow him down - I don't think that'll actually make him chew? I use a slow feed bowl for Lucy and it really helps with slowing her down but I've always given meat/wet food so can mash it into the bowl to make it harder. Another tip somebody posted here a while back was to put a little bit of water in the bowl.

I started with this one and then when it got too small changed to this one

Hooked

Cheers tk123

The slow food bowl is actually on order. Mammy is not impressed with her pestles new home, upturned, in a dog bowl.

However, as you said... Chewing... That's another issue.

He's teething at the minute (though has always wolfed his food) and had a small cry at bedtime last night. Hugo tried a few 'woo woos' to tell Jack to shush... Jack returned those with a mini howl - and before I know what way is up - the two of them were in a full on 'howl off'... Funny now. Not too funny at 12am.

odckdo

For the last few months I also used the slow feed bowl 'Animal Instincts Anti Skid' mentioned above from Amazon. (The reason I picked this one was the huge number of reviews on amazon.com) I found it worked and I now have my dog back on his normal bowl.

For this medium sized bowl, I would feed 80g of Barking Heads twice a day, which would nearly fill the bowl. For a husky and larger kibble (Markus Meule) would you need a larger bowl?

aonb

That slow feed bowl looks good
You could put his feed in a ziploc bag and give it a little bash to reduce the kibble-size somewhat since the kibble is so big - might slow him down and/or encourage him to chew it?

Would feeding him in a seperate room on his own help to slow him down if he feels he has to gobble it in case Hugo is going to eat his, or better still, get finished first then go and finish Hugos?

I talked once to a dog food 'specialist' at an exhibition, and he said during our conversation, that adding water to kibble, changes its structure & disrecommended it. He was giving me so much info at the time, I didnt go in to that in detail, but just throwing it out there, in case anyone has any ideas about that?

Tranceypoo

I have one of those 'anti-gobble' bowls, they deffo slow the old fella down but he still finishes before madam AND he's getting a few grams more! The Markus Muhle kibble can actually be broken in half or cut in half, you know those really big bits one day I accidentally broke it in half, I had presumed it was rock hard (not sure why I presumed that) so they're actually really easy to make smaller if you're worried he's not chewing.

Hooked

Thanks all...

I guess I'm going to have to break up the kibble, for now. I feed them about 6-8 feet apart, and no one dares attempt to finish each other's meal. Jack is every bit as vocal at correcting Hugo. Either way, I'm there at all times supervising, which might be adding to Jacks 'speed'.

Though he does stop and sit, over half way through, as he knows he can't reach the bottom of the bowl until I remove the pestle.

I like to place my hand in each of their bowls during feeds, to inforce a lack of food envy between me/my OH and the dogs. They simply can't have any food envy around people. Perhaps my being there is doing more harm than good... Hmmm...

snoman

You could try feeding him by stuffing a Kong with the MM. That worked for my greedy guts mastiff.

Hooked

snoman wrote: »

You could try feeding him by stuffing a Kong with the MM. That worked for my greedy guts mastiff.

Great idea!!! Two kongs at home and never thought of this...

borderlinemeath

aonb wrote: »

I talked once to a dog food 'specialist' at an exhibition, and he said during our conversation, that adding water to kibble, changes its structure & disrecommended it. He was giving me so much info at the time, I didnt go in to that in detail, but just throwing it out there, in case anyone has any ideas about that?

I heard something along the lines of that too, but it was not to use boiling or very hot water, as it could 'cook' the food and alter the nutritional value, so maybe cold or lukewarm water might do the trick? It definitely stops the wolfing at breakneck speed.

As you don't have any guarding issues would you put in a little bit at a time, to slow him down somewhat? A handful, then another, then another etc? Give his system a break between gobbling!

snoman

... and when (if!!) the weather gets better you can sprinkle his food over the garden/yard and make him hunt for it... my girl really likes that.

aonb

snoman wrote: »

... and when (if!!) the weather gets better you can sprinkle his food over the garden/yard and make him hunt for it... my girl really likes that.

I do that with my guys too, but thats not dinner, thats treats

FueledByAisling

OP my pup did this too, she sounded as if she was about to choke at some stages! One day she eventually stopped the mad rush so hopefully it's just a phase for yours too.