Friday, August 16, 2013

FAST FOOD - 5 Ways to stop your dog from gobbling their food

My sister Dixie holds the world record for fast eating.  She has to eat in her crate cuz she finishes so fast then tries to eat my food too.  I used to eat very slowly.  Sometimes I would take a piece of kibble into the next room, eat it, and then come back for more.  Not anymore!  I have to eat everything sort of quickly or Dixie will steal it.

I can understand when she first came to live with us that she thought she might not get enough food.  She was a stray so sometimes she didn’t get enough to eat.  I tell her that we always have lots of food.  I even show her where we keep the HUGE bag of food in the cabinet.  I tell her it is all for us and it never gets empty! But, she still gulps down her food.

I’m part Lab and Labs are always hungry.  We get lots of very nutritious food which is  divided so we get fed three times every day.  And, we get cookies and carrots for snacks.  I may be starving at dinner time but I still have manners when I eat.
Gobbling food is not only undoggy like, it can cause bloat.  When a dog gulps food, air gets in the tummy which is a bad thing and can make a dog very sick or even died.  So getting a dog to eat nice is very important.

Mom decided Dixie is not going to stop fast eating all on her own so we are trying some tricks.  First Mom tried to hand feed her.  Poor Dixie, she would gobble what little Mom had in her hand then sit and wait for the next handful.  Only, she looks so pathetic while she is waiting, Mom couldn’t keep feeding her that way.  Besides, Mom’s hand got all sticky and yucky from Dixie slobber.

Hand feeding is one trick.  Here are a few others that might work if you or someone you know gobbles their food.
1.      You can buy a special feeding dish called a Break Fast Bowl.  It has big posts in the bowl so the dog has to eat around them.  It also slides a little so the dog has to chase the food.

2.     You can make a regular feeding dish into something like a Break Fast Bowl by simply turning it upside down.  The food goes in the groove around the big bump in the middle so the dog has to work harder to get at the food, slowing down the eating.   A regular feeding dish is much less expensive too.

3.     Instead of using a bowl, try a muffin tin.  Put a little of the food into each of the little compartments.  The dog has to stop a bit when going from one compartment to the next.

4.     Another thing you can buy is a feeding cube or ball.    The food goes into the cube or ball and you have to play with the cube or ball until all the food falls out.  I would like this one.  Sometimes Mom puts some Kibble (or peanut butter) in the big Kong and I have to play to get it out.  It’s lots of fun.

5.     There is another kind of gadget you can buy that goes in the feeding dish.  It’s a round ball made out of ceramic or some kind of shiny metal.  Some people put a big rock in the dish (it has to be big cuz we dogs do tend to eat little rocks), but they say you can’t wash a rock so they invented these other balls.

Mom is trying the “rock” method now only she is using the big Kong.  She puts the food in the dish then puts the Kong on top of the food.  Dixie is eating a little slower cuz she has to stop and move the Kong around to get to the food.  Mom likes the Kong cuz, first all we already have it, and unlike a big rock, she can wash it.

We’ve only been trying it a couple of days, but it seems to be working.
If you or anyone you know is a food gobbler, please let me know what you did to help get better eating manners.

Thanks
Your friend,

Zeva

P.S.  Blatant self-promotion.  Dixie and I are very spoiled… so I created a gift basket especially for Spoiled Rotten Dogs. Can you guess what I call it?

4 comments:

  1. thanks for these suggestions, our new puppy acts like she is starving and gobbles, she actually made herself sick this morning. Will be trying the Kong tick since we have one too.

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    1. It's been almost a year and we still keep the little Kongs in her bowl but now I sometimes finish my meal before she does. You might also want to give her half of her food but feed her twice a day. We eat three times a day which means we get a little at a time so we don't get over filled up. Good luck with your new puppy. Sounds like she chose a good home to go to.

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  2. Nice information, valuable and excellent design, as share good stuff with good ideas and concepts, lots of great information and inspiration, both of which I need, thanks to offer such a helpful information here. organic ghee

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    1. You are welcome. We wrote this blog a long time ago. Since then DixieLee has become a slower eater. She doesn't need to have a kong in her bowl any more. Now I beat her in eating time. A little while ago Mom found a fun way for us to slow down eating some snacks. We get coconut oil every day. Instead of just clumping it in our bowls, which was okay with us, she bought us Licki Mats. Now we get coconut oil and sometimes peanut butter slathered over our Licki Mats. The bumpy things feel good on our tongues and it takes a long time to get all of the treat off of the mat. Check it out. Thanks for liking our blog. We have been very lazy lately about keeping up. Your nice comments gave us a boost to get back on track. Love Zeva

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