Big Paws Only Dog Forums
BPO Food Forum => Food Discussion & Information => : Marla February 01, 2008, 08:31:13 AM
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Since we pick her up from the breeder at 8 weeks, Chelsea has always eaten her food quickly.
I know that Bernese Mountain dogs are prone to bloating, so I have bought a stand for her dishes. I also feet her a little bit at a time, so she doesn't guzzle.
Any suggestions on how I can slow her down?
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I have heard of putting rubber balls in a food bowl so she has to eat around them and therefore slowing down the process :-\
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They make bowls for fast eaters that make them slow down to eat around these projections in the bowl for their food. She may slow down too now that she doesn't have to "share" her food. Issy was a gulper when I first brought her home, and now she's my slowest eater. Good luck
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Ha! I knew it when I saw your other post! Sammy is seven months old, and pretty routinely makes himself throw up from eating too fast. He gets so excited his whole body kind of jumps around, the muscles getting all tense, and he scarfs his food down in seconds and then licks the bowl and then goes and licks the bowl of my parents' dog. My vet said to just do what you're already doing- feed him his meal gradually in small amounts, and give him more when he's finished a tiny bit and had a short break. Honestly, if I put something else in the bowl to slow him down, I'd be afraid he'd eat it, or break his teeth on it or something. He is truly a crazy man when it comes to food. I've also tried soaking the food, which doesn't slow him down a whole lot, so i guess that's not super helpful. I think i read somewhere that soaking the food makes them less likely to bloat, but I'm not sure about that at all.
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the advice we got for porter was to put either a solid rubber ball (we can't do that cuz he think the ball is food already,because he's an idiot) or a smooth round rock thats a little smaller than his bowl
the rock we have leaves an inch around the outside that slows him right down
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A quick easy fix for a fast eater is a muffin pan. Measure out her food and fill the muffin cups. When we first got Lola she would inhale her food and puke if I used a normal bowl. With the muffin pan it took a little work to get the food out.
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I wish i had asked this question 2 1/2 years ago. Grace was always such a piggy in the food bowl. she would gobble up her dinner so fast she wouldn't chew and you could see the lumps of dog food going down her throat from the outside. it was odd. she did outgrow that and eats a lot more slowly now...but she rarely chews well. it's like a race to get it into her tummy. when i give her pizza crust i make sure it's a long piece since that forces her to chew it.
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You can get the brakefast bowl or put a rubber ball or two in there like mentioned before. We got Gweck the brakefast bowl which made him slow down a lot!
Where do you get the bowl from?
I've tried the rubber ball, but she takes it out of the bowl herself...haha
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Ha! I knew it when I saw your other post! Sammy is seven months old, and pretty routinely makes himself throw up from eating too fast. He gets so excited his whole body kind of jumps around, the muscles getting all tense, and he scarfs his food down in seconds and then licks the bowl and then goes and licks the bowl of my parents' dog. My vet said to just do what you're already doing- feed him his meal gradually in small amounts, and give him more when he's finished a tiny bit and had a short break. Honestly, if I put something else in the bowl to slow him down, I'd be afraid he'd eat it, or break his teeth on it or something. He is truly a crazy man when it comes to food. I've also tried soaking the food, which doesn't slow him down a whole lot, so i guess that's not super helpful. I think i read somewhere that soaking the food makes them less likely to bloat, but I'm not sure about that at all.
Sadie, it sounds like we have a lot in common with our Bernese....may be you could e-mail me?
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My 4 1/2 month old bernese does the same thing. He eats it so fast, you'd think we were starving him! We have started feeding him his food at meal time in small ammounts (it has helped to a point). I have heard about those special bowls that slow down their eating, but I have not be able to find one that fits in our raised feeder yet.
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I've heard of a few of the recommendation s some have given; like spreading food on a cookie sheet (maybe try a deeper 8x13 pan first to avoid food spills), elevating their food, and giving them meals little by little to force them to pace their eating.
You might try mixing in their vitamins in the food, like fish oil, glucosamine, vitamin C (as opposed to foreign objects like balls). Sometimes this works with Rosie, sometimes it doesn't. We'll find that, just to avoid eating some of her vitamins, she'll actually sort through her food and take the time to move the vitamins out of the way to get to her kibble.