Eating too fast

[HiTenshi16]

So lately I noticed Zelda has started eating her food really fast, just sucking up mouthfuls. She eats the same time as Ulric does, same room, no one ever tries to eat her food. She's not aggressive at all with anyone touching her or her food while she eats. She is also drinking her water really fast, sometimes when she is done, she will burp up a little mouthful of water.
I'm trying feeding her by hand a few pieces at a time, even a kong in middle of the bowl so she has to eat around it. She still breathes it all in.
Suggestions?

[TerriHolt]

You can get bowls to help with that (clickity here) or i saw someone suggest a big rock in the bowl and spread food round it. Split the food up in separate bowls and place them in several locations so she has to find the food to eat, and it gives a break between gulps. Place the food under the bowl so she has to move it and hoover it up as she goes, it should only give her small amounts at once... Feeding her by hand may result in her not eating from a bowl at all (tho by the sound of it, that is highly unlikely ).

[weylyn]

Know exactly what you mean. I have one here that also does it. Zelda's uncle.......
Gong or rock do not help by him( it is not like real taking the food fast like my other woofers do but it kind a look like he breath it in....I know sounds weird but it is hard to explain). The only thing that make it a bit less by him is when I just put his meat spread on the floor..... Than off course he still does that crazy way of eating but than it doesn't go all in at one time so that he doesn't get all
coughing....

[Sylvaen]

Vala and Zora also wolf down their food - I feed all of the dogs individually (one after the other) in a separate room so that each dog can eat in peace and take as long as they need, without racing or competing to eat their food as fast as possible and then go after another dog's bowl. This method has made mealtime much less stressful, but the younger pups still inhale their food (though Zora has slowed down a bit now) - hoping that as they mature they will realize they don't have to eat quite SO fast. Jasper has always taken his sweet time when eating, even when he was a pup: no rushing at all (lol)

[TerriHolt]

Jasper has always taken his sweet time when eating, even when he was a pup: no rushing at all (lol)

Thats like Sam... I'm trying to get him to eat faster... his food lasts him all day, he will just keep going back to it. So with another dog in the house (eventually), he will lose his food and get even skinnier

[HiTenshi16]

Know exactly what you mean. I have one here that also does it. Zelda's uncle.......
Gong or rock do not help by him( it is not like real taking the food fast like my other woofers do but it kind a look like he breath it in....I know sounds weird but it is hard to explain). The only thing that make it a bit less by him is when I just put his meat spread on the floor..... Than off course he still does that crazy way of eating but than it doesn't go all in at one time so that he doesn't get all
coughing....

I know what you mean by looks like they breathe it in. I had a quick chat with Tarheel and Jaeger and Zelda's brother Herculese is the same, at least I know where she gets it from.
I put lots of ice in her water, so that slowed her drinking down a little.

[Hawthorne]

Darwin was the same when he came to us. We used a pacer ball (ceramic ball about the size of a softball) and over the course of months it seemed to help. I think that growth spurts have something to do with this...he was just so hungry all the time. We also worked hard to make him feel secure while eating. I stand in the kitchen and make sure noone tries to steal each others food. Each dog has their own spot to eat which is the same every meal, every day.

[Tiantai]

I don't know for sure but I THINK that the "scooping it all quickly" might have to do with the dog's excitement as well as tie in with their survival instinct. From my understanding, non-human animals are known to have a much more serious survival instinct than we humans do. We can go off hungry for hours and even when we're finally able to eat, most of us, having learnt the civilized way tend not to rush through our meals but dogs are not humans. My Buddy did that too whenever he sensed food though usually slow on his bowl would rush on it if he had not eaten for 12 hours. My theory of why some dogs do it more often than other dogs is based on personalities and habits though but I think any dog would instantly rush through their bowls if they were very hungry anyways. All of the ones I've lived with in the past did.

[claireyclaire]

If you feed the dogs individually or can separate them another thing to ty is scatter feeding, get rid of the bowl altogether and scatter the food on the floor. This slows down the eating and makes the process more hardwork for the dog.

[AZDehlin]

Zephyr would eat his food so fast when he was a pup, but at 11 months old he dramatically slowed down. I would scatter his food over my living room floor so he had to slow down and would only get a few kibble at a time.

[Misaya]

Thats like Sam... I'm trying to get him to eat faster... his food lasts him all day, he will just keep going back to it. So with another dog in the house (eventually), he will lose his food and get even skinnier

It might be an idea to not leave his food down all day. Just put it down and give him 10 minutes or so and if he doesnt eat it take it away and dont feed him again until his next meal time. If he's grazing when he feels like it he's probably not getting the chance to get really hungry. If he realises its not going to be there all day for him he should hopefully start to eat more quickly.

[TerriHolt]

Thats like Sam... I'm trying to get him to eat faster... his food lasts him all day, he will just keep going back to it. So with another dog in the house (eventually), he will lose his food and get even skinnier

It might be an idea to not leave his food down all day. Just put it down and give him 10 minutes or so and if he doesnt eat it take it away and dont feed him again until his next meal time. If he's grazing when he feels like it he's probably not getting the chance to get really hungry. If he realises its not going to be there all day for him he should hopefully start to eat more quickly.

That what someone else said to do but if it wasn't there when he wanted it, he'd never eat.

He's gradually eating less kibble each day, his eating declined over a period of a few months. Which prompted worried vet visits (thought he may be sick or he'd ingested a foreign object which made him not feel hungry).. His daily intake for a week or so was about 150g down from 600g, which is why i've had no choice but to up his raw intake since the 19th December. Then i got worried because it made his stools soft... Just need to find a regular source of raw food that's not super market prices ...

I have never had such a difficult dog before

[Mylingen]

We have problems with Makoyi eating too fast as well.
She breathes her food down rather than eat it, lol!

My friend recently got one of these http://northmate.com/category/products/green/ for her food mad staffie, and she highly recommends it!
Here is a video that she put together to demonstrate the difference it makes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 0wTVUEFyJc
I am getting one for Koyi at the end of this month.

[HiTenshi16]

May have to get that, Zelda still breathes her food in. I've stuck a kong in her bowl so she eats around it, but the only way to get her to chew (sometimes) her food is feed her one piece at a time.

[akaye531]

We usually use the first half of Mowgli's meals as treats for training, and then put the rest in the Kong wobbler. He LOVES the wobbler, and I love that it slows down his eating, makes him think a bit, and uses up some energy during meal times.

[HiTenshi16]

Thinking I may have found a way to help slow Zelda down on breathing in her food. Before I was putting it in a Kong and flipping it upside down in her bowl, so she would only get little bits at a time. Still did not really chew much of her food.
Now what seems to be working better is I will fill her bowl like normal, put in a few large icecubes, then drizzle some water over her food and put it in the freezer for about an hour. Most of her food is frozen together this way and she has to work harder at getting to it. She will actually chew more now this way and takes longer for her to eat it.
If anyone else gives this a try, let me know how it works!

[Mylingen]

Koyi trying her Northmate Green for the first time: