Speedy Eating

[Timbo19]

The rate of which Zac eats his food is crazy fast, he acts like it's going out of fashion. Literally 15 seconds and it's gone. I put the food down turn my back and look back round and it's basically gone.

He is 14 weeks old and is having the correct amount for his weight and age, but it's just ridiculous how fast he eats it.  Once he finishes he goes round asking for more food but he is having enough. What do we do to try and slow this speedy eating???

Thank You

[waggytails]

When Hattie was a pup i put her food in two different types of toys, one was a ball that you put food in and it had a little hole in the top which you could make bigger or small depending on how fast you wanted the food to flow out and the pup has to roll it around for the food to come out and the other looked like three balls moulded into one and the pup has to push it over to get the food out.

Have to say though she is nearly 2 yrs old now and still eats very fast.

[bluegirl]

I have a bunch of gulpers. You bend down to put it down, you stand up and its gone. They've never been any different. Never had problems with them though and mine eat raw. Mine are now 7, almost 4 and almost 2 yrs.

[tigs71]

Mason used to 'inhale' his food too but eventually he slowed down and now even leaves meals 

The only meal he eats fast now (under 2 mins) is his raw food that he has for his tea - he obvioulsy prefers that to his morning kibble (which today is still in his bowl untouched)

[Carol09]

Another 'Inhaler' here, Jay is awful and I am sure he doesn't taste his food.   We had a free pack of Dentistix with our Pets at home order delivered today and I gave one to each dog, now literally in about 3 seconds it was gone and Jay went to pinch Duggies.  I had to look round the kitchen to see if it was stuck somewhere but no, I then got worried he has swallowed it whole vertically.  Jay is a piggy!

[Sarah71]

I spoke to a nutritionist about this when I had to call JWB last week, and they came up with a good tip which seems to be working for Dylan.

She said instead of giving the food in a bowl, give it on a tray (we use a baking tray) and then it teaches them to pick up a few bits at a time rather than a big mouthful.

It's really helped Dylan

I am sure he still thinks that I go into the kitchen for the solitary reason of feeding him  but he'll get there

[Saffaroo]

Both mine are 'gulpers'  the longest it lasts is 12 seconds - then they swap over and lick out each other dishes    never had any problems; in fact I'd worry if they didn't do this...

[Bluebell]

If you are feeding a dry food you could also try adding water to the bowl. Not just to moisten the kibble, but to make it swim

[Joules]

The tray idea sounds a brilliant one    Otherwise a treat ball will make him slow down and he will enjoy having to work for his food.  I know some people put a tennis ball in the bowl  which can help slow them down too.  Obviously these things only work if you are feeding dry food though    He may slow down though - it may be that when he was with his littermates he had to be quick to make sure he got his share    Coco is just a greedy guts though and still always eats hers in no time at all. 

[Sue E]

I used to call this the 'hoover' effect - Ozzy just hoovered up the food.  In the end someone advised putting a small cup into the bowl, upside down, so that he had to eat around it and it seemed to slow him down a bit.  As he's got older he has slowed down, and sometimes just leaves it altogether.  I've started giving him a set time to eat his meals and then if he doesn't I remove it - just so he won't become a grazer! 

[Sheepscheeks]

Freddie, 5 months, inhales his food now - whatever it is! He was on kibble but 2 brands later and I have come to the conclusion that he can't tolerate the processing and he eats raw (Natural Instinct). He is always looking for more, always checking out the kitchen floor for crumbs and nearly always there when I am preparing human food! I think it is a cocker thing!

[AnnieA]

I changed Ted from Royal Canin to Healthy Paws, which has bigger, crunchier nuggets and seems to take him a bit longer to eat.

I don't give him much food in a bowl though - some of it goes into treat balls, kongs, plastic bottles etc., lots get used for training lures/rewards, some of it gets scattered about the kitchen so he has to find it (I'd long since given up on having a clean kitchen floor anyway  ).  Anything to make it a bit more interesting for him. 

[WarwickshireFlyball]

One of ours is a gulper too, stumbled across a 'gulper bowl' at Crufts which has 3 lumps in the middle. He wasn't best impressed at his 'present' but he does eat slower now 

[black taz]

Kira is a typical lab and can gulp for Britain, whilst Taz eats very slowly.  As i feed them together i was having problems stoping Kira from gulping her only to get straight onto Taz's.  I have started it give it her a handful at a time in a biggest bowl and she eats much slower (i guess similar to the tray effect) but it also means that i can time it so that she finishes the same time as Taz.  Perhaps not the best solution but it is working for me at the moment.  I thought about getting one of the bowls with the dividers in it to slow her down - does anyone hae one.

[fifer]

Scattering kibble on the floor so they have to hunt for it really slows them down and I believe the "Brake-Fast" bowl although a bit costly also works well.  http://www.brake-fast.net/