Stop Your Dog Speed Eating.

How to Stop Your Dog From Eating Too Fast!

We’ve all heard the phrase ‘wolfing it down’; when someone eats their food very quickly; ravenously swallowing large pieces of food.  Unfortunately, this can be detrimental to some dog’s health. Bolting food can lead to upset tummies, gagging, choking, vomiting and in serious cases, gastric bloat; a condition that can be fatal. How do you stop your dog from speed eating? Holidays4Dogs finds out….

Slow-feeder bowls.

are very useful for dogs who tend to eat too quickly. These specially designed bowls have soft ridges, or protrusions. This makes it harder for even the fastest eater to consume their food too quickly. Some designs are more complicated than others. For very quick eaters, choose one with more ridges.

You could make a D-I-Y slow feeder bowl. Use a bowl that is larger than needs be. Place a few tennis balls in the bowl along with your dog’s meal. Your dog will have to move the tennis balls around in order to get the food.

Of course, you may have a very clever dog that will learn to remove the tennis balls, so this may not work long term! You can also try placing one bowl, upside down in another. This creates a circular channel in which you place your dog’s food. This will make it more difficult for him to gulp his meal down in gigantic mouthfuls.

Food dispensing toys.

Food dispensing toys, like Kongs, are also a good idea for fast eaters. It is worth a trying to feed your dog very small amounts in one go, even if you are using an ordinary bowl. This way the dog will not be gorging on so much volume off food at once.

You could also try hiding food around the house. This would work with dry, or wet food, as you could place it in small containers. If there is more than one dog, this method could cause competition and aggression; so be aware.

Use food as an opportunity for training games too. This will be more stimulating for him while, at the same time, preventing him from wolfing down his food in one sitting.

If you have more than one dog, try feeding each one separately in different rooms Sometimes, dogs bolt food quickly because they are anxious about another dog stealing. Watch your pack carefully because it is not always obvious which dog is the culprit As well as encouraging dogs to gorge their food too quickly, feeding dogs together can also lead to squabbles.