Some dogs are natural gobblers – put their food down and a mere 10 seconds later it’s disappeared and the bowl has been licked clean. Eating too fast can seem like just a funny quirk but it can have potentially serious effects on their health. Swallowing too much air as they wolf down their food can lead to Gastric Dilation, or bloat, which can make your doggo more likely to suffer from nasty conditions like a twisted stomach which can be potentially fatal. Now is the time to stop your dog eating too fast! To keep your doggo fighting fit, it’s time to teach them some doggy manners and slow down their munching and crunching.
Create an obstacle
The first step is to make the food harder to gobble. Place a soup can, tennis ball or large rock in the middle of the bowl. Make sure that whatever you use is too large for your breed to swallow. Eating around the obstacle will mean Fido has to work harder to get to the food and therefore will slow down the eating process.
Muffin Tin
Try spreading your doggo’s food in a muffin tin, meaning they still get their full portion but it’ll be broken down into smaller portions. The need to move from cup to cup will slow down the gulping too! For the serial gulper, you can also try turning the muffin tin upside down and spreading his or her food across the cup mounds!
Slow Feeding Dish
If you’re happy to, buying a slow feeding dish can work really well to slow down your pooch such as this one from PETstock. They work on the same principle as putting a ball or can in the middle of the bowl – your dog is forced to eat around the obstacles and therefore slows down.
Ditch the bowl!
You could consider getting rid of the food bowl all together and try an alternative feeder such as the award winning Green Interactive Feeder , which spreads your dog’s food across 43 “blades of grass” and makes them truffle to find all of their food.
Don’t allow your pooch to carry on gobbling down his or her food. Give one of our quick solutions a try and let us know how you get on! Have you got something else that works to slow down your pooch? As always, we’d love to know! Tell us in the comments below.
