Dog eats wwwaaayyy to fast

[Ryan_V]

Picked up a 4 year old gsp this fall. She was a little chubby when I got her so I started measuring out her food and was able to get her back into shape. Since then, when I feed her, she absolutely inhales it. I give her a cup or more in the morning and 2 cups or more at night. More than she should need. She is still dropping weight and is really underweight. Last night when I fed her, I watched as she inhaled her food. She then threw it up and then ate it again. When she threw it up, I noticed the food was whole, not chewed. Is this why she can't put weight on? Can anyone give me any advice or ideas? I can see all her ribs and sometimes even her backbone. I'm trying to get her weight back up, but I suspect her eating habits are part of the problem. Thanks

[mcne0101]

there are a few things you can do...

-Spread out the food on a cookie sheet.

-Get a rubber mat and spread it out across the mat.

-Buy a special bowl with some plastic pole things that she has to eat around made to slow down fast eaters.

-If you have hardwood, just spread it across the floor...HOWEVER...if this is the plan you need to make sure you're not cleaning your floor with industrial cleaners they can be poisonous. I've done this before with my pooch and I just had a steamer that I used to clean the floor.

-I've never tried it, but i've heard putting like Kongs in the food bowl can work. I think my dog would just move them though.

Good luck!

[no bait nate]

my dog ate like this when she was young. i would just toss the scoop of food in her crate and let her dance around in there and eat it all. it would slow her down quite a bit and she eventually learned to just eat slower and i'd make it easy for her. also a great way to make them enjoy the crate

[gspman]

Quote:

I give her a cup or more in the morning and 2 cups or more at night. More than she should need. She is still dropping weight and is really underweight.

Quote:

I can see all her ribs and sometimes even her backbone. I'm trying to get her weight back up, but I suspect her eating habits are part of the problem.

Quote:

Can anyone give me any advice or ideas?

1) Are you feeding a quality dog food?

2) Have you taken her to the vet to have her checked for physiological problems, intestinal parasites, other ailments, etc?

[Ryan_V]

GSP man, I feed diamond, which I know is pretty good food, however not the best. AS far as taking her in, I just don't have the funds available right now. How about soaking the food, I read that would aid digestion.

[Ryan_V]

Also, is it safe to worm her without bringing her in if I can get the wormer from my vet?

[Down2Earth]

Every GSP I've ever had (3 of them) ate like this their whole life. However in the winter (they lived outside) I always fed them more (6 cups and I feed Canidae ALS) or they would lose weight.

[jeffreyd]

my one lab will eat pretty fast, we feed blue buffalo adult large breed and i add some of their wilderness brand duck breast dry food to the mix. i keep it at 2 cups twice a day for the 2 yr old and about 2 1/2 for the smaller lab. he likes to eat [PoorWordUsage] so adding the extra food has helped with that. check your food for corn and corn byproducts on the label, i try and limit it as it is just converted to sugar and does not help and already hyper dog.

[setterguy]

Chewing or not chewing should have nothing to do with digestion. Unlike humans dogs do not enjoy food in their mouth. They feel the enjoyment form it when it is in their stomach. My new pup eats like this, its new to me but he has no problem growing as normal.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Having a great dane (extremely susceptible to bloat), we deal with this daily. Add to the fact that he's already survived one bloat surgery, we have done everything we can to slow down his eating.

Some tips:

+The bowls with knobs to slow them down help somewhat.

+Putting toys in the dish (Kong, Nylabone) does help.

+Adding water to the food helps, but with our dog, also lead to ridiculously horrible acne on his muzzle.

+Feeing smaller portions helps.

Currently, we have a "slow-feed" bowl and give him his food in doses (ie he gets 4 cups per meal, but we give him 1 cup at a time).

As far as eating it whole, dogs don't naturally chew food. They eat it whole. Unless you find a food with bigger kibble (Pro Plan Large/Giant has big chunks, but my dog is allergic to something in it), your dog won't chew.

[nofishfisherman]

Another trick to slowing down a dog when he eats is to put the food in a muffin pan. Just spread the food evenly in all of the holes so the dog had to move from one to another and never gets more than a mouth full at any single time.

If you want to work the dogs brain a little at the same time you can put the food in the muffin pan and then put tennis balls over each hole. That way the dog needs to find the food and figure out how to move the tennis ball to get to the food. I did it with my Vizsla but he figured out the ball thing after about 4 seconds, I've seen it confound other dogs for awhile.

[MuleShack]

I was just at the vet last friday for an eye infection with my Gsp. The doc wasn't sure if it was a virus or allergic in nature. He asked me if we switched foods recently to Diamond. I said no, why? He said that Diamond has been the culprit in a lot of health related incidents in dogs that he has seen. Not saying that you have anything to worry bout but maybe a purina pro plan might be better?

He gave me a virus sauve and it is working.

Mine is 55lbs at 8 months and he gets about 4 cups over the course of one day and he is still mostly skin and bones.

If you have more than one dog, it helps a little to seperate them when eating. The GSP would continually look at the lab when eating so he coul finish first a get to her bowl. now I feed one on each side of the door and close te door and open it when the lab is done (slow eater) Now he seems to take his time now because he has no where to go in the mudroom untl the door is opened.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Nofishfisherman-

I like the muffin tin idea!

[pureinsanity]

GSP man, I feed diamond, which I know is pretty good food, however not the best. AS far as taking her in, I just don't have the funds available right now. How about soaking the food, I read that would aid digestion.

I like diamond, good stuff, but otherwise will say else wise.

I agree spread the food out. Those bowls are nice, but I would make one before I bought one.

My gf's dog inhales his food. I can hardly ever get my dog to eat his dog food. I don't get it. Some dogs are dependent on food. Her dog knows when its time to be fed like he has a watch on. I think part of it is making such a big deal that food is fun? I think she praised him and got him to excited for food so now he is always excited for it and eats it fast as if its a reward. Same goes with treats. Heck if I walk in the house with a plastic bag, he puts his nose in it. If i grab a bag of chips he comes running to me thinking its treats. It drives me nuts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bringing groceries in is a chore as the dog is right there getting in the way. I wish I could break him of the habit he has, but hes a lost cause.

I feed my dog once a day, and he gets a large amount. he gets snacks in between though as well.

[dmichaelm]

Our Weim used to eat way to fast. We feed her out of a 8" ceramic bowl. We bought a smaller, maybe 5" ceramic bowl and put it in, upside down. She has to eat around the small bowl. Used to have the problem where she would swallow it, barf it up, then eat it again. After putting in the small bowl, never had the problem again.

Nice thing is, they are easy to clean and there ins't a baking sheet or muffin pay in your entry.

[Biggysmalls]

We put a can of spaghettios in our Epagneul Breton's bowl to slow her down

[FishHawk11]

Had the same problem with my lab that lived his first year at the MHHC. All the dogs would be fed at the same time so it was always a race to get done. I switched him to Iams minichunks which has helped. I also fed him with my hand and then would place my hand over his food in his bowl. This helped break him of being so defensive with his food. My 10 month old can now crawl up to his bowl and the dog will back away until he is gone.

[MidwestArcher]

Slow feed bowls work great, but first try soaking the food in a little warm water to soften it, don't make a soup out of it, just enough to make it easily digestible.

[Shack]

My 9/10 week old is just coming around after going to full hard puppie food & sucking it down like it was his last meal. I do not mind how fast or slow the pup eats, but wanted to correct the way he acted when pouring his food in the dish. He attacked it with force and it started to cause issues knocking the food cup around when I poured. About a week ago I put his food dish during feeding time in his kennel. As I did this I held him and he knows not to squirm in my arms now. After the food was poured I shut the kennel and let him down with a 'good puppy'. Walked away and he attached the kennel like a shark would looking to get a meal. Once he calmed down and even lost some intrest I would praise him and slowly let him in. If he made a mad dash I would pull him out and place him outside the kennel again. After a week of doing this his dish is back out outside the kennel and he sits & waits when I am feeding him pretty darn good. Funny thing is that this helped slow down how fast he ate a dish of food to what I consider is at a very normal level. Just thought I would share. Not sure what cab be done or if anything should be done at age 4.

[pureinsanity]

Good post shack. Very informative! Glad it worked for you! However, in my opinion praising a dog during feeding time is only good in certain situations. My gf's dog is so excited about food and that is the problem with most of the cases. When people feed their dogs they make it exciting. Thus your dog gets excited to eat food and gobbles everything down. When your dog knows the words "are you hungry" something is wrong. When your dog knows its the exact time to eat and he/she cant even tell time you know something is wrong.

A big part of it is the owner. Never once have I made a big deal about feedings. Never once have I praised him for eating. In fact most of the time I have to tell my dog to eat. He knows what "eat" means but typically he never eats his dog food until no one is around.

What is your feeding schedule?

My dog gets table scraps. He lives at my dads house and spends most days inside but typically sleeps outside in his dog kennel. If my dad is working from home that day the dog is usually in the house. He will get a milk bone, perhaps a table scrap or two. But dog food, he typically gets whenever. And typically he lets that sit until he gets hungry enough to eat it.

I have found that people who have set schedules for feeding their dogs tend to have the dogs that are excited to eat. I understand that as a puppy it is valuable to have a feeding schedule and also puppies gobble food down.

In my opinion its the people who continue this feeding schedule tend to have the overly excited dogs that want food and need food.

If they do not get food at the time they are scheduled to. they are starving. People are worried about feeding their dog ONCE a day because they eat so fast and throw it back up or choke. Don't make food time, or treat time that exciting and you wont have a dog that depends on those things.

[pureinsanity]

As for a slow feed bowl. Anyone could make one with a dog dish and some double shot shot glasses and epoxy. glue the shot glasses into the bowl.

or what I've done for other peoples dogs is just spread it out on the floor. don't worry overly excited dogs who wants food will clean up ALL the mess.

[Shack]

I agree. My pup spends time with me right now doing the the bonding and early training thing. I am really focusing with this on this pup. I have given this a ton of effort with the handful of others I have brought up but I am in more of a position in life now where I can almost be with this pup 24 hours/7 days a week till week 16. I get excited all the time with him, but honestly do not recall getting excited during the feeding time out of some habit I have formed. Mainly, that is not part of his early learning/training and I want the food to go in the bowl & stay in the bowl till it goes into his mouth. Although! Mrs. Shack I would suspect "could" be a cause. I know she would get the little guy excited prior to pouring the food at first. I have taken over all duties now as we head into week 10, well going into week 9 I started, to make sure things are done correctly.

Then again! When he "had" to get his head in the dish before the first kibble hit the bottom, this was not like any other playtime trait he has shown. Not aggressive at all but brute in force and determination. Now is not a time to correct with force and I do not want to hinder this spirit altogether, just when he is around when feeding occurs. I did try filling the food dish was he was not around but once brought in the area he bolted right for it and food and dish would fly. I do not need mice. I am thinking this is just a habit which was formed during his time with mom. Something formed prior to weening when throwing down for mothers milk was king?

Needed to be IMO corrected and correcting now would be way easier than at 6 months or 6 years.

For the 4 year old GSP question, did the dog come a home that the master did not have time for the dog no longer. Felt sorry for the dog not getting enough attention? Hearing it was over weight at age 4 could mean the dog went through a period of starving. Followed up by all the food it could eat because we can not give away a walking carcass? If you have ever had a dog show up at your house really starving, feed it some food, it will inhale it like Hoover.

[eyeguy 54]

Our pooch ate way to fast and we were told to put a tennis ball or golf ball in the bowl. It worked great. After a couple months no more ball needed.

[pureinsanity]

The tennis ball works good in most cases. but some dogs are smarter than the average dog. In the cases ive seen, the dog pushes the ball out instantly or picks it up and removes it and starts eating.

[MidwestArcher]

Great Post's Shack!