If your dog may be a fast eater, mealtime can sometimes appear to be a magic performance: Now you see the food … now you don’t. But unlike a conjuring trick , fast eating isn’t entertaining, and it certainly isn’t fun — especially for your dog’s health
Eating too fast can harm your dog in many ways: it can wreak havoc together with his digestion, cause bloat (a life-threatening condition during which a distended stomach puts pressure on surrounding organs) or cause him to vomit. Plus, the faster a dog eats, the less he chews, which may cause choking.
If your dog gobbles his food like it’s going out of favor , don’t fret! Here are some fast fixes to hamper your speedy dog.
1. Add the bowl to a mat or rug. Because the food is spread out every which way, your dog will need to stop, hunt and peck for it, which can hamper his eating considerably. If you’re feeling crazy, you’ll even just nix the rug and throw the kibble straight onto your floor.
2. Toss the kibble on the lawn or round the yard. this is often the outdoor version of the tip above. Your dog might enjoy trying to find his food within the warm sunshine!
3. Use a puzzle feeder and/or treat-stuffed toy. There are many brands and sorts of toys made specifically to slow your fast eater. Puzzle feeders are great because they also serve to offer your dog a touch mental workout, and treat-stuffed toys really make your dog work to succeed in every tasty morsel.
4. Try a treat dispenser. As your dog plays with the treat dispenser toy, it’ll release kibble one at a time. this is often an excellent thanks to feed your fast eater, give him a touch workout and keep him occupied!
5. Stick the dry food to wet food. Smear a cooking utensil with wet food, then sprinkle it with kibble. The wet food acts as a kind of glue, which slows your dog from gobbling up the kibble too quickly.
6. Feed while training. Tune up your dog’s obedience skills by making mealtime a time to coach , too. Make your dog sit, lie or perform another skill before rewarding him with each bite.
7. Hide the food. Most dogs enjoy an honest game of hide-and-seek. Hide the kibble in several places round the house or yard, and make your dog use his sniffer to seek out them.
8. Use a slow-feeder bowl. These heavy-duty bowls have a dome within the center, which pushes the food bent the edges so your dog can’t take huge gulps. Some slow-feeding bowls are little mazes, which makes eating a game.
9. Turn the bowl the wrong way up . Take your dog’s dish, flip it the wrong way up and spread the food out. Your dog will need to move his head around so as to eat the food out of the crease within the bowl, which slows down the method .
10. choose a “slippery” bowl. Feed your dog from a bowl that doesn’t have a non-slide grip on rock bottom . It will make your dog “chase” his food because the bowl will move while he eats.
11. Divide and conquer. Place your dog’s food into a muffin tin. He’ll need to raise his head to eat from each individual cup, thus forcing him to require a touch break between bites.
12. Place the kibble on the steps . If you’ve got access to stairs, put a couple of pieces of kibble on each step. Your dog will need to walk from step to step to eat — quite like an interactive food game.
13. Introduce a challenge. Place an outsized ball or rock within the center of your dog’s bowl and pour the food around it. confirm the ball or rock is large enough that your dog can’t swallow it. (Do not use small stones!) Alternatively, you’ll use a chrome steel or porcelain portion pacer, which is specifically designed to slow a fast-eating dog.
14. Feed smaller meals more often. rather than feeding your dog one or two big meals per day, divide the meals into several small meals and feed him at intervals during the day. this may keep his tummy full throughout the day and stop him from gorging because he’s starving.
15. Hand-feed meals. Feeding your dog each bite of his meal is extremely time intensive, but it can work when all else fails to curb a fast eater. this feature helps to make sure that your dog is eating slowly because you control the pace.
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