I saw these bowls in a dog magazine ad., Brake-fast bowls. does anyone use them? We would like Cleo to be able to eat dry food instead of having to fill the bowl up with water so that she does not get Bloat. Would like to hear from anyone that uses them or has had problems with them.

Putting a couple tennis balls in her bowl will do the trick as well.

Does she eat fast or something? Mine all eat dry food, all at different speeds, and they've never had a problem with bloat/throwing up/you name it.

As much as bloat is talked about on GT, it's actually very uncommon in greyhounds.

We were told by the GPA that we got her from to always float her food because of bloat. She does not seem to eat fast butwe did not want to hurt her in any way. I do not know if tennis balls will work, as she loves to play ball outside all the time. I can try it to see if she will leave them alone when she eats.

I just add a little gravy, yogurt, or something. I don't float the food in water and I use normal bowls. Works well for us. *knocks on wood*

We use the brake fast bowl with our gobbler Dax. We have had it over 6 months now. It definitely cut down his eating speed. Is she a chow-hound? Dax ate at an astonishing speed. He still eats fast, but now he has to chew the food and grab it in smaller bites rather than inhaling it. We give it and have recommended it to several people with our group here who also use it or some variation with success.

She does not appear to be a fast eater, but I can not tell with the water in the bowl. I guess tomorrow evening I will check her out on eating without water in the bowl. I could have a ball ready to slow her down if I need to.
And then wait to order the bowl.

...I was dissapointed in it formy Penny. She has always gulped fast since I got her. The bowl says to use on the floor and I have...she seems to eat just as fast and even more frantically, so I went back to the raised and put more water with it. Anyone want it? Free to a good home! ( I have the large size) It was WAY over-priced from Orvis...

When we first brought Ziggy home, he would inhale his food! We put a smaller kong or two in the bowl to slow him down - easier to clean, too! Now, he has slowed down a lot and we don't put anything in his bowl and he leaves some food behind to snack on later... Good Luck!

I've never heard of floating dry food in water! And why would it help with bloat?

Personally, I wouldn't use a plastic bowl (and I believe that's what this brake-fast bowl is made out of). For one, it causes some dogs' nose to lose their pigment. There are also many concerns about certain types of plastic and their effect on food.

Honestly, I'd try mixing a bit of warm water into her kibble (let it sit for a few minutes) so it's a bit moist and see how she does with that.

I have a brake-fast bowl, both a plastic one and a metal one, which I think is really called the Slow Down bowl. I got them because Raisin is a crazy fast eater. She just inhales and then coughs it back up. The bowl did help slow her down; I was putting a LOT of water in her food to help her eat slower, and I now don't have to use that much water and she never pukes up her food anymore. That being said, if your grey isn't having trouble with eating too fast, I wouldn't bother getting that bowl.

You could also go to the farm supply store, and get one of the non-slip bowls. Turn it upside down, and put the food in there. Unless the brake-fast bowls are cheap, too.

Sorry - non tip bowls.

http://www.petedge.com/assets/product_imag...142_600X600.JPG

This is how my dogs eat, a small bowl with a dollop of yogurt set inside their bigger bowl of food.




I totally admit that I am just too cheap to buy a brake-fast bowl when this works perfectly well.

My first greyhound inhaled his food. He would take big mouthfuls, it seemed to get stuck in his throat then he'd hack it all over, then clean it up... To try to slow him down I just got a REALLY big food bowl - so that his serving of food each meal makes a single layer of kibble on the bottom of the bowl - it really slowed him down, he has to chase the food all over the bowl to pick it up. I also do add water, but don't totally float the food. I add the water, so, in my mind anyway, the kibble wont' get 'stuck' in his throat, it is slicker so he can swallow it.

My 2 girls inhale now - so I add the water to hopefully prevent the stick and hack but I haven't changed them to the BIG bowls yet.

I've also heard you can use a bundt pan and have the same or similar effect - go to a thrift store (Goodwill, etc.) to see if they have something cheap you can try first.. that's where I got the bowls for my girls!

One of my former fosters is a major inhaler too. His mom puts his kibble in three of the large kongs and he plays with them to get the food it. It works marvelously for him. A big wide bowl with three kongs placed inside. It's become both a mental game for him and a way to slow him down. A relatively cheap and effective fix. I have also fed a dog using that brake-fast bowl and it did seem to work but the plastic seemed to get really dirty really quickly.

Roscoe is another fast eater who 'chokes' and then snarfs up his dry kibble.

I put about 2 cups kibble in his bowl, fill it 1/4 with water and add a spoonful of pumpkin or yogurt. mix it up, let it sit for a minute, mix again, sit, mix, then feed.

It makes a tasty (i assume!) gravy and he doesn't choke anymore.



If I kept his kibble dry i'd need to come up with something to slow him down.. but he likes the gravy.

I have the metal Brake-Fast bowl for my chowhound/food inhaler, and it has slowed her eating significantly (though now that she has "mastered" eating out of it, she still eats a little more quickly than I would like . . .). For a while, we tried putting tennis balls, small Kongs, and other things in her bowl, but that didn't really work, as she would just take all of them out of her bowl, drop them on the floor, and proceed to snarf down her meal. At least with the Brake-Fast bowl, she can't remove the three "prongs" that stick up.

Thank you all for your imput. I will try one of the suggestions this weekend when I can watch her closely. I do not need her to get sick.

Here's another idea. Emmet is a major gulper. Gulp and gack, gulp and gack. I started feeding him in a muffin tin and it slowed him down right away. I buy them at Ocean State Job Lot for $1-$3.

The muffin tin is a good idea! We have had a brake-fast bowl since last spring. It does slow Magnus down but he still tries to eat as fast as possible. We have it on a tile floor so it slides around which slows him down a little more. Anything to make them work a little harder to get at it should work.

Jan

I've used a big rock in the middle of their bowls before- one of my clients uses cans of veggies on top of the food. I don't think you need to buy a whole new bowl (unless you want to!)

A fun thing to do to occupy your dog is to hide their kibble ration- you could put it in a kong so they have to work to get it out, or hide it around the house so they have to use their senses to find it. When the weather is nice, I throw their food into the yard and they get to hunt for it- they LOVE it, it takes them a good 10 minutes and tuckers them out. In the house I just put a tiny bit of water on their food or feed them out of kongs- I think it keeps life a bit more fun for them.

What great ideas you all have. I will keep a bunt pan on hand in case a foster has this problem. IF that does not work, I will have to try one of your other ideas. Thank you!

Well we tried the tennis balls in the food dish. She took the balls out and began to play with them. Guess we are onto the bundt pan. I figured she would play with the balls. That is her favorite toy!