Gulping Food

[Guest Jaki]

I have a 2 1/2 year grey male that gulps his food so fast he starts to wheeze . I have tried putting a large rock in his bowl that he has to eat around, I have tried a large ceramic ball. I have even tried hand feeding him. Non of my other dogs do this nor do they try to take his food from him. They eat a lot slower. He has done this sence I got him a year ago. What can I do to slow him down? He almost sounds like a vaccume

[turbotaina]

Do you wet the food? My boy is a regular hoover, but I put a good deal of water in his food so he doesn't reverse sneeze from getting kibble dust in his throat.

 

Edited 'cause I can't type today!

Edited June 9, 2010 by turbotaina

[TheFullHouse]

A lot of greyhounds eat that fast, most of mine do in fact. Are you feeding dry or wet food? Mine eat so fast they will choke on dry food so I add water to their meals until they're soft for enough for them to eat. I've also heard of putting a big piece of chain in the bowl and adding the food so the dog has to maneuver around the chain to eat, thus making their eating much slower.

[turbotaina]

Oh, they also have these special bowls with large plastic nubs in them. I cannot remember the name, but I can probably find them in a moment. They are supposed to help.

 

Here's a selection of bowls.

 

And this is the one I specifically had in mind But really, water is your friend

[HeidisMum]

Heidi used to vacuum her food so fast she would throw it back up. We started using a 12 cup muffin tin as a bowl. Eating out of the seperate muffin cups slowed her down a lot. Some people also have good luck with this bowl.

Edited June 9, 2010 by HeidisMum

[Guest hlpnhounds]

Oh, they also have these special bowls with large plastic nubs in them. I cannot remember the name, but I can probably find them in a moment. They are supposed to help.

 

Here's a selection of bowls.

 

And this is the one I specifically had in mind But really, water is your friend

 

They are called Brake fast bowls.....here is a link to the amazon page with those and other food pacing items.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=brake+fast+bowl&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=2246731781&ref=pd_sl_8ycy5lyzep_b

[Guest Stripeyfan]

Another option, if it's practical, is to dole out the food in 2/3 portions. We do this for Kelly because he eats soooo fast he hyperventilates - very scary to watch. Splitting his meals means he has to stop to breathe in between portions, and seems to have stopped the problem. This wouldn't work for a hound with food aggression issues but Kelly's quite happy for you to tip more food into his bowl... the only problem we have is he sticks his nose back in his bowl to start eating while you're still doling the food out, and you end up tipping it on his head!

Edited June 9, 2010 by Stripeyfan

[KF_in_Georgia]

Also, you can put the food on a cookie sheet that has a bit of lip on it. He'll have to chase the pieces around the sheet--he won't be able to get a mouthful of kibble all at once.

 

Other possibilities are that you put his entire dinner inside a Kong, and make him work to get it out a bit at a time. Or put his kibble inside a blanket, roll it up, and let him dig the pieces out.

 

(Water in the kibble doesn't help at my house: Sam just tries to drown himself inhaling the water with the food. Ten years old, and he still hasn't figured out that no one's going to steal his food if it sits in his bowl another 20 seconds.)

[fsugrad]

You can put moistened kibble into a muffin tin...it takes time to eat that kibble out of all the compartments.

[Guest IHeartDogs]

You can put moistened kibble into a muffin tin...it takes time to eat that kibble out of all the compartments.

 

Yup, muffin tins work greyt!

 

Or just adding a cup of water works well too.

[Guest greyarea]

yeah, both Lucy and Molly suck their food down. We found that wetted mini kibble works.

[PatricksMom]

I'm assuming based on his age he's newly adopted? Likely he will stop doing this on his own in a reasonably short period of time. Not that you should ignore it now, but you're unlikely to be dealing with this for the rest of his life or anything.

 

eta: lots of water and doling out the meal in small doses helped here.

Edited June 10, 2010 by PatricksMom

[Guest eaglflyt]

You could also put all, or some, of his dry food in a Tug-A-Jug and he will have to work to get it out a little at a time.

Edited June 10, 2010 by eaglflyt

[joejoesmom]

Try putting his turn-out (plastic) muzzle on him. I had a foster once who did this. I put his muzzle on (no stool guard of course) and he was still able to eat but much, much slower. He would push the muzzle into the dry food until a few pieces pushed inside the muzzle, then he could eat them.

[Guest Energy11]

I have three large male "Hoovers," and one female "Electrolux!" :-) I soak all their kibble .... the afternoon stuff, for about two hours, and the early morning stuff, overnight. We also add more water to their foods when we feed. Seems to help the coughing up. I also give Gas-X with their meals to prevent a build up of gas (**my own idea), not from the vet. We also feed and water them raised.

 

I have also heard of people using Bundt pans, which cause the dogs to slow down.

 

Lots of "vacuum cleaner greys," out there. Good Luck!

[Guest kydie]

I have a non-grey that inhales food, I have tried everything on the market, except the muffin tins, and I will do that this evening, and nothing works, by the time I get all 3 dishes to the others, he is done, even if I feed him last, I swear he is done is seconds