My Labrador spends all day looking forward to his dinner, yet when it does come it's virtually inhaled! Are there are hints for slowing him down as I do really worry that he is gulping down his food and it can't be good for him. I'm feeding Natures Menu in cans but the speed its disappearing I don't think he's tasting it!
Jason Western, Reading
Here's a few ideas from me to kick things off. Why not take your dog's food ration and spoon it into several large Kongs and give them to your dog over the course of the day? I feed Natures Menu too, so I know it is the right consistency! Press it down so it's quite hard for your dog to easily get out.
As food is such a highlight why not make it last? Plus this way your dog has to work a little to get his food.
In summer you could try freezing it for an interesting twist and making the experience last a bit longer.
Anyone else got any tips?
Beverley Cuddy, Editor
With your description of your dog looking forward to his dinner all day, I assume I am correct in thinking that you feed once daily? I really do feel that twice daily feeding is better for adult dogs for that very reason – waiting all day for a meal which is hoovered down at a rate of knots because of the extreme anticipation.
There are two specific cases where I recommend feeding more than once a day:
- regurgitation of food shortly after eating it, having bolted it down too quickly;
- bilious vomiting in the morning on an empty stomach.
My routine guidelines for frequency of feeding, which are not cast in stone but simply guidelines which must be adapted to suit not only the individual dog but also his/her owner and family; are:
- four times/day up to twelve weeks of age;
- three times/day up to six months of age;
- twice daily thereafter.
There are those dogs who prefer to eat just once a day - which might be in the morning or, more usually, in the evening – and the morning meal may be more of a snack. Timing with respect to exercise, work and so on also needs to be taken into consideration.
It is worth pointing out, however, that you do not suggest your dog is suffering from any ill effects to his health from bolting his food after waiting for it all day. Labradors are probably the most likely to wolf down their food, whether fed once or several times per day! Being a Labrador, the other important thing to avoid by feeding the daily ration as two or more meals is inadvertently increasing the total amount of food fed. Weight gain is all too often an easy thing to happen to a Labrador, and can be very hard to shift!
We have quite a few customers that present with the same food bolting issue and, unsurprisingly, the vast majority of them do tend to be Labradors!
I can, however, recommend a few things to try:
1. Try feeding your lab from a raised feeding bowl (available from all good pet shops), as it will encourage your dog to take smaller mouthfuls at a more comfortable height rather than scooping up his food in large chunks.
2. Spilt his food into two, or even three meals a day to lessen the anticipation of the “big event”. Make sure you carefully weight out his daily allowance first before splitting it into the separate meals to avoid over or under feeding.
3. Try hiding some of his food allowance in an interactive toy such as a Kong. This will not only slow him down, but will also make him use that big Labrador brain!
4. As Labs are working dogs, you may also wish to go one step further and teach him to “find” a hidden stuffed Kong using his natural instinct to retrieve. However, if you are planning on working him or entering field trials, skip this step as it will only encourage him to mouth the dummies!
5. Be very careful adding things such as balls or toys as I know of several cases of Labs inhaling the object along with their food! If you do decide to try this tip, make sure the objects are large enough not to be swallowed. To be perfectly honest, this tends to have the least success rate as most dogs end up removing the object or they get so frustrated that they end up knocking over their bowls.
6. You could also try a specially designed dog bowl which has been split into sections to slow the consumption of food. Based on feedback from our customers, these bowls tend to work in some cases, but not in others, so I can’t say for certain that it will solve your problem, but they are definitely worth a try.
Good luck!
Claire Goyer, The Haslemere Pet Company
