English Mastiff Eating Too Fast !!!

[Teenage Dirtbag]

Hi again !. Okey so Maiden no sleeps through the night, and loves her crate and her leash now !. She is weighing in at around 20 pounds now !! . BUT... when she eats she gobbles it down so fast, I have been feeding her little handfuls at a time, but she still just inhales it !. I worry a lot about this because of bloat. I dont excersize her an hour before or after she eats, but she really does need to slow down eating, A LOT ! Any tips guys??? Thanks !

 

[Sabrina]

They sell special bowls for this that have little pieces sticking out of them the dogs have to eat around....try googling slow-down bowls.....you can also feed her one cup at a time....which might be a pain or put a toy or ball in her bowl while she is eating that she would have to eat around.

 

[moose]

Yeah the special bowls would be great, I use a cookie sheet to feed my lab mix to slow his eating down.

 

[Marley's mom]

I was fostering a very overweight Bullmastiff a while back and she used to do this, She would literally clear her bowl in seconds! I researched things to do to try and help her slow down and enjoy her food more. Here are some things that I did which really helped:

I used to give her some of her breakfast well packed in a Kong, that used to slow her up as it took her a while to work out what a Kong was (ex kennel breeding bitch)

The special feeing bowls are great but a bit pricey instead you can make your own by putting a handful of toys in a bowl, I used to put a few Kongs in and a few squeeky toys. Also I used to hide her food and get her to find it, she used to absolutely love doing this too . I found this a great exercise as it mentally challenges the dog too

She was so obese when we got her, she could barely walk to the end of our drive. By the time she went back, she was walking 2 mile walks.

Here is a couple of before and after pics of her

 

[Teenage Dirtbag]

thanks guys! , I am going to try the slow down bowl. I just get so worried that she will get bloat, I worry a lil bit too much !, Beautiful mastiff btw, love how chunky she is ! ahah

 

[Barb]

I use a "Brake-Fast Dog Food Bowl" for my dog that I got at a pet store. It has 3 bumps in the middle so the dog has to try to get the food from around the bumps.

I also read that some people use a muffin tin and put a little food in each muffin cup so the dog can only eat a little at a time.