Eating too fast!

I've been reading a lot of posts lately about many of you who have picky eaters. I'm wondering if anyone is on the opposite scale of that, and if they are, how to get your dogs to slow down while eating. Zoey has always been a scarfer. It has not improved in the time we've had her at all. She eats so fast (and without chewing) that occasionally she will throw it back up within 5 or so minutes of eating it. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get her to slow down? We have no other pets, so there is no competition for food. Zoey is 4 and a half months old.

I'm wondering if trying her on a different brand with slightly larger kibble would encourage her to slow down and chew her meals. It may also be a waste since she swallowed a big frozen strawberry whole today.

If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them!

Faith also used to SCARF her food down.. well.. she still does sometimes but I have taught her "SLOWLY" and I use that quite often. You can put a tennis ball in her bowl so she has to maneuver it to get her food or you can also put her food in a kong or a treat ball.. that way she has to work for her food...

Good luck@!

Tucker did the same thing at the same age. He'd vomit his dinner, kibble was whole, didn't look like it had been chewed at all, and not digested. I went to an adult sized kibble before he was a year. I changed his diet this past November. The new kibble I chose (better quality) is smaller and he has stopped the gobbling. I don't know if this is because I also add fresh protein to the top of the kibble or he learned to chew on the previous larger sized kibble.

Good luck, I know what a worry this is, not to mention a mess. If Zoey is anything like Tucker, she will leave a floor surface and find carpeting to throw up on.

How lucky are you to have a scarfer I like the tennis ball idea... that is smart! My Boxers scarf, but never to the point of vomiting or choking, so I just count my blessings. My Cavaliers seem to be the typical fuss-budgets, unless of course it is chicken neck day, and then they too scarf.

If they vomit like this it is definitely because they are eating too fast.

TYou can also use something like large stones (river stones are good) -- large enough that they cannot be eaten.

But getting a treat ball is a really good solution -- it will take your dog at least 20-30 minutes to get all the kibble out, the dog gets some mental stimulation and exercise, and you can regialte how easy it is for the kibble to come out as well -- set the hole smaller and it falls out more slowly. A kong would work well too.

I often feed Teddy using a treat ball or 'flying saucer' or he's scrabbling to get out of his crate in seconds. He's an absolute turbo guzzler, but Joly is almost as bad; in his case there's a race to finish so he can steal Monty's dinner. I think we'll have to go back to crate feeding him, too, so Monty can eat at a more leisurly pace.

Colin is done in less than a minute as well. I assumed it was because he was following the lead of our black lab who inhales.

Recently we went to a smaller kibble and they are eating more slowly. Teddy still eats slower, but he also gets to eat more at one sitting - lucky him!!

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I tried putting a ball in her food today and it definitely seemed to help. I think i'm going to try a soup can or something a bit heavier in their for dinner. The kong is a great idea too, although Zoey has never been super interested in hers even with something in it. I'll have to try her again with it.

It also helps to use a bigger bowl as then they can not pick up too much at once as it is in a thinner layer.

My Sammy eats so fast that he coughs while he's eating. He gets two meals a day, and has each meal finished within 30seconds. He then often goes into the kitchen and cries for food. Visitors say I must starving him and I should feed him more

But he's 7 months, 16pounds, gets nearly 1 1/2 cups of kibble per day, and is neither fat nore skinny. He is VERY active though.

On the positive side, he learns tricks very quickly. He'll do anything for a treat!

I also had the scarfing problem with Finley. We just strat feeding him on a cookie tray so the food would be all spread out. Plus he loves the sound of the food scratching around the tray and now he plays with it a bit too. Probably not the best habit to teach (playing with food) but better than scarfing and throwing up.

Our boys are scarfers also...Arthur can finish in 10 seconds....1/2 cup of dry food GONE!!! He occiasionally gets the lovely cavalier snort after he's eaten but we just calm him down. I have never had any problems with throwing up and FINALLY gotten him to leave his brother alone who eats in a leisurely 30 seconds

Maybe I will try the ball idea....it would be nice to see Artie enjoy dinner.