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Eating So Quickly He's Vomiting

SophieLightyear

SophieLightyear

Well-known member
Hi, I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to stop Benji from eating so quickly as he's starting to vomit because he doesn't chew his food properly. He's always eaten his food relatively fast but has only recently started throwing up. I think he's thrown up 3/4 times in the past 6 days because he won't chew his food properly.
Any ideas or tips are welcome.
 
I know there are bowls that you can get that have peg type things sticking out of them that are supposed to slow the dog down. I'm not sure I've ever seen a Cavie sized one though. You could try putting a large ball or rock (one that would be impossible to swallow in the bowl and he'd have to eat around it.

You might want to try hand feeding at least part of his meal - you could use it as training and have him sit or whatever and reward him with a bit of kibble. You probably don't want him to get used to ONLY eating from your hand but even half would limit the amount he can suck up at once.
 
Fish4dogs do those bowls in a smaller size https://www.fish4dogs.com/Products/greedy-gulper-bowl.aspx


You could also try soaking 1/3 of the food and mixing it in with the dry - sometimes that slows them down.

The suggestion to use part as training treats is very good - you could also feed some dry in something like a Buster Cube or Kong, even an empty squash or fizzy bottle [well washed out].



Alternatively stand by him and just put a small amount at a time in the bowl - also teaches that hands are wonderful and give nice things, not take food away.
 
Here is a link to the bowls that help to slow down the greedy little monster :lol:

http://www.justthedog.co.uk/products/Slow-Down-Dog-Bowl-For-Fast-Eaters-Large.html

I also found this little video demonstrating the bowls

http://petside.co.uk/info/v/31839268/products-food-bowls.htm


If you don't want to go to the expense of a new bowl I have heard of people
putting big pebbles in the food bowl.

Molly is very greedy, we have taught her to wait before she can eat, we have used food as a game, we make her take food gently from us and sometimes put foody
things into a puzzle or a treat ball

http://www.cavaliertalk.com/forums/showthread.php?36912-Nina-ottoson-Dog-toys&p=378638#post378638
 
Trainer Ian Dunbar actually recommends dogs always get their meals packed into a Kong or a buster ball or cube -- because it makes them do some brain work and exercise to get it out and forces them to eat slowly. You could opt for a special bowl (or some people put two or three very large smooth river stones in the bowl -- like tennis ball sized so the dog cannot possibly swallow -- as they then need to eat around the stones, slowly).

If the vomiting continues then see a vet as the vomiting may not be related to eating fast. (y)
 
I used to put a tennis ball in the bowl,that worked for a couple days then one day she got fed up eating around it icon_nwunsure picked it up and placed it on the floor and started hoovering it up again.(one of those bowls could be good)

What did work for me was praisingand talking to her when she ocasionally did stop "good girl " "is that nice" etc,"yummy".Its looks and sounds very silly but now shell take a mouthfull and look up waiting for me to say something to her, you dont have to do it as much once they get to that stage.
 
Well you wouldn't use something like a ball actually for this, as that's too lightweight :) -- the idea is to use stones about the size of a tennis ball eg large enough that they cannot easily be moved and def cannot be swallowed. :) All mine would also pick up a tennis ball -- and probably be torn between eating and playing! :lol:
 
I don't know if this will help or not (but it's an inexpensive thing to try if you have a pie plate)... We would put our boxer's food in a pie plate, so she couldn't shove her nose in and get big bites. It took her longer to gather it up when it was spread out. Our next step was to add the rocks, but this worked fine. Good luck!
 
My girl Zumi also inhales her food without chewing it. I found larger kibble helps her chew it, but she is a big girl and larger kibble may be a choking hazard for a smaller dog. I used to sit next to her when she ate and told her good girl every time I heard her crunch a piece and try to toss in an extra treat...but she was just too fast *sigh*

Another thing that works well is if I just put her food on the floor; she has to chase each individual piece around and takes her much longer to finish :p

The slow-down type of bowls or putting a ball in the bowl are good ideas too.
 
I would recommend the 'gobbler' bowls. Cindy Koehring from spanielbowls.com makes them and her work is beautiful!
 
Lola also was eating very quickly (competing with the other dog to see who could finish first). We went to Drs Foster and Smith and bought a ceramic bowl for both of them with a "bone" sticking up in it. It's actually called a slow down bowl. It was only $9.99 for a small one, and I find it's the perfect size for the Cavi. I feed Lola 1/3 cup and it fits perfectly (you could put more in as well, maybe up to 1/2 a cup). I have the large one for my Lab and she eats 3/4 a cup and there's still a lot of room in the bowl. It really helped both of them slow down and chew their food. I would definitely recommend this product.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=22218
 
Thanks for the all the wonderful tips and ideas.
It seems as though he was mainly throwing up because he ate certain treats too fast, which we have now taken away from him and replaced with treats he eats slowly and chews properly which means he hasn't thrown up in a while which is excellent. :)
 
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