Dog is crazy about food, need help

[Sew-sew-steve]

hey everyone,

as some of you may know, i had quite a big problem with my foster puppy Dozer.

hes fine now, the virus passed almost completely now from his system.

two days after i posted on here, i was able to get him to a hospitle and he was in their care for about 10 days.

anyhow, hes with me now, and has been for a good week or so.

hes been diagnosed with hip displacia, which is a result of being fed a poor diet and getting CPV which, according to the vet, ate away at his pelvic bone.

anyhow, i feed him 3 times a day, a plateful of food, i mean, theres a lot, and he eats it all.

but the problem isnt that he eats it all, he inhales it, thats how fast he eats it, and he ends up with a bloated stomache thats stiff when you touch it.

im afriad he might choke on his food, but the ammount i put doesnt matter, because anything he wants to eat, he will eat quickly.

not only that, the biggest problem is that when i pull him away from his food while hes eating to see if he can slow down somehow, he barks,whines, and yelps sooooooooooo loud that he could wake the neighbours. i mean, like, yelping so loud it hurts your ears. is this a puppy thing? if you hold a puppy back from their food, do their normally do this?
is there anyway i could make him slow down when he eats?


also, is it a survival instict that dogs chow down on everything and anything edible? is that why they over eat?

[Winston]

Sounds like pretty much puppy behaviour. Very good of you to be concerned about the belly being like that. You have to be very careful of something called Bloat. You can google that and there is a ton of information on it.

As for Dozer right now you could feed him smaller portions more frequently or try placing a ball or something in the dish so that it slows him down having to eat around the item. They actually sell a special bowl that looks like it has a ball in the middle of it.

I think we need to see pics of this cut puppy!

[Longblades]

Failing the special bowl I've read of some folks putting several large rocks in with the food to slow the eating down. The rocks must be way too large to swallow of course. Or, some folks spread the food out on a cookie sheet where it simply takes a bit longer for pup to move from piece of food to piece of food.

I have no experience with holding a puppy back from his food but I imagine he would yelp. I imagine he would begin to mistrust my approach and I imagine such activity could make my puppy very wary of me. Once my dog's food is placed for him it's his and I don't mess around with it. I think your puppy, as he matures, might very well begin to get defensive about such activity. I would not do it. I'd try the rocks or cookie sheet instead.

[Sew-sew-steve]

Thanks guys,

i did some reasearch right after i posted this thread.

most of the stuff i seen was about the cookie sheet, the rocks, a tennis ball in the food, and some brake fast bowls.

not to fond of any of that, but im just gonna try and use a cookie sheet. i did put some bones in his food so that he would be more... careful, and not just swallow his food. the firs ttime i gave hime bones he ate them, just ate them. he threw it up, and then started to chew, so i guess he learned because now he always chews his bones.

im going to stop pulling him away, i didnt do it very much, just a few times. im glad that this a common complaint people have about their dogs, meaning its normal. thanks longblades and winston!

[cell]

you can also just sprinkle the food around the house so he has to go collect it as a game.

[Marty11]

How bout hand feeding a few kibbles at a time. I'm afraid the puppy will start guarding his food if you pull him away too much.

[BenMax]

Have you ever heard of a piggy bowl? It is a bowl with 4 'separations within the bowl. It ensures that the dog does not gooble down the food.

[Sew-sew-steve]

Cell, you might not like what im about to say. but Dozer lives inside a box in the courtyard, since his room (i believe) is infected with CPV, i cant put him back inside it, so hes got some of my cotton pants to sit on inside a box with a small opening. im open to any suggestions to enhance his current home.


Marty, im not gonna hold him anymore, since the whole incident leaves me and him confused emotionally. i will hand feed him now, but oddly enough he doesnt like kibbles. i have him on a diet consisting of boiled chicken, carrots, lettuce (if theres any), cucumbers (if theres any), and tomatoes (if theres any), topped with either olive oil or egg whites. ill sometimes put a little cheese on it, greek cheese i think its called? the white square thats submerged in water??? lol.

BenMax, i dont really know anything about pet items or brands, or bowls, etc... etc... cause im still in kuwait. i will try and either make my own brake fast or piggy bowl, or something like that for him.



for anyone whos got/had a dog with hip displacia, whats the best thing to do for exercise? because all dozer does is kind of mope around, and when he is sleeping on my lap and i try to lift him up from his shoulders (sometimes its futile) he yelps reaaaallly loud from the pain.often times, he'll just walk around his box frusterated while whining and then just go inside his box and lay down, despite me sitting right outside his box. so i dont know, do i leave him? do i stay when he leaves me and goes into the box? im at a crossroads now, not sure what to do.

[kigndano]

as far as the feeding goes i would try just putting a small amount in the bowl and letting him finish...then adding a bit more etc etc.

make him sit between mini-meals...that might work.

the hip dysplasia is tricky - have you seen the vet about supplements?

swimming is GREAT for dogs with joint problems (and people too) - low impact, great cardio.

dont do a lot of steps or walking -especially if its advanced hip problems.