doesn't seem to chew

[salvochick]

My 8 month old rotty doesn't seem to chew his meals. We put the food in his bowl, wait a bit, give him a release command and in about 2 minutes its all gone. Could we not be feeding him enough? He gets dry food for breakfast and cold food and dry food for dinner. He would also get a treat during the day.

[POPPYHONEY]

My 7mo rottie eats the same way (since the first day he came to our house at 3 mo and was very fat!!). I am not affraid of not feeding him enough as long as I have followed the instruction from the bags of the kibbles, because I could maintain his weight. He is just at the right weight range for his age.

If I give him raw, he would swallow the meat without even chewing and finish his meal in a few seconds..

Don't give over meals for your dogs, fat puppy has more health problems than the thinner one.

[Judi W]

Dogs in general don't chew their food as long as the pieces are small enough for them to swallow. Their digestion takes place in the stomach.

Some eat fast, some eat slow and it doesn't seem to be related to whether they are getting "enough" or not. As long as the pup looks fit, not fat and not bony I would not worry about it.

[Carina43]

A whole two minutes to finish a meal? That's slow! :) It's also normal.

I've heard of people putting LARGE rocks in the dish to make their dog slow down, or scattering it on a clean floor so the dog has to graze. But dogs normally eat as fast as they can, I wouldn't worry about it.

[RottiMomCT]

I've got you beat! I also have a much older dog :D . Our 5 year old male will literally HOOVER his meals - 1 1/2 cups in under a minute - I've timed him! I put a rock in his dish - he picked it up and took it out!!

We're working on putting a hole thru his dish & in a rock - putting a piece of threaded rod thru the hole and then screwing the rock to the rod so he can't get it out! We'll be able to remove the rock to clean the dish and he'll eat slower!!

Pain in the butt getting the darned hole in the rock tho! :D :D

My 3 1/2 yr old male takes his time - not really savoring each bite but certainly not hurrying!!

[shybird]

Glad I came across this post, Widget is a inhaler too. Kind of had me uneasy because the others take their time. I was unsure if it was because she was a stray and didn't think there would be more, or if she was so hungry that she couldn't get it fast enough or if I wasn't feeding enough. Now I feel better knowing it's probably just HER. She does need some more weight, so I am feeding more than I think she needs already.. Thanks for cluing me in too......

[JD102175]

Brodie used to inhale his food also. He has slowed down quite a bit though. He used to eat 2.5 cups of nutro in about 45 sec. now he's at about 1 to 1.5 minutes.


Jaime

[Sharon Marples]

We have a couple of dogs that eat fast too. When feeding dry food, we suggest that you add water to it. It makes them take a bit longer because they have to lap up the water along with eating the food. We add at least two cups water to each bowl when feeding, the food is basically "floating" when we give it to them.


Sharon Marples