[Emma's_Family]

We are new users having been members for only a few weeks now. In fact this is our first posting.

We have been auditing the various threads discussing puppy foods with great interest. Our Emma is 18 weeks old now and we are feeding her Purina Puppy Chow large breed formula. The breeder was feeding Purina so we continued with it. She seems to be doing just fine and our vet thinks her weight is just where is should be and she says she is real healthy.

We are feeding 1 cup three times a day and she just inhales the food. We had to put a golf ball in the food bowl to slow her down a little. She eats so fast she gets the hickcups after eating. My question is this.. Is the three cups a day sufficient for her? She seems to be so hungry all the time.

At her last vet visit a week ago last Monday she was 32 #'s

Opinions??

 

[Noey]

My Scout inhales food as well.

I feed him in small amounts at a time. Sometimes I scatter them around so he eats them slower. I'm going to try the muffin tin this evening.

 

[BHVHarley]

maybe you put carrots inside

Andrea

 

[Nicole74]

I really don't know if it's enough, I would imagine it would be. Bailey is just the opposite, she barely eats 1 1/2 cups a day. I've switched foods and it doesn't seem to help any. Bailey was 28 pounds at 18 weeks.

I now put 2 cups of food in her dish in the morning and she picks at it all day, leaving about 1/2 cup.

 

[mikeynote]

Hazel is 20 weeks and I feed her a total of 2 cups a day. She too inhales her food...I wonder if she actually chews. Try using a muffin it pan. Haze'l now takes about 30-45 seconds to eat her food instead of about 10 seconds

 

[tbliss]

Three cups a day sounds like plenty to me. We feed our Maevis (19 weeks) two cups a day. Last week, she weighed in at 30 pounds. We try to add some vegetables (sweet potatoes, green beans or carrots) to her food to make her feel a bit more full. She seems to like the additional food, but she has never showed any sign of being "full." It seems like no matter when she last ate or how much she had, she always acts like she hasn't eaten in weeks!

 

[BeauShel]

Try to get her to slow down on her food. Put something larger than the golf ball in the bowl because she is getting bigger that golf ball might get scarfed up with the food. Some people have slowed them down with a brakefast bowl, muffin tin, a cookie sheet and spreading the food around on it so they have to work harder to get to eat forcing them to slow down.
Once she has slowed down on her eating she might not feel as hungry because she is getting more nutrients. Puppies do get hiccups alot so that might not be assoiciated with her food. I remember Bama getting them all the time and he was the slowest eater. Some goldens are chow hounds and not giving in to them with more food will be better for her in the long run. Since your vet says she is in good health and size I would not worry about it.
Maybe if you want to change to a better quality food in the purina line like Purina Pro Plan or Purina One.

 

[BJSalz]

Just as Carol said with something in his bowl- Our vet tech said to put a tennis ball in his bowl so that he had to eat around it, to slow him down. Or scattering the food on the floor makes him be a slow eater.

 

[timberwolf]

There are bowls on the market for fast eaters.
Timber's bowl has 4 compartments and it really has slowed down his eating.
He has to work to get it out of his bowl which is great as he's one of those that inhales his food.

 

[slip_kid]

brakefast bowl user here. now that his snout is getting bigger it's actually made him go from 30 seconds to 40 seconds to finish a meal...

my buddy is 5 months this coming thursday and is prob about 32 lbs. he's getting 3/4 a cup of canidae 3x a day. a medium kong with some pb in it. a good amount of those Natural Promise dog food logs cut up into tiny pieces for training.

on top of all that homeboy is olympic gold for counter surfing. hard to explain to our parents that he'd eat himself to death or illness if given the chance, they think we are starving him. i believe my MIL prob gives him her lunch the days she takes him out. at 95lbs there is no way she is fighting him off her when she pulls out a sandwich.

 

[Maya's Mom]

Toys that hold food and dispense it slowly are great too. Maya has a toy that is called the atomic treat ball that works great. You can put a cup of food in it and she rolls it around and two to three pieces of kibble come out at a time. It takes her almost 10 minutes to eat 1 cup of food. I got the 3 inch size b/c her puppy food is small pieces and the reviews said that small kibble comes out too fast from the 5 inch one. It is big enough that there is no danger of her swallowing it. It is not for dogs that are very strong chewers though. My friend's adult golden broke Maya's first one in about 2 seconds. I just only let Maya have it when there is food in it and she has never tried to chew it. Another option is the Buster Cube. I was actually going to buy a Buster Cube when I got the atomic treatball. The store was out of Buster Cubes. i think I'm going to try that too. Maya inhales her food, so we either hand-feed her while practicing training commands or use the treat ball. It has worked great for us, and Maya LOVES it!

 

[jwemt81]

You can also try putting her kibble inside of a Kong. This makes mealtime into a game her and will definitely slow her down since she will only get a few pieces of kibble at a time out of it.

 

[Rikos Mom]

Riko ate like that as a pup.....then he slowed down...he ate a lot also!

My grandpuppy (daughters boyfriends puppy) INHALES his food....the first thing he does when he gets to our house is run to Riko's bowl....if anything is in it, it's gone in 2 seconds, so we now have to beat him to the bowl!

I've read it's normal for puppies to eat like that...I used to think we were starving Riko when in fact, I was feeding him entirely too much thinking he was starving!

I put a tennis ball in his bowl, which slowed him down....then he'd play with it after