My puppy gulps his food

[Bowsersmom]

My 5 month old Boxer puppy gulps his food in about 20 seconds! He does not chew at all. He sometimes coughs out pieces of dry food. Once, he projectile vomited a chunk of unchewed Milkbone. I feed him 3 times daily, about 1 cup at each feeding. He weighs about 33 lbs. I also feed my 4 yr. old Lab at the same time, however he never goes after the puppy's food or intimidates him in any way. I am worried he may get that stomach torsion (stomach flips over??) by eating so fast. He also gets hiccups all the time. Can anyone help me with this?

[Winston]

Welcome to this site! You could place a kong in the food bowl or even a ball....This tends to slow them down. Would love to see some pics of your fur family! You have to wait for a couple more posts before you can post a picture!

Good Luck

Cindy

[helloapollo]

i have a 4 month old great dane. he will devour his food in seconds as well as i worry about it. he is fed away from the other dog in his enclosure twice a day so it seems to be his habit. i now offer his food in stages. this allows his tummy to adjust and then i feed him the other thirds every 10-20 mins. i don't know any tips about getting your pup to chew but.

with the pup sometimes being sick , i was told by my vet nurse to give him 1/2 a cup of simple, natural, plain yoghurt whenever he ate too fast and threw up, to put all the good bacteria back in his system.

i haven't tried the kong trick but it sounds like a smart idea. goodluck with it and i hope it helps.

[hazelrunpack]

Our dogs were recently put on antibiotics so we started adding plain yogurt and pumpkin (not spiced pie filling, just plain 100% pumpkin pack) to their food. It had a surprising side benefit--it makes the food sticky so they have no choice but to eat slower. Just mix it well with the kibble. And both pumpkin and yogurt are beneficial additives. We use about a TBSP of each per meal.

[helloapollo]

yeah, my friend reccomended pumpkin soup to help my pups runny bowel movements at one stage. we know how he got sick...tuna in his canned food... not going to chose that again. sloppy food will take your pup a bit longer to eat that's for sure!:sad:

and about the hiccups, my pup gets it a bit.
scof scof scof.... hiccup!
sometimes he gets exited/playful and starts hiccuping as well. i'm just as curious how to control hiccups too, but my vet said they all should grow out of it.

(great....apollo just started!) lol

[Puppy_Pal]

Try spreading your puppy's food out across the floor or a wide tray. I got this suggestion from a friend when my puppy did the same thing. She ate so fast she would vomit it all back up. I would spread it out on the floor for her so she could not take large mouthfuls. No more puking. She has slowed down a bit now at 11months old, but we have her a bowl the size for an elephant so the food is still spread out a bit. If you came over you'd think we had a horse not a puppy.
Good luck.

[Bowsersmom]

I tried the Kong in the food bowl, and he didn't even seem to notice it - he just shoved past it like a steam roller and kept right on gulping!! I then tried spreading his food out, and that definately seemed to slow him down! Thanks for all of you who responded!!
Bowsersmom

[aslan]

you can also try putting more than one object in his bowl so he has to move them around to get his food, golfballs worked with one of our gobblers.

Helloapollo, he's getting hiccups 'cause he's gulping air in with his food. give him a few good thumps, not pounds but thumps on his chest it will stop the hiccups.