because our mini schnauzer just gulps his food back and doesn't chew it. at least once per meal, he chokes on the food. lately this choking has required human intervention to keep the retard alive. i'm torn between getting him one of the bowls or making him work for his food with a food cube thing. i understand that with the bowls, it slows them enough to stop them from choking, generally. i feel like he's too stupid for a cube. i have a cong toy that i jam with wet food and freeze sometimes. since he can't just swallow it, he has no interest in it.

also, ideally, i'd like for him to learn how to fking chew his food. i don't think that's possible though. i get both dogs "happy hips" dog treats at petco. they're basically a dried apple slice with chicken jerky wrapped around it. sometimes i get the chicken and sweet potato ones as a change. but hans won't chew them at all. he seems to love them but just gulps the thing down all at once too. so i don't give them to him anymore. i give them to the other dog and give hans a rice cake because he can't fit one into his mouth so he has to chew at least part of it. and yes, rice cakes are part of a beetus dog's diet. for a year, they were the only treat we could give to him that wasn't just his food.

 

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poor mr. hans

I've never used one of those bowls before. the concept looks pretty sound though

 

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i don't think you got to witness him actually eating. which is weird considering you were here for like 12 hours. he sounds like a pig when he eats. he snorts and snuffles and you hear him choking (the kind he can deal with himself) like 4-5x before the bowl of food is gone. i dunno what changed that causes him to literally need human intervention if wet food is added into the mix.

 

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its weird that you posted this now, I just saw those bowls for the first time last week, I was looking for an auto-water system that would fill itself.

none for indoor use though

 

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Nope I actually never did see him eat. I know you told me he always eats like he is starving though and how much weight he lost

 

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i can't imagine how much attention you'd need to pay to an auto-filling one. the manual ones need to be cleaned at least once a week to keep the slime levels down.


edit: i've asked my dog walker what her advice is here. she had to shove her fingers down his throat the first day she came this week. so we'll see. cuz i can either get a new bowl entirely, which i'd rather not do or i can get a stainless steel ball that goes into the food bowl and that allows me to keep his current dish and gives me something that is dishwasher safe. or again, the feeding toys. but he's so stupid with that stuff i think he'd go hungry for at least a day before he realized that oh, this is how i eat now.

 

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the auto fill ones have a constant stream of water that makes it like a fountain, supposedly it stops that stuff from growing.

 

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it does not stop that stuff from growing. i had a fountain feeder and believe me, i was cleaning it every 4 days because the slime in the basin was out of control if i didn't.

 

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I have 3 shelties which are VERY food-driven. I feed all 3 at the same time in their individual crates and they still occasionally snarf like that. In the end, you have to decide whats best for the dog. If you do get one, you aren't torturing them, they do get the food.

And yeah we had one of those and it doesn't stop the slime from growing

 

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My lab has always eaten so fast that if I give him his whole meal at once he'll throw it up afterward.


I just feed it to him in thirds with about 10 minutes spacing between courses.

Rho

 

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