I recently offered to test the DogPause Bowl with my three dogs, Max, Lucy and Gracie. The bowl has 4 chambers that require some degree of maneuvering to reach all the kibble, and has been clinically proven to slow down dogs' eating habits and reduce common problems such as gas, belching, vomiting, and bloating. The issue of gobbling food and bloat hits close to home--in 2003 we came home to find our 8 year old Lab, Molly, in distress Her belly was swollen, she kept trying to vomit and appeared to have difficulty breathing we rushed to the emergency vet, where she was diagnosed with bloat, and went into surgery to untwist her stomach. She survived the operation, but died in recovery later that night, and we were devastated.
Molly loved to eat, and she practically inhaled her food. We'd never heard of bloat up to that point, and didn't know that large chested dogs, and dogs who eat rapidly, are most vulnerable. Unfortunately, the eating habits of our Golden Retriever, Greyhound and Beagle are not that much better than those of Molly. When I heard about the Dog Pause Bowl (www.dogpausebowl.com), I was eager to test it out. Here's what I provided them for feedback:
General
Comments:
- It would be helpful if the bowls had
a rubber strip at the bottom to keep from sliding on the
floor (The say this is by design, as it slows the eating down further. I think they now have a rubber bottom option; we just put it on a mat)
- The shape of the bottom makes the bowls easy to pick up, which is nice
- When we added a lot of liquid to the
dry food, they all took a little longer to eat than when we just served them
their dry kibble
Specific
comments
- Lucy, the Beagle is a voracious
eater. I was hoping that the bowls would slow her down, but she seems to have
mastered the bowl pretty quickly. I think she thought of it as a mental
challenge the first time, and now she has it down. With a small nose, she's able
to get in and eat nearly as fast as in her regular
bowl; however between the sliding and the dividers, it has forced her to slow a little, and we're happy for any improvement.
- Gracie, the Greyhound is a fast
eater who usually eats out of an elevated bowl. The Dog Pause bowl was confusing
to her, but with a very narrow nose she was able to get right in. However, she
seemed to lick up lots of her kibble and then chew it by the mouthful—and it
seemed as if she swallowed without chewing all of it, so I didn't consider this
test a success. However, part of the reason why she eats so fast is that Lucy and Max are fast eaters, and Gracie learned to eat fast to keep up. As they've slowed down, she has too, so in a way, this was a beneficial outcome.
- Max, the Golden Retriever seems to
have slowed down the most with the bowl. Since his face is bigger, he can't get
right into it like the others, which has slowed him down considerably. I would
consider him to be the most successful tester.
Has anyone else tried the DogPause bowl? What other techniques and tricks have you tried for managing eating habits? What's worked well for you?
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