Nutrition

Re: The DogPause Bowl

BCMixs — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:20:41 GMT

huskymom:
Never tried the bundtpan thing. I do use it for outside water though with a big stake though the middle so the dogs can't flip it over. Tricky tricky.

Oh you are one smart cookie!!! That's genius!

Re: The DogPause Bowl

noblewoman — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:49:48 GMT

My dog inhales his food and would throw up afterward. So I started sitting on the floor with him to spoon feed him the wet food, then I had his dry food in a measuring cup and I would pour just a few pieces at a time in the bowl so he HAD to eat slow. Worked like a charm. The Dog Pause bowl sounds interesting though......

Re: The DogPause Bowl

huskymom — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:10:13 GMT

I believe that dogs need to be taught to slow down at meal times as well as to speed up in the case of slow picky eaters. But I also believe that they will learn and eventually not need the extra help. I've spread kibble on a cookie sheet for younger pups. Its hard to gobble when you take 20 seconds trying to gather together a mouthful. Never tried the bundtpan thing. I do use it for outside water though with a big stake though the middle so the dogs can't flip it over. Tricky tricky.

I think the cookie sheet might work for cats too, though I had a cat that would not eat if he could see the bottom of his bowl....pffft.....I'm so not a cat person.

Re: The DogPause Bowl

mudpuppy — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:39:18 GMT

not feeding dry kibble will reduce your chances of bloat dramatically. Actually, stress and genetics probably contribute to bloat more than your feeding practices. The elevated feeder finding is well-known to be spurious, so please feed your large dogs from elevated feeders for their comfort. .

Re: The DogPause Bowl

erica1989 — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:53:51 GMT

They do make kitty kongs - but I'm pretty such if I gave my cats one they would look at me like I was insane.

For cats, I would probably offer a small amount of canned food, several times during the day. Cats are smart, and I don't think they would fall for a puzzle trick thing......JMO

Re: The DogPause Bowl

DogPark — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:22:00 GMT

Do they make a smaller version for cats? My friend has a cat who gets sick because she eats her food to fast and this sounds like a possible solution for her.

Re: The DogPause Bowl

JRTzoey — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:42:02 GMT

BCMixs:
I've also read that feeding in a bundt cake pan is an inexpensive alternative as well. If I were feeding kibble again and was super concerned about bloat I think I'd do it with the puzzle balls, etc. It takes Indie a good 20-30 minutes to work a half cup of kibble out of that blue dice thing.

a bundt cake! what a great idea!!

that puzzle ball thing- i've done that. not so much for bloat, but sometimes if i knew i was leaving Zoey around a mealtime i'd put her food in an orange puzzle ball we have and let her work it out while i left un-noticed, reducing the anxiety she had about us leaving! a thought for anyone with a dog with seperation anxiety to try maybe??

Re: The DogPause Bowl

BCMixs — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:11:00 GMT

I've also read that feeding in a bundt cake pan is an inexpensive alternative as well. If I were feeding kibble again and was super concerned about bloat I think I'd do it with the puzzle balls, etc. It takes Indie a good 20-30 minutes to work a half cup of kibble out of that blue dice thing. I used this to feed him small meals several times a day when he was initially recovering from his stint in rescue. He could not manage more than that at a time or he'd melt down into horrible diarrhea, so it was imperative that he eat slowly and in small amounts. It worked well for us.

Re: The DogPause Bowl

erica1989 — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:09:01 GMT

Not feeding directly after exercise also will limit your chances of bloat. We just had a dog come down with bloat at the shelter - we were able to catch it in time, and he's recovering nicely. We've got him on several, small meals a day - with limited activity. He's also eating the ID food until his stomach heals.

Another idea - for those not wanting to spend money on this bowl (which does sound pretty neat) is to put another smaller bowl upside down in the big food bowl, or a tennis ball so the dog has to work around the obstruction to get to his food. We've also fed really fast eaters in a few different bowls - to slow them down.

Re: The DogPause Bowl

BCMixs — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:11:17 GMT

JackieG:
Pudue University has done a study on bloat that indicates elevated feeding bowls can increase the incidence of bloat by as much as 100%.

That explains alot. I fed my Airedale from an elevated dish and will never do it again. I knew very little about bloat prior to losing Rush to the condition at age 10.

OP-

I'm sorry to hear you had the same experience with your Molly. I hope the bowl works well for your dogs. I feed my two on the floor and they get homemade food, not kibble. I had also read that presoaking kibble expands it before it gets to the stomach and reduces the chances of bloat, something about them not feeling full, so eating faster and then drinking water which causes the kibble to expand once in the stomach. I limit physical activity before and after meal times and watch that they don't gorge on water. Good luck with the bowl!

Re: The DogPause Bowl

DogPark — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:56:48 GMT

That's really interesting about that study...I had no idea! The pause bowl sounds really interesting. Let us know how they do on it if you keep using it. I wonder if the aspect of having to work for their food is an added benefit here too?

Re: The DogPause Bowl

JackieG — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:00:42 GMT

Pudue University has done a study on bloat that indicates elevated feeding bowls can increase the incidence of bloat by as much as 100%.

Re: The DogPause Bowl

Cook.MN — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:55:28 GMT

I haven't even heard of them, but they do sound interesting. I have a lab and as you know, they don't even chew their food!

The DogPause Bowl

In Memory of Nala — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:25:52 GMT

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?