Ok I have a puppy she is an APBT and is oh probably about 12 to 14 weeks by now. She eats three times a day and sucks her food down like she is starving. No worms or anything and she is not sick far as the vet can tell. So what is her problem? I have never seen a pup act like this. She acts as if she is starving. A real bottomless pit. (no pun intended) Anyone have any Idea why she is doing this? I even have a hard time when giving her a cookie she trys to take it and half my fingers with it she is so psyco over anything to do with eating. And she will eat her food then go steal everyone elses food. My poor Gidget can never eat with her around. I try to keep her from getting the food but man is she fast! And I don't want to start crating her because I do not want problems later on. My male Am. Staff used to eat with everyone else in the same room. I had to crate him because of hip problems and he could not walk so we fed him in the crate. Now he is on pain meds and can walk but any dog goes near his crate or even comes int he same room and he will lose his mind! So now we have to crate him and feed him with the door closed. We tried puttin gher on a leash so we could stop her from bum rushing the other bowels and she about hung herself trying to get loose from the leash. PLEASE any Ideas????
__________________
The best friend you can find is the four legged kind!
Hmm, does your pup seem to be at a good weight? Some people will put down food let it eat as much as it wants in the ten minutes. She just may need more. You could try that. If she is ravenous. Being shes a pup she will more than likely not get fat and burn off those calories.
If I let her eat she would blow up and be all moaning because she ate too much. Yep she is at a good weight. Doc says she is where she should be. But then again doctors have been known to be wrong before lol. Here is her picture.... http://www.dogster.com/?127703
__________________
The best friend you can find is the four legged kind!
You can try to give her some healthy treats between meals to help give her a fuller feeling. Why don't you get a bag of baby carrots & give them a try. Most dogs love them. You can also put some fillers in with her food such as green beans to give her more volume without calories. Another thing you can do to try to slow down her eating is to take a rock (that's way too big for her to swallow or even comfortably put in her mouth) or a hard ball and put it in her food bowl with her kibble. This tends to slow them down as they have to eat around the item to get to the food. I have a couple of friends - one with a German Shepherd & one with a lab who do this to get their dogs to eat at a slower pace. You can also try to break her meals up into 6 - that way she may not have such an "empty" feeling when it's chow time.
I would not let her steal the other dogs' food tho - as you know that can end up leading to another set of problems. Perhaps allow the slower eater to have some peace in a room with a baby gate on the doorway so little Miss Piggy can't get in. As you work her with some obedience training it should get easier to control her.
What kind of food are you feeding her? She actually looks a little on the thin side to me. I reccomend feeding Natural Balance. I have a Golden Retriever/Chow who has a love for food. On this food, which has a lot better ingredients then most dog food, they get fuller and actually end up eating less. Because I have both large dogs and small, I feed the one for all breeds and life stages. (the blue bag) My pom was really skinny when he was going through his puppy uglies and he would eat like a horse but not gain any weight and always acted VERY hungry. After switching to this food his coat has gotten great and he gained a good amount of weight but he is far from fat, and he doesn't act like he is starving anymore.
We recently adopted a golden retriever/shar pei who is about 5 months old and she has adjusted to this food great and does really well on it, her coat also is starting to look alot better after only 2 1/2 weeks on it. I reccomend this food to everyone, it costs a little more but because they eat less it works out to about the same and they are SOOOOO much happier. There is a website with the list of ingredients on it. If you type "Natural Balance Dog Food" into the google search engine, then it will bring up their site.
Thanks I am quite fond of her myself lol and actually I forgot to mention which (I should have) Most of her food is meats and veggies. She get very little kibble as a base. I also feed home made biscuits and dehydrated liver gizzards and hearts.
__________________
The best friend you can find is the four legged kind!
My mothers Boxer is the same way. He acts like he is constantly starving and as soon as the bowl is put in front of him its gone. I think he eats like 6 cups a day of Daimond lamb and rice. And thats how much food Oscar eats. And there is a huge weight difference between the two.
Me personally would say it is rather normal. But, don't let her keep doing it. Eating to fast when she gets older can cause bloat.
When Storm was a pup she eat like that. I just cut 3 feeding into 6, seemed to help with her. Same amount of food just closer together. They will acutally think they are getting more.
You could always put a large rock in her bowl to where she has to take the time to go around the rock and eat. It may slow down her eating some. Hopefully though she wouldn't try to eat the rock. LOL!!!
I have seen this in pups that are just beginning separate feeding from their littermates. Pups in a litter eat from a common bowl, or a couple pans when they get bigger, they scramble and shift for position to get all the food up. He probably does not know his littermates won't try to steal his food at this point. Often smaller dogs get less food than larger, quicker littermates, they begin to require separate feeding when the competition gets more aggressive. The dogs should not be eating in the same room. I had a lovely bitch get her ear shredded by her mate. It happened faster than you can blink. They had always eaten together, just one day, he nailed her. Also, the food should be measured to 2-3 feedings a day, according to his weight. It should be consumed w/in 5min. and the bowls put away for later.
Jazzy, my wild child, use to act like that too. Since she is older now, she has gotten better. In fact she doesn't even eat her food right away now. I think it is normal for some puppies at that age.
My new 5 month old Parson Russell eats fast and crazy too and then goes after the other dogs food! I don't let her. I feed mine 'Chicken soup for the dog and cat lovers soul' (which is all natural) with veggies. The veggies help fill them and they are good for them. The rock idea is a good one. I think this is normal for puppies and they will eventually grow out of it.
First, you want to make sure there are no physical problems with your dog. Voracious eaters may have diabetes, a metabolic problem, or internal parasites. They need to eat because they are trying to replace what is lost to the other disease or an organism. It is important to make sure your dog gets a thorough health examination from your veterinarian including blood tests and fecal exam for parasites. Since you said the vet gave a clean bill of health then the next thing would be to try what others have already said.
Putting a ball in the food bowl is a good idea, but you may want to try several large rocks. Also, I would suggest you feed the dogs apart in separate rooms. Or you can tether both dogs in the room when you feed them to prevent competition over food. There are also some “puzzle toys” that you can stuff with your dog’s meal so that she really has to work to get the food out of the toy.
You may want to check the food you are feeding you dog. Some dogs digest some foods better than others and your dog may be eating fast because she is not getting nutrition out of her food. Talk to your veterinarian and try several high quality foods that have different emphasis on certain ingredients to see which one is the best for your dog. I completely understand your hesitency to feed store bought kibble, but you may need to at least mix it half and half until this pup learns the ropes. Then, you can try going back to your old feeding routine.
At this point, it sounds like a nutrient issue. What foods work for one dog may not work for another. If you really are against the kibble, I would purchase some supplements to give with the food you are feeding.
__________________
As a creature doomed with mystery
T'is the night that knows my history
she is on a suppliment the vet reccomended and she does get some kibble in with her food. I recently started feeding her more natural foods and less kibble so it is fairly new to her but she has done this for a while. I am hoping it is just semething she will grow out of. Shes a real pistol!
__________________
The best friend you can find is the four legged kind!
ok I decided to mix oatmal in with her food today and I made it a bit pasty rather then thinner. It took her a little longer to eat it this time but still a bit fast.
__________________
The best friend you can find is the four legged kind!