Thursday, January 7, 2010

Slowing her down

Darby has always been one to wolf down her food. I guess she isn't alone--I've heard that lots of Corgis do the same thing. In an effort to slow her down, I put a few large rocks in her bowl that she has to pick around.  That worked for awhile, but now that Bonnie is living with us, I'm concerned that her eating so fast might become a bigger problem.

Bonnie is mildly food-aggressive (well, maybe sometimes not-so-mildly), so I started out feeding them in separate rooms. But, Bonnie gets so excited when I am just preparing their bowls, that Darby gets excited, too.  The problem is, that Bonnie is excited to get both of their rations and Darby is excited to protect hers so once she starts eating, she eats with a real fury now.

Eating or drinking fast can cause a serious--even deadly--problem called "bloat" so I certainly want to slow these girls down.

So, now Bonnie gets the bowl with the rocks and Darby gets this:


4 comments:

Sammy said...

Hey Darb,

Does is really slow you down?

Sammy,

Boo21's Mom said...

Hey, Sammy.

Having to eat from those muffin cups slows Darby down a bit--but not a lot. And, you should hear the noise!! I also toss some of the food on the floor to slow her down a little more. Have to clean the bathroom floor more often, but it is better than bloat!

Darby's human, Melissa

betty said...

what a clever idea with the muffin pan. I always have to remind Koda (it does no good) by saying "chew your food Koda". I 'swear' he inhales it

betty

Amy said...

That is really clever! I am definitely going to have to keep that one in mind.