The Danger of a Frantic Eating Behavior in the Canine

Dogs can eat their food extremely fast sometimes. Many pet owners do not see this as a potential health risk and continue to let the behavior persist. However, those of you that are concerned for your pet that they might aspirate some of their food may want to learn how to control the eating habits of your dog. Dogs that eat extremely fast are at risk for aspirating food and bloat. Aspirating food can occur when your dog eats too much and in the process of swallowing, takes a breath and inhales a piece of dog food kibble. This, in turn, obviously will cause an airway obstruction and your dog may asphyxiate.

In larger breed dogs, bloat is a common occurrence, especially when eating too fast. This happens because as the dog eats the food, he/she in turn swallows a large amount of air during the process. A large accumulation of air in the stomach can lead to a bloat. So how do you prevent your dog from eating too fast? Correcting this behavior may not be an easy task. First off, there are food bowls designed to control the rate at which your dog eats. By this, I mean bowls that have built in pegs sticking out of the bowl so that the dog has to work its way around them, in turn, controlling the rate at which it eats.

If you cannot find one of these bowls, you can simply place large river rocks in the bowl to accomplish the same task. Training is always an option, but not always the easiest. There are plenty of behaviorists that can help you with this problem. Your veterinarian may also provide some insight as to what you should be doing. Smaller dogs are at greater risk because of the lack of power to cough kibble out of the trachea. Larger dogs possess a larger diaphragm and can produce a more powerful cough. Granted, both are at risk for choking on the food. When you first buy your dog as a puppy, this is the prime time to train them in everything. Whether it is food intake behavior, chewing behavior, bathroom training, etc., they will learn better at a younger age. If you attempt to train them when they are in the older stages of life, it becomes too difficult. There is a lot of help available to you that you can resource to and get advice in order to train your dog properly.