How to Slow Down Your Puppy’s Eating

It is important to make sure your puppy is eating their food in a manner that allows for proper digestion. If you notice your pup has some tummy troubles after swallowing their food too quickly, try changing up their feeding routine. Check out these tips to learn how to slow down your puppy’s eating!

Spread your puppy’s meal across a large flat tray or baking sheet. This spreads the food out and will force your pup to only eat one kibble at a time instead of grabbing mouth fulls from their bowl. Slowing down their eating by spreading your puppy’s food out will allow them to take the time to chew and properly swallow each piece. This is a great option to try if you already have a baking sheet at home and your puppy seems to be grabbing too much food at once.

There are now dog food bowls specifically designed to slow down your puppy’s eating. Many of them will look like the one in the picture above. Much like tray feeding, slow feeder bowls separate the food into narrow sections to make it difficult for your puppy to gulp down too much food at once. Your puppy will need to work to get their food from this bowl. This allows your puppy to take their time while eating their meal.

Try adding a tennis ball to your dog’s bowl when feeding them to help slow down their eating. They will need to spend time nudging the ball out of the way to get more food. This allows them to chew and swallow the small amounts of food already in their mouth.

Simply increasing the number of meals you feed your pup in a day may cause them to slow down their eating. One reason pups rush through their meals is a fear that they will be taken away. Once they know, food is frequently available through multiple meals, they may not eat as quickly. It is important to increase the number of meals and not the amount of food you are feeding. When increasing the amount of meals your pup eats, you will be decreasing the amount of food fed at each meal.