Digestion Archives - Edie MacKenzie

The passion that dogs put into eating can be a little off-putting to the people who feed them – and who have to watch their terrible manners. There’s the drooling and whining. The unseemly snorting as they bury their faces in their food. And, worst of all, the regurgitation that may occur afterward. This, too, is part of nature’s plan.

When wolves stuffed themselves with 40 pounds of meat, their bodies couldn’t actually process that much at once. So they would waddle away from the table, throw up a little bit, then eat it to get the nutrients.

Dogs are a lot smaller than wolves, and it doesn’t take 40 pounds of meat to turn their stomachs. That’s why the kibble you pour in the bowl occasionally gets deposited in the corner a few minutes later. This has nothing to do with physical health or social graces. Their brains and stomachs are telling them that dogs who waste not, want not, and so they follow orders.

Given a chance to raid the food bag, most dogs will instantly revert to their old habits. Even when they don’t eat a lot, they do eat fast, and eating fast means that what goes in is going to try to come out.

Here are a few ways to protect the floors and keep their stomachs calm.

1. Give them more time: Dogs learn from experience. If you always pick up the food bowl the minute they’re done, they’ll figure that they’d better eat faster just in case you pick it up early. Leaving the bowl on the floor for 10 to 15 minutes after it’s empty will help them understand that they don’t have to rush.

2. Wet the food: Most dogs like a little gravy with their meals, and moistening dry food with warm water makes it more appealing. More important, it makes it easier to digest. Dogs are less likely to toss up their food when it’s not in hard chunks.

3. Give them less food, more often: Even though dogs are designed to handle very large meals, it’s better for their digestion to eat smaller amounts, more often. Veterinarians often recommend feeding dogs at least twice a day. Some say it’s better to feed them three, four, or even five times a day. The total amount of food will be the same, but the leisurely pace will help ensure that it stays where it’s supposed to.

A dog’s eating habits are controlled by three things: its brain, its experiences, and its environment. The very first experiment in behavioral psychology was done by a scientist named Pavlov who taught dogs to get ready to eat when they heard a certain sound. Since that initial experiment, scientists have observed over and over how important the things happening around, and to, a dog are when it comes to affecting the dog’s eating habits.

Once, when dogs were wild, most of their daily activity was devoted to obtaining a meal. While the need for this activity has practically disappeared, mealtime still constitutes one of the most important events in a dog’s life. And, many of a dog’s behavioral responses are still linked to its eating routine.

Today’s dogs have become creatures of habit. They thrive on monotony and are most comfortable when things remain the same. Few dogs appreciate a sudden change in their sleeping quarters or the surprise of a new food in their bowl. The more that can be done to prevent change in a dog’s feeding program, the better it will be for both the dog and its owner. Regularity in feeding promotes good appetite, good digestion and regular eliminations. Therefore, the first general consideration to be made when feeding any dog should be the establishment of a regular feeding schedule and should stay that way without being altered.

Puppies have conventionally been fed small portions of their daily diet at frequent intervals during the day. The rationalization behind this is sound, but the frequency of feedings often is too high. Even newborn puppies do quite well when fed only four times daily. Some breeders even reduce this to three times daily, but unless your schedule absolutely prohibits it, a minimum of four feedings should be the limit. The feedings need not be separated exactly six hours apart, but it is desirable to space the feedings as evenly as possible throughout the 24-hour time period. For example, my own schedule usually works out best when I feed around 7:00 A.M., 12:00 Noon, 6:00 P.M., and 1:00 P.M. Yours may be different.

The frequency of feedings should not be reduced to three a day until the puppies are weaned. Whether you are feeding newborn puppies four times daily, or older puppies three times, once the pattern of feedings has been set, it should not be changed, but should occur at the same time every day.

Setting Good Eating Habits

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