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Takes a long time to eat his Dinner

2K views 15 replies 11 participants last post by  Soldes 
#1 ·
Red eats once a day ( his own choice since he stopped eating in the morning), and went he gets his meal, he takes a long time to eat it; while going and doing other things, and then coming back to nibble some more (sometimes taking 1 hr to finish). My question to the ones with a high canine IQ: Is it because we have fed the same kibble for 6 months and he needs a change of foods? or, is it a bad habit that he now have ? Did read here some time ago, that some folks alternate between 2 foods every 3 months, to avoid taste boredom; so, was wondering if this is common practice or it does depend on the Dog. Are most GSD's cleaning their bowls in 10 minutes with the same food always?, or is it best to change the foods to avoid the same ol same ol food dissatisfaction?
 

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#3 ·
Have you checked his teeth for dental pain? I'd look at changing his food or adding a topper of some sort, even bone broth. It's hard to believe a dog eating just once a day is eating that slow. Mine are fed twice a day and they both wolf their food down unless they don't like the food. What food are you feeding?
 
#6 · (Edited)
None of my GSDs (current dogs or past dogs-the last 5 dogs I've fed it to) EVER liked Victor. I would try something else. I currently feed Dr. Gary's Best Breed. One gets the German variety (chicken) and the other with allergies gets the Salmon & Herbs variety and they LOVE their food. It's not grain free but it doesn't have peas and agrees with my pup that's prone to yeast overgrowth. It's reasonably priced enough that I also add cooked meat, eggs, etc. for additional protein.
 
#5 ·
Mine eat very fast so the other won’t steal their food and I don’t like it. I wish they would eat slower. I feed them in separate rooms so they can’t get to the other’s food. I had a single male in the past who ate slowly until I brought in a puppy. Then he started eating a lot faster.
 
#7 ·
I’ve never had a picky or slow eater. I’d esitimate all of my GSD have finished their meals in 2-3 minutes. Maybe it’s because they’re rescues... or because they’re usually part of a multi pet household at some point or another. Not sure.

Easier said than done I suppose, but my general rule should I ever need it is to feed them what they’ll finish in a couple minutes..... if they walk away, the food gets taken away and not offered again until their next meal time.
 
#8 ·
Are most GSD's cleaning their bowls in 10 minutes with the same food always?
10 minutes?! How about, 1-2 minutes!
My dog always eats like he is starved.
( We are watching his weight and trying to hold him steady under 80 lbs so hmm, he might actually feel starving sometimes!)

He has the same base kibble always, but he gets just a few spoonfuls of "topper" mixed in at each meal. Often it's plain cooked meat, chopped into bits. Or some hardboiled egg. Or plain broiled salmon, chopped into bits. If we don't have anything (like, going out to dinner) then I mix in a few spoonfuls of a premium canned dogfood for flavoring. Because it's only a few spoonfuls each time, one can of dogfood will last for 4 meals, so it's affordable.

So yes, he's a bit spoiled! But I'm kind of foodie too...I don't like to eat the same thing for breakfast more than two days in a row, and since I cook almost every day, it's no trouble to make a little bit of plain meat for him on the side.

You could also try a different kibble brand, but switch over slowly (25/75 then 50/50 then 75/25 etc)

I think every dog is different though! Some are pickier eaters than others.
He looks beautiful and healthy though!
 
#9 ·
The GSD we got would only eat at a reasonable pace/amount if we enforced a feed schedule. Without it she doesn't eat a whole lot and just lays down and slowly munches through it when she feels like it.

But when we set a feed schedule and food was put up after she was given time to eat it she got better at eating consistently. So say food was set down she had so long to eat it and up it went. Food was offered again at the next meal time. Also how much food do you feed him? I misread the packaging on a new food I got awhile back and so was overfeeding my pup so she'd only eat once a day. For some reason I spaced out and thought x-amount of cups was per meal not per day.
 
#11 ·
Again, easy for me to say because I don’t have slow or picky eaters, but I wouldn’t overthink toppers... I’ve always used a spoon of whatever is convenient and add a bit of warm water. Yogurt, cottage cheese, peanut butter, broth, free high grade kibble samples, etc etc.

Thinking of this thread I timed my dogs this evening. Keys ate 2 cups in exactly 2 minutes. Tilden, mid vestibular episode, finished 2.5 cups in 4:31
 
#12 ·
It may just be his coat, so I’m seeing it wrong, but he looks like he may be a little overweight. If he is, and it’s affecting his joint health, he may be off his food from that. But like I said, could just be his coat making him look larger than he seems in the pic.

3 out of 4 of mine scarf their food down in about five minutes. Our GSD/Husky is a PITA, and sometimes won’t eat at all in a day. Sometimes he eats like he hasn’t been offered food for a week. My routine is fill the 4 bowls with the varying portion sizes, and place Lyka’s bowl down first, then Crios (the GSD/Husky), then Floki, and Seiran last. They all have to sit, watch me, and stay seated until the bowl is down, then they can eat. I watch Seiran and Floki to make sure they aren’t crossing bowls, and then go collect Lyka’s bowl, and Crios’s bowl. The process takes about 20 minutes. If Crios hasn’t eaten a single piece of kibble, I still pull his bowl and offer it at the next meal time. We’ve tried both toppers (salmon oil, yogurt, chopped boiled eggs, rinsed sardines, pumpkin and bone broth, still won’t eat it). So we stopped trying the toppers, it’s wasted food, we can’t offer it to him again at evening meal time if it’s been sitting around with toppers.

Him and Lyka used to free feed until we got the pups. Lyka learned quickly if she wanted a meal, she needed to eat it then instead of picking throughout the day. Crios is a stubborn dog, and goes on food strikes because he doesn’t like me timing his meals. I don’t worry about it. He’s still a very healthy weight, and he does give in when he’s really hungry, so I’m not changing a thing.

We are going to try a slow change from Fromm to Victors, but even switching flavors of Fromm didn’t have any affect on his stubbornness. We are switching for one of the pups that is having weight issues.
 
#13 ·
Our 3 yr old female has always been a slow, picky eater. I noticed that she’s more enthusiastic about the first half of a large bag of food than the last half so I recently purchased a small bag of a different food and use it as a topper rather than change her regular food. So far it seems to be working.
 
#14 ·
How much kibble are you feeding him and how active is he? Dogs have different levels of food drive. If he is not that interested in eating, and is other wise healthy, I would cut back on the kibble and add some real food. Kibble is akin to eating Cheerios to me. I add lightly cooked ground turkey and collard greens to my dog's food. Kibble alone is inadequate. I wouldn't feed ham to a dog and many dogs are allergic to chicken. Start out by just adding about a teaspoon of each real food.
 
#15 ·
People rotate foods to avoid creating food sensitivities. I switch between lamb and fish since we now have a chicken sensitivity and a beef allergy.
I have a picky eater. Trust me when I tell you don't feed the monster. Shadow gets her food for 10 minutes. Then the bowl goes away and she gets nothing until her next feeding. I feed half her food in the morning and half at night. She does get canned food mixed with dinner because she takes her supplements with dinner.
I tried broth, yogurt, stew, fresh meat. It just became a game where she liked it until she didn't. I stopped playing. If she is really being a twit I pick up her whole dish and she runs through obedience drills for one kibble at a time. Usually a few minutes of that has her begging for her dish.
 
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