Help Needed! Elevated Feeder? Yes or no?

[WestminsterAbbey]

Abbey is quickly outgrowing her puppy bowls and I've been looking at getting her some stainless steel replacements but I'm on the fence if I should get her an elevated feeder. I did for my Boxer, it was rumored to help with Bloat, but I don't know if Bullies need to have one. I want to get opinions from all of you who are much more educated about Bullies than me!

Abbey is a good eater, she is always hungry but doesn't seem to eat too fast.

 

[Davidh]

I would not get the elevated bowls. Here are some things that can prevent Bloat in dogs.

• Divide the day’s ration into three equal meals, spaced well apart.
• Do not feed your dog from a raised food bowl.
• Avoid feeding dry kibble that has fat among the first four ingredients listed on the label.
• Avoid foods that contain citric acid.
• Restrict access to water for one hour before and after meals.
• Never let your dog drink a large amount of water all at once.
• Avoid strenuous exercise on a full stomach.

 

[petee2]

Thanks for posting this question. I have been thinking about this too for Petee. He is 9 months old and outgrown the small puppy bowls. Was thinking about getting raised SS bowls but now my question has been answered! He DOES eat his food fast- he ALWAYS acts hungry even though he is eating a good food ( Fromm grain free in beef Fratata and veg.). He gets 1 1/3 cup of food twice a day. He weighs about 45 lbs. I'm questioning now if I should split this up for three times a day because he is so hungry or just keep giving treats such as a bananas, green beans, etc. in between the two meals a day like I have been doing?

 

[Davidh]

You can still feed twice a day. That's what we do, but if you have a bully that scarfs his food down then you may need to get a slow feed bowl or put the stainless steel ball in there to slow them down.

 

[kazzy220]

When Maggie got pneumonia the vet told us to feed her from the raised bowls because she would almost certainly get it again. Then we kept reading about raised bowls causing bloat, and all this happened shortly after one of our members lost their bully to bloat.

So we were really caught between two things ... in the end we bought the raised bowl. But now Maggie is no longer with us we've put it away in storage.

All the bullys have the slow feeders now!

 

[petee2]

[MENTION=2071]Davidh[/MENTION] & kazzy220- thank you for the info.! Do you have any certain slow feeders to rec'd?

 

[Davidh]

I don't have any slow feeder bowls, so I'm of no help there, sorry.

 

[Baconator]

We got Bacon a slow feed bowl when he was on TOTW because he would just inhale his food, when we switched to Fromm he slowed down but we still use the slow feed bowl

 

[kazzy220]

[MENTION=4581]petee2[/MENTION] We got two of these from Petco and they seem to work ok for Bella and Linus who inhale their food. I swear it doesn't touch the sides going down!!!

 

[LunchBox]

I have not heard much on "bloat" yet so I'm so happy that I clicked on this thread & read some of the things not to do! We just adopted our very first bullie tonight (21 mo old male) & while I've researched bulldogs a great deal, I know first-hand experience is going to be an entirely different ballgame.

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

We got Jake a Slow Feeder Ball from Amazon. Ours is actually porcelain and works great! I just keep it in the dishwasher so it gets washed all the time and I'm amazed how well it works!

 

[Gunny B]

[MENTION=4581]petee2[/MENTION] We got two of these from Petco and they seem to work ok for Bella and Linus who inhale their food. I swear it doesn't touch the sides going down!!!

We got one like this for Gunny. Worked for about a week. I swear he now just puts his mouth over it and sucks the food up like a shop vac. We are going to try a slow feed ball next and see if that helps.

 

[pcchenard]

I would not get the elevated bowls. Here are some things that can prevent Bloat in dogs.

• Divide the day’s ration into three equal meals, spaced well apart.
• Do not feed your dog from a raised food bowl.
• Avoid feeding dry kibble that has fat among the first four ingredients listed on the label.
• Avoid foods that contain citric acid.
• Restrict access to water for one hour before and after meals.
• Never let your dog drink a large amount of water all at once.
• Avoid strenuous exercise on a full stomach.

I thought that the raised feeders were supposed to help prevent bloat? Please explain how hunching over a low, on the floor, bowl has less chance to cause bloat than a chest level bowl. My last bully had horrible gas when he ate from the floor but once he started eating from raised bowls he was less gassy and never he had any bloat issues.

 

[Davidh]

[MENTION=10711]pcchenard[/MENTION] I guess you will have to ask the experts that did a study on bloat that question. I got that info from a study that some vets did on the causes and prevention of bloat.

 

[AceTheBathound]

I need to invest in a slow feed ball cause Ace will gobble 1 1/4cups of kibble in less than 1 minute.


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