My puppy doesn't chew her food.

[Katie Blais]

Hello! I have a 19 week old goldendoodle puppy and she doesn't chew her food, she just swallows it whole. About half of the time she ends up throwing it up later on in the day. She used to eat very quicky (a cup in about a minute and a half) but I purchased one of those slow down bowls, and now it takes her almost 6 minutes. I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help the situation of her not chewing? I'm going to bring it up with her vet, she has an appointment next week. But until then any advice would be great! Thanks so much!

[Lindsey Holt]

How much does she weigh, and how much is she being fed?

What type of food?

Most dogs don't really chew their food, but some of the info above will give us more to go with.

[Katie Blais]

She weighs 25 pounds, and she gets 1 cup twice a day. She's currently eating iams large breed puppy (that's what the breeder was feeding them)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Lindsey is correct, most dogs do not chew their food. What's troubling here is that she brings it back up later. That's what you need to discuss with the vet. When the food comes up, does it look the way it did when it went in, i.e. completely undigested? 

It's also really important to restrict activity for 30-60 minutes after a puppy or dog eats, so that the food has a chance to digest. 

[Katie Blais]

It's mostly undigested, like maybe it started to a little bit didn't get very far even though it could be 7 hours later. And yes I let her rest for about 30-40 minutes before I bring her outside or play very much after she has eaten.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Katie, I don't want to scare you, but food sitting undigested in the GI tract for 7 hours can be a symptom of a very serious GI disease. It has nothing to do with chewing the food or eating too fast. You do need to talk to your vet about this. 

[Katie Blais]

Thank you, she has an appointment next Wednesday so I will definitely bring it up with the vet.

[Deborah Shafer]

Just wondering because my Clyde is a fast eater.. wonder if like babies eating so fast and swallow air and the food gets trapped by air then throws up. Just a thought

[Stella]

I would definitelyhave her checked with the vet to rule out other causes of her throwing up. If the slo-bowl isn't slowing her down enough you could consider giving her food in a food releasing toy - the ones that they roll around and the food falls out a piece or two at a time - or use a Treat and Train device which you can also set to deliver the food a couple of pieces at a time at intervals of several seconds, or even minutes.........this is also great for helping with crate training!!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Some slow bowls are better than others.  The ones I prefer is on Amazon and look like this. The brand is Outward Hound by Kyjen.

[Deborah Shafer]

Going to look into these. Thanks

[Katie Blais]

Thank you. This is the one I recently purchased, she definitely takes a lot longer than before.

[Deborah Shafer]

Good to know Clydes not alone. He eats so fast. Maybe vet can shed light on throwing up. Make sure nothing else is going on