Ravenous doodle

[Molly]

My rescue doodle has been ravenous since we got her over a year ago.  I have tried giving her more food, different foods, staggering feedings throughout the day.  She gobbles her food up in a second.  I've tried various things to slow down her eating--put tennis balls in her bowl, added water, etc.  She doesn't have parasites and our vet thinks she is the right weight.
It is a bit disturbing because when there is food around she acts like she is starving.  She cries and shakes and looks like she is going to burst at the seams.  She runs to her bowl, hoping for more  even after she's just had a big meal.  Any ideas?

[Sandra Griffith]

It sounds as though she might have gone through a period of starvation where she didn't know where her next meal was coming from, poor thing. Is she at all food aggressive? If not, you might try giving her food to her a bit at a time (give her a spoonful, then add another spoonful, etc.). The reason I suggest this is, from what I understand, very fast eaters are more susceptible to bloat. Another thing that you might do is give her stuffed frozen Kongs between meals to give her some food satisfaction. The reason for freezing the Kong's contents is to slow her down. Of course whatever you stuff them with must have some moisture content in order to freeze hard. You might stuff it with some of her regular food that has been soaked, then freeze the freeze the whole thing. If you're worried about weight gain, decrease some of the food you give her for her meals so that she is not getting too much extra. Hope this helps.