Slow Eater?

[Gillian]

Hi Everyone!

Well little Maizey came home almost a week ago, and she will be 9 weeks old tomorrow. She is a VERY slow eater... in fact, sometimes only eats one kernel at a time. While I don't want to get her in the habit of inhaling her food, I"m wondering at what point I should start limiting the amount of time she has to eat. I don't want to starve the poor thing, but in reality, when I go back to work, I can't spend 30 minutes watching her eat her food.

Thanks for your help :) This site has been really helpful this last week during my moments of overwhelming exhaustion and confusion :)

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

This is how my chihuahua Taquito eats. I put his up after 10 minutes - my problem is that my dogs eat different foods, so they cannot chow down on eachother's kibble! I notice that ever since I have done this and put a limit, he will end up eating faster.
But, some dogs are just grazers. Maizey may always be like that. Hopefully some other folks can chime in here....

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

With Maizey being so young, and so recently arrived in your home. I would cut her a little bit of slack. The breeder may have free-fed, and she is used to taking her time and grazing. Maybe give her another week to find her appetite, and then start picking up the bowl after 20 minutes. Is she being fed three times a day?
I agree with Allyson, some dogs are just grazers. Mine always have been. This is really only a problem when there is more than one dog in the house; but since there are bound to be times when there are other dogs around at mealtimes during Maizey's lifetime, it helps if you can get them to eat their food in a relatively short period of time, rather than have it sitting around all day.
Good luck, let us know how it goes.

[Ron Carnes]

I have the same problem with zack. His food is out all the time and very seldom eats all his food. He will take a bite and take it into a different room. I think when he was with his litter mates that is the way he learned to eat.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Lucy was a very slow eater for the first few weeks she was home (she was 8 weeks old when we got her). I remember hand feeding her her kibble that first week or so. It WILL pick up once she gets into the groove of a routine in your household. Lucy's appetite really took off after that and she ate every morsel... until she hit the 7 month mark. Now, at nearly 8 months, she rarely finishes a meal. She's just starting to be weaned from the mid-day meal. Limiting the amount of time Maizy has to eat to 20 mintues may help her to adjust to regular meal times. Don't worry too much about her getting enough to eat at her age. She won't starve herself.

[Minga & Malu & Costa]

Malu was a slow eater the first 3 weeks we had him. He was 8 weeks when we brought him home. After they learn the routine and that the food will only be down for a set amount of time, they usually start to pick up the eating pace. But as mentioned before, she could also turn out to be a grazer. But she definitely won't starve herself. Just make sure you are feeding her 3 times per day til around 6 months or so.