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HealthThe Best Slow Feeder Dog Bowls
Does your Sheltie inhale their food like a vacuum cleaner? Do they get hiccups, bloating, or even vomit after meals? If so, you're overdue a slow feeder bowl.
Slow feeder bowls present a physical and mental challenge to your dog.
When Howard was a puppy he'd nibble his kibble gracefully throughout the day. But when we brought Piper home, mealtimes became a frantic competition. And if we accidentally fed them too close together, they'd resource guard by growling and breaking out into fights. Feeding them in separate areas stopped the fights, but dinner was still reduced to a 20-second frenzy of snarfing, gobbling, hiccups, and bloating. Here's the problem:
Bloating and Air Swallowing. When a dog gulps down food at high speed, they also swallow large amounts of air. This can lead to uncomfortable bloating, excessive burping, and post-meal hiccups.
Poor Digestion. Digestion starts in the mouth, where food is broken down by chewing and enzymes in the saliva. A dog that swallows kibble whole skips this step, increasing the risk of indigestion, regurgitation, and vomiting.
Hunger and Dissatisfaction. Eating too quickly doesn't allow time for satiety signals to kick in. A dog that finishes their meal in seconds may still feel hungry, leading to begging, scavenging, and aggression.
After we switched to slow feeder bowls, dinnertime became a lot calmer. They work by making it physically harder for dogs to gobble food at speed. Instead, they have to eat around the obstacles in smaller bites and chew at a controlled pace.
The maze and spiral designs prevent your dog from face-planting in his dinner, making him selectively take up small amounts of food at a time.
Slow feed dog bowls were originally created by vets to help obese, diabetic, and post-surgery dogs eat slower. The idea was to prevent rapid spikes in blood sugar, improve digestion, and reduce the risk of bloating and vomiting.
Soon, slow feeders became a popular as a simple fix for any dog who eats too fast and wind up with poor digestion. They also serve as excellent mental enrichment. Today there are many slow feeders on Amazon so to help you choose, I analyzed three bestsellers:
1. Outward Hound Slo Bowl - Most Popular & Biggest Range
This bowl features a maze-like design that turns mealtime into a stimulating mental activity. Trials show it can slow eating by up to 10x while providing enrichment for dogs. The original Slo Bowl has a deep circular labyrinth, ideal for Shelties with their suspisciously long noses. The range includes several advanced feeders involving sliders, layers, and wobbling, so if your dog masters this one, you can advance them onto the slowest level Wobble Bowl.
2. LickiMat Wobble - Hybrid Slow Feeder & Lick Mat
If you feed mostly wet food, consider smearing it across this lick mat in bowl form. It's flexible, being made from food-grade rubber, and wobbly, which makes it more of an eating challenge. The textured interior encourages licking to promote saliva production for better digestion, as well as reducing anxiety. The LickiMat isn't as messy as regular lick mats and is dishwasher-safe.
3. AIPERRO Slow Feeder - Most Durable with Stainless Steel
This stainless steel slow feeder is much more durable: you can drop it without fear of shattering and your dog can chew it with glee. It's bacteria resistant and easier to clean by hand than the more complex maze designs. The raised elements promote slower eating although note that the pits are shallower than others so it's best for smaller dogs. Sold as a two-pack.
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