Feeding Puppy in a Play Ball

[Hays]

Hayley scarfs her food down when in a bowl....over the last week, our vet and trainer have recommended feeding her out of a play ball that we fill 2 cups of food in (4 cups total a day) and she has to move the ball around the living room floor til the food drops out so she doesn't eat so quickly. It's working and she likes it! But how long do I have to do this for? I know some of the pet stores have bowls that have bumps at the bottom so that the dog has to get the food around those obstacles in order to eat slower and actually chew up their food. Has anyone else had to do this or have recommendations?

[Nikkiey]

Juneau used to inhale his food so fast that he would end up puking it back up 5 minutes later because he ate too fast. In the beginning our trainer suggested the play ball or hand feeding. Juneau was never too interested in the play ball so we did the hand feeding or feeding him an 1/8 of his portion at a time in his bowl. Well needless to say that got old really fast so we invested in the "slow down bowl" and it worked wonders for him. He still ate fast, but not so fast that it would make him sick anymore.

Juneau's just over 16 months old now and he's been eating out of a regular bowl now for about 4 or 5 months. One day my husband fed him in his regular bowl just to see how he'd do and he was fine, no inhaling, no throwing up and he even chewed! About a week or so before switching back to his original dish we had noticed him lifting his head every so often inbetween bites so we knew that he was starting to slow down a bit.

[lindamarie]

I would slow it down somehow whether it be the play ball or the bumpy bowl.
They need to chew for better digestion and healthy teeth.
The only problem I found with hand feeding is that one of my dogs started eating only by hand. That became really annoying.