Advice For Dogs That Eat With Anxiety
Many families are faced with the same problem: your dog eats with anxiety, that is, it is a devourer that swallows everything edible in front of it, even if it is not hungry. Other dogs protect the food and don’t let anyone near it while they’re eating. If this is the case for your canine friend, we offer some advice for dogs that eat with anxiety:
Problems With Dogs That Eat With Anxiety
Eating with anxiety is not good for anyone. Swallowing without chewing or at once can cause digestive problems, vomiting, and even some serious illness, such as stomach twist . It is not pleasant to serve food to a dog, not knowing if it will suit him, neither is it to see how nervous the dog is in the presence of a bowl.
In addition, there are cases where dogs that protect the food have come to assault their families or other animals. This situation affects the well-being and confidence of the entire family; that of humans, because they cannot normally relate to their dog; and the dog’s because he doesn’t want to behave like that to his trusted people.
Problems related to food are many and can be solved. We emphasize that a dog that eats with anxiety or worry is not a happy dog. Thus, it is necessary to provide a solution to the problem.
The causes
For a dog to eat with anxiety, it is not an indispensable condition that it has been hungry or that it has suffered abuse. The insecurity at the time of eating does not always have the same cause, and not necessarily the dog went through a trauma or a bad experience.
We can find several different causes for the problem. To effectively solve it, we must understand what is happening to the dog in order to attack the evil at its root.
However, we can generalize by giving a little advice on how to treat dogs that eat anxiously or that protect their food. Sometimes they don’t solve the problem, but offer a palliative solution.
If with these advices your dog’s problem persists, you should look for a professional to evaluate your specific case and give a personalized solution.
1. Changing the way you eat: eating on the floor
Dogs that eat with anxiety can swallow a bowl of food in a matter of seconds and without chewing. We can prevent them from swallowing all the food by changing the way we offer them.
Rather than feed him once or twice a day, you can divide your daily ration into three or four smaller portions. Although he will continue to eat without chewing, he will eat smaller portions and is therefore less likely to feel unwell.
Another option is not to use a bowl, because when you use a feed container, all the food is accessible and it’s easy to eat it all at once. If on the contrary, we stop using the bowl and spread the food on the floor, it is not possible to swallow it all at once. The dog will have to put his sense of smell into action and will eat from grain to grain.
It will take him longer to finish his ration, and in addition he will do a mental exercise. For a dog, sniffing is a necessary instinct and will help you relax.
2. Bowl always full
One of the causes for the dog to eat with anxiety is not being sure that there will be more food soon ; they eat anxiously for fear that the food will disappear or never come back. As long as the veterinarian does not advise against it, an alternative is to keep the food bowl full at all times.
The dog is likely to spend two or three days stuffed , but you’ll soon realize that it’s not necessary to be nervous about the food: there will always be more.
3. It magically fills up
It is often a good idea for dogs with anxiety not to manipulate the bowl while they are looking at it. We are likely to increase your nervousness with actions as routine as cleaning it or adding more feed.
So, take advantage of times when the dog is not near the bowl, such as when he is sleeping or walking. Fill it up or clean it then: that way he won’t be seeing and he won’t be even more nervous.
4. Don’t get into conflict
Whatever the reason your dog has problems with food, it is not advisable to yell or fight with him. Creating a conflict will only increase your nervousness and anxiety levels. That way we’re only making the problem worse.
Handle the bowl with care when he is in front of it, let him eat uninterrupted and in a quiet place in the house. Many of the problems with food stem from insecurity, and he will only be able to know that he will not go hungry when you demonstrate to him that he will have food whenever he wants.
Problems with food are uncomfortable for dogs and humans. They affect the well-being and relationships of the whole family, but they have a solution. Start investigating why your dog feels insecure about eating to be able to find a solution to it.
