Eating too fast

A dog that clears a bowl in under a minute swallows a lot of air with it. That means burping, hiccups and vomiting on an ordinary day, and it is one of the risk factors named in the bloat literature for deep-chested breeds, where the stomach fills with gas and can twist. Slowing the meal down is one of the few changes that costs almost nothing.

A maze bowl or a slow feeder makes the dog work around ridges instead of inhaling. A lick mat spreads wet food thin so it takes minutes rather than seconds. A snuffle mat turns the meal into a search, which slows the eating and tires the dog at the same time.

Check the ridge spacing against your dog’s muzzle: a flat-faced dog cannot reach into a deep maze, and a bowl it gives up on is not slowing anything. What Small Dogs and Big Dogs Can Eat goes further into portions and the raised-bowl question.