| Springer Spaniels
are sometimes found to display bizarre eating habits. These are
not normal and can alarm the concerned dog owner. Such eating
habits can endanger the health and life of your precious Springer
Spaniels. Here are some examples of such bizarre eating habits
and the procedures that an owner can do to help his friend.
1. Gulping all the food at once.
When the Springer Spaniel quickly eats his food as if the end
of the world is near, he becomes vulnerable to choking.
What the owner can do:
- Spread his food over a wide eating bowl or cookie sheet
- Place a large ball of similar object at the center of his
food dish so that he will be forced to navigate around the ball
to eat his food.
- Feed the dog by hand so that the dog’s eating pace is controlled
by the owner. This will make the Springer Spaniel realize that
whether he eats fast or slow, he still needs to wait for his
master.
2. Taking the food to various areas in the
house.
Bringing the food to different places around the house can create
a lot of mess and the cleaning of such can seriously take up
much of the owner’s precious time. If some places are missed
or remained unclean, these can become breeding grounds for harmful
organisms that can make your Springer Spaniel sick.
What the owner can do
- Find out the places where the dog carries the food so that
his reasons for taking the food there can be figured out.
- If your Springer Spaniel brings his food to wherever the owner
goes, your Springer Spaniel simply wants to eat with his master.
Thus, the owner must accept the imminent fact that the dog will
always eat with him
3. Eating too frequently.
Snacking too often may or may not be a problem for your Springer
Spaniel. For dogs that have no weight problems, that is, they
can eat as much as they want without suffering obesity, snacking
all day is fine as long as the owner’s pockets don’t suffer
much. But some dogs become prone to obesity and other related
diseases when they snack all day.
What the owner can do
- Restrict his access to his food
- Set specific times for giving his food.
- Limit the duration of his eating time. That is, give him the
food dish at a certain time, wait for thirty minutes, and then
take the food dish away.
4. Snubbing the food.
The commonly assumed reason why a dog refuses to it is that
he is not hungry. But this is not always the case. A Springer
Spaniel who keeps on snubbing his food will eventually become
weak and sickly.
What the owner can do
- Find out the reason why your Springer Spaniel snubs his food,
such as a new home, new environment, another dog, etc.
- Entice him with a variety of foods because he may only be
choosy about the taste.
- Bring your Springer Spaniel to the veterinarian for a check-up
because refusing the food may be a symptom of a more serious
health problem.
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