AlwaysLisa
Posts: 1088
Joined: 10/6/2006
From: Washington State
Status: offline
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quote:
I beg to differ with you Lisa, having a dog "inhale" its food is absolutely not a good idea, they can literally cause their stomachs to "flip over" as my vet said, causing an emergency medical condition that must be treated surgically. i had a rottie/dobie mix that did that, i'd received him from a family that encouraged such behavior and the vet told me to end it by placing a brick in his bowl so he had to slow down to eat around the brick.
secondly, small dogs cannot go several days without eating, they have problems with hypoglycemia, low blood sugar, which can cause seizures and even death. if a dog is not eating it can be a life threatening problem. my vet has suggested cooled scrambled eggs in the case of a pet with appetite problems. if drinking is a problem, a little bit of caro syrup in water can make it more attractive. pets aren't just fuzzy people, they can run into trouble faster than people can. and small and toy breeds have a whole set of needs that differ from other pets.
Hi DPD,
Well, in over 35 years of breeding/showing dogs, I have never had an issue, I believe it has to do with the quality of food also. A few dry food brands swell up to four times their size when wet, so what starts out as 1 cup, ends up as 4 in the stomach. Some breeds are more prone to bloat, such as Danes, Dobes, Greyhounds or Setters, but the OP was a small mutt, not a deep chested breed. I do need to clarify, the difference between inhaling and eating quickly. Inhalers gulp air along with food, also a problem that can possibly lead to bloat. Mine simply eat quickly, lol No gulping, lots of chewing :)
A Bichon (half of the OP's dog) is not what I consider a toy breed, such as a Min Pin or Chi. The Chi I inherited survived, and she had hunger strikes that lasted up to 2 days. I also know some of the more tiny dogs can go into hypoglycemia, but again, a Bichon is not considered a tiny breed.
Some times I think people forget they are dogs and choose to coddle and pamper them like a spoiled child. Even the tiniest of canines carry the same survival instincts as their wild cousins. Every time I see a Chi being carried around like a fashion accessory, dressed in little outfits and looking miserable, I want to scream and rip it out of the designer handbag it is being carried in!
Hope this explains my stance a bit more :)
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Just an old flower child, trying to survive in today's chaos and confusion.
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RE: Inherited a mutt... - 
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) and also decided to go from the reasonably expensive whiskas food (which was only here introduced since a damn cat sitter spoilt them with even more expensive stuff whilst I was away, leading them to ignore the common brekkies and felix brand until it went off on a regular basis) to the cheapest brand I could find...and it had a shocking impact on my ginger cat with lots of sore spots on his skin, where I read online that this can be caused by allergy to food...which means for me now to switch back again to a higher priced brand (this time they probably won't ignore it again as by now they aren't 2 cats anymore but 5 instead, so they know, if they don't eat it, the others will 
). 
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