Does Your Dog Over-Eat?

  Posted on January 13, 2012  by Joy of Living  No comments

Party Marty on the scene, always looking out for the dogs in my life! We recently had an inquiry from a friend who is concerned that her dog over-eats. While her dog is not fat, she thinks that the over-eating is stress and anxiety-related. As such, I put on my detective hat to see what might trigger over-eating in dogs.  Here’s what I found, as expressed in bigpawsonly.com:

One reason a dog may over-eat is to beat out a canine sibling in a race to get to the food. (This makes sense for our friend, as the dog in question is usually bullied by the smaller, more aggressive dog in the household.)

The dog could be depressed, anxious, or even suffering from a side effect of any medication he might be taking.

From a physical standpoint, the dog might have internal parasites, a tumor, hypothyroidism, Cushing’s disease or some sort of internal organ infection.

If your dog is suffering from a sudden bout of over-eating, rest assured that there are steps you can take to help your furry friend overcome this ailment.  Of course, it is wise to consult your vet if you think something is out of the ordinary, but in the interim, there are ways that you can control the intake of food your dog consumes:

Reduce the amount of food that you are feeding him.

If you have more than one dog, feed them in separate rooms.

Limit the times that food is left out. Don’t allow for free feeding or grazing during the day.

Get your dog one of those toys that makes getting food a bit of a game and a challenge.

Engage your pet in more physical exercise.

I do know for certain the one thing that would keep ME from over-eating, if I had that problem:  fill my bowl with brussel sprouts. Yuck!