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Labrador Retrievers 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
Labrador Retrievers. 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 Labrador Retriever 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 Labrador Retriever 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 Labrador Retriever 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 Labrador Retriever brings his food to wherever the
owner goes, your Labrador Retriever 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 Labrador
Retriever. 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 Labrador
Retriever who keeps on snubbing his food will eventually become
weak and sickly.
What the
owner can do
- Find out the reason why your Labrador Retriever 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 Labrador Retriever to the veterinarian for a check-up
because refusing the food may be a symptom of a more serious
health problem. |
