Is your dog obsessed with food? Does he eat so fast that he almost doesn't let you finish filling his bowl? Does he ask you for food every time he sees you eating? Does your weight keep increasing while your savings decrease?
These behaviors can be due to several reasons that we will explain below, as well as their solutions. So, if you think your dog is obsessed with food, here at AnimalWised we explain the causes and solution of this problem.
The Origin of Dogs
Understanding the origin of dogs can be useful to understand a little better the obsession that some suffer with food. As we can see in "Does the dog descend from the wolf?" of our site, dogs come from the domestication, by humans, of common ancestors with wolves.
Most canids, such as wolves and dogs, live in organized societies with a well-defined hierarchy, which does not always have to be static. Wolves hunt in packs, with higher-ranking individuals eating first, leaving the worst parts of the kill for lower-ranking wolves.
This is a Competitive feeding, that is, they eat voraciously when other individuals are present. This could help clarify the cause of our pet not being able to pass up any opportunity to get food, and trying to eat as fast as possible, to avoid someone taking the food away.
Medical reasons why a dog may be obsessed with food
Some illnesses can explain this obsession with food in dogs.
Some specimens tend to eat more due to a deficient production of substances necessary for the digestion of food (digestive enzymes), while in other cases, their digestive system is not capable of absorbing nutrients from food (as in malabsorption syndrome) or they do not adequately synthesize elements necessary to assimilate nutrients from food, as in the case of diabetes
Diabetic dogs tend to eat more than those that do not suffer from this disease (and even then they do not gain weight, but tend to lose weight), due to a deficit in the hormone insulin, which helps to assimilate the glucose obtained of food by the cells of the dog's body.
On the other hand, some parasites, such as roundworms, steal some of the nutrients the dog gets from the food so that the animal must eat more to supply it. In addition, and although this is not a disease, do not forget that dogs that do a lot of exercise need to eat more to maintain their ideal weight.
Homemade food for dogs
As in the case of humans, the palatability (i.e., the taste and characteristics that make a food palatable) determines whether the dog eats more or less.
Although there are tasty feeds on the market that are highly accepted by our pets, in most cases dogs prefer homemade foodfor its best flavor, despite having some inconveniences in this way of feeding our pets.
Tips to solve your dog's obsession with food
1. Rule out any he alth issues
As we have seen, there are some diseases that can make a dog obsessed with food, so it is recommended visit a veterinarianto discard them.
There are solutions both for the deficient production of substances necessary to digest food and for their poor absorption. These solutions usually include specific diets, in most cases commercially available, which the veterinarian should recommend after diagnosing the specific process.
There is also on the market insulin for dogs, useful in the case of diabetes, whose dosage and control must also be defined by a veterinarian.
two. Controls the amount of food and intake
On the other hand, if our dog eats very quickly, there are bowls with obstacles at the bottom that can help slow down his eating. They are known as anti-voracity feeders In addition, if the dog is not able to control the amount of food it eats, it is recommended to completely refuse ad libitum feeding (fill the feeder every time it is eaten and always keep it full).
Instead, it is recommended to measure the amount of food fed.
Most of the feed bags indicate the amount of food (in grams) that must be provided to the dog according to the weight of the animal, generally this information is on the back or on the side of the bag.
Here it should be noted that, in the case of puppies, the weight of the animal refers to the weight that the dog will have as an adult. This fact is usually also indicated on the label, although it often causes confusion for some owners.
So, for example, if a bag of feed says that you have to provide 200 gr. For a dog between 10 and 20 kg of adult weight, it means that this amount must be given if our dog is of a breed that reaches that weight as an adult (for example, a Beagle), even if it is now a 4 kilo puppy.
3. Be careful with homemade food
In the case of the homemade food, as well as in the case of the dogs that ask for food on the table when their masters are eating, the solution is never to give it, ignore it and not give in to their entreaties.
Don't forget that every time a dog asks for food and is given it, he is being encouraged to keep asking. That is, the dog performs an action (asking for food) and gets a prize (food), so he will tend to repeat it
When trying to correct this behavior two mistakes are usually made:
- In many cases, the majority of the family doesn't hit him but a member or a guest does, either because he feels sorry (something understandable, on the other hand), or because he hasn't found out.
- It may also happen that, although food is not normally given when he asks, there are special occasions when it is, such as holidays, family or dog birthdays, days he has leftover food, etc.
Also…
It may be that your dog's level of obsession with food has moved to the street, and he may start eating things off the groundThis behavior, moreover, is self-reinforcing and can cause the dog to start wandering, absorbed, looking for treats in the street without hardly raising his head from the ground.
This is a more serious problem, as the dog could eat spoiled food and even leftover poisoned food. To avoid this, you must work on self-control through basic obedience (come, stay, let go…).
As we have seen, it is not so strange that a dog is obsessed with food, but fortunately it is a problem that has a solution.
