Ditch the Bowl?

So I have just woken to the Toppl phenomena - we don’t sell these (we probably should) but I just wanted to give you some feedback.

We are a busy household, with businesses, kids sports, and a collection of animals (chickens, horses, cats and dogs) you already feel sorry for my husband right?

Whilst we have always been focused on what goes in to feeding the dogs, I think we got stuck in a bit of a rut on how we fed them. 

When we were just a single dog family- we focused on feeding and enrichment. We scattered food on the lawn for a bit of search and sniff (frozen pellets are great for this!) We hid treats in folded towels, and we used a Kong stuffed with food. 

As dogs two and three arrived (yep - the poor hubby I know) we stopped feeding food in an enriching way and it was served in a bowl. 

We didn’t struggle with dogs eating, they were all fed together and pack mentality kicked in - seems a good result for a busy household and they were all eating - so what more did I want? 

A couple of months ago I was asked to help someone with a Boxer dog and its eating habits, she came to stay with us for a holiday. Whilst she was here - this girl ate every meal (you’ve seen our food - who wouldn’t right?) 

The day she went home she was the fastest to finish her breakfast - it was gone in nano seconds - her owners were mind blown. For a week at home - on the same food she ate well and they were really happy! Then boom! she was back to old habits and picking and choosing. 

They contacted me and said what do we do? I recalled our time as single dog owners and the different ways we fed food and made some suggestions (it was then I looked to my own dogs and kicked myself!) 

So a week ago I finally got round to purchasing some new feeding aids - Toppls and Lickimats. The girls absolutely love them and the nano second - speed eating competition is over! 

The Toppls don’t just slow the eating, they allow them to replicate very natural eating habits. They crouch, use their paws, their mouths - things we often only see with a meaty bone. 

How we prep - 

We got the XL Toppls for the big girls, they are super well made. I portion and weigh the gangs food every day in the metal bowls, leave to thaw and stuff the Toppls just before serving. 

Toppls are super easy to clean - so much better than trying to fish something that’s gone a bit feral from the base of a Kong. 

For our little dog, and I say little - she’s smaller than our cats, we have been using a Lickimat - this has stopped her from finishing her food quickly and trying to steal someone else’s, I will now purchase her a baby Toppl. 

I hope this was useful in some way 

Zoe, Kari, Xena and Daisy 

 

 

 

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