Hi everyone . I'm confused! I've always thought that it was a good idea to feed deep chested dogs their food at head height, to prevent bloat. Now I've read that this may cause bloat! Do I stop using the bowl stand for my dogs? Any thoughts will be appreciated please.
Hi Crissy, I have just read this in Pippa's new book too. I don't know the answer to this myself, but I think that feeding a large meal once a day, along with exercising soon after eating, are probably more important factors than the raised feeding bowls. I'm not sure if anyone else can answer this for you. jac
This article on the site gives a summary of the conflicting advice of raised bowls (from the kennel club) with a study (the Purdue study) that concluded it was better to feed with the bowls at ground level (bloat wise, anyway http://www.thelabradorsite.com/bloat-in-labradors-what-are-the-risks/
I was talking to my Mum about this when I was back in the UK,she feeds her red setter from a raised bowl......I asked her if it was to do with avoiding bloat and she said yes,but she also thought ( purely her non scientific point of view of course ) that it would be more comfortable generally.A raised bowl stops his leg splaying wide to reach down low and it minimizes the distance his food has to fight gravity to get down into his tummy which is surely more comfortable.....like I say, just my Mum's point of view but it made sense to me. Dexter gets fed on the floor,it's never a full meal amount anyway so it's over in about 20 seconds and I'd say his gobbling speed is gravity defying! X
