Dogs, did you know food has flavor and texture? Seriously, it does! I can’t believe I’ve been gulping it down all these years, and never noticed that until I got this new bowl. It all started a few months ago when I started vomiting every so often. Dr. Doug thought I may have developed a food allergy. So he recommended trying a limited ingredient diet, which after a few weeks I vomited up too. Then Mom noticed there was a connection to my tantrums and vomiting. So she tried to keep my schedule as normal as possible. Ok, that does seem to be keeping my tummy calm. However, Dad bought me this new bowl, in an attempt to slow me down, and I have to admit it has given me a whole new perspective on eating.
I’ve always been a fast eater. Ever since I was a puppy, Mom would soak my food in water to make it mushy to slow me down. But I still was determined to keep up a good pace. After all, if I finish first, maybe I could enjoy some of Asa’s food too! He’s such a slow eater, surely he could use my help to finish his meals? That logic only made Mom feed Asa and me separately, but hope springs eternal! So I just kept on gulping down my meals. That is until they put it in this new weird looking bowl with the raised center.
Ok, to be honest I was not impressed with the new bowl at first. It took me a few moments to realize I had to change the angle of how I ate and that I couldn’t just start at the center of my bowl. This got me frustrated and food started flying everywhere. And I do mean everywhere, kibble even got stuck in my chest fur! That’s when I got mad and knocked the whole bowl and feeding stand over. I patiently wait for my meal twice a day, I wasn’t about to let Mom and Dad ruin this for me!
But after about a week of getting upset, I slowly fell into my new routine. I went from finishing my meals in under 5 minutes, to taking over 15 minutes to enjoy it. That’s when I made the startling realization that my kibble has taste and texture! Oh sure I’ve always loved the smell, but the slower I ate the more I realized how good it tastes. I also noticed that Mom mixes in delicious stuff like meats and veggies. I can’t believe I never noticed she’s been adding that all along!
Now we’re over a month into this experiment, and I’m happy to report I’ve only vomited once, which may or may not have been caused by my snack of deer droppings. Also Mom has slowly moved away from the limited ingredient diet, and my tummy seems to be fine. No sign of any allergies like Dr. Doug theorized. Who knew the cause of all that wasted regurgitated food could have been my old bowl’s fault?
