Monitoring Health Through Your Dog’s Eating Habits
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by Judy - Online Dog Coach
Food Bowl Lessons
Your dogs’ habits around the food bowl may give you insight to significant health issues.
I am happy to say that I am owned by three Australian Shepherds, ages 11 xC2 xBD, 9, and 5. They all participate in agility, and are typical crazy Aussies.
My oldest boy, who loves life to the fullest, has had some health problems since age 7. He exhibited some very strange behavior at meal time. This should have been a hint that something was wrong, but we did not realize what we were observing. Eli always acted hungry, and defended his food against all who approached. However, his weight seemed to fluctuate with wild swings, up and down. Too often he would throw up, and his stomach would growl so loudly that you could hear it across the room. And to add insult to the problem, he had room clearing gas. Eli was a mess, and he was making us all miserable. 
But no matter what, he seemed happy and continued with agility – the sport he loves. After seeing several veterinarians, and doing lots of testing, he was diagnosed with irritable bowl disease.
I am happy to report that we have that condition under control.
The lesson that we learned from this experience would prove very valuable as Eli aged. When he was going through the irritable bowl malady and all the symptoms, no matter how crummy he felt he always defended his food bowl, even if he did not have the appetite for actually eating the food.
We have three dogs – competition at meal time is important. We do not free feed, and the dogs have a morning meal and an evening meal. We have some rules for feeding time – each dog is to be at its spot and to be patient as the food is set in place. This keeps bedlam to a minimum. (See Training and Living with Multiple Dogs by Brianna)
When Eli started to behave strangely at meal time, we knew something was up. This time the behavior was different, he did not care. There was no defending of the food bowl, and twice he did not even show up for chow. From our past experience we knew that this was a different situation. We observed him carefully, and finally he let us know that something was very wrong. He passed out. We rushed him to the hospital and discovered he was bleeding internally. His condition was stabilized, and his spleen was removed along with a large tumor. That was three months ago, and he is doing well. But his food bowl behavior was what alerted us to the problem.
I advise everyone to establish a routine at feeding time, stick with it and do not walk away after you put the food down. Stay around and watch your happy dogs devour their meal. Little changes in behavior could mean serious problems.
Update
Eli lost his battle to cancer on Friday, July 11. After recovering from his spleen surgery, he joyfully participated in agility classes and had a great quality of life for several months before his death. Read his memorial in the “Over the Bridge” forums.
