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Raised Feed or Not

grant thackray

New Member
Hello everyone, first time post, we are waiting on the arrival of our new Cane Corso pup, wee girl :)

Anyway i was always led to believe that having them eat from a raised feeding bowl would be good for them, I've since read 3 articles stating that it may not be so now I'm puzzled and looking for advice.

Also is it ok to use a slow feed bowl that's raised or will the fact that the bowl would be raised be enough to help fight bloat.

Any tips hints or advice for a new owner to be would be great, I've done plenty reading but i think you cant get better advice than from owners themselves

Thanks a lot in advance
Grant
Scotland UK
 

kingmark

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone, first time post, we are waiting on the arrival of our new Cane Corso pup, wee girl :)

Anyway i was always led to believe that having them eat from a raised feeding bowl would be good for them, I've since read 3 articles stating that it may not be so now I'm puzzled and looking for advice.

Also is it ok to use a slow feed bowl that's raised or will the fact that the bowl would be raised be enough to help fight bloat.

Any tips hints or advice for a new owner to be would be great, I've done plenty reading but i think you cant get better advice than from owners themselves

Thanks a lot in advance
Grant
Scotland UK
Hello and welcome to the forum. I use raised bowls for my dog they are better especially for large dogs. And post some pics of you little girl :)
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
Welcome to the forum, Grant. I have used a raised dish for my dogs for years. When I got my first boxer, it's what everyone said to do. Then I just kept doing it when I got my English Mastiff because it's what we had already been doing for almost 20 years. I did do the reading on raised feeding and because I felt the sample study was pretty small I continued with what my dogs seemed most comfortable with. And lets be honest. I continued because for so many years everything had gone fine. I did all the other things you should do. Limit water. Watch activity. Don't overfeed, Keep them slim. You know the stuff. And then last weekend I lost my beautiful girl to GDV. Nothing changed. She only ate a small amount and ate it slowly. Didn't practice any of the risky behaviors. Went to sleep on my bed immediately after eating. And presented in stage III GDV. So now I just don't know. I've stepped up the research because I plan to have breeds that are predisposed to GDV for the rest of my life. I never, ever want one of my dogs to have that level of pain again. I never want to have to make the choice to let them go. Here are a a couple of articles that you've probably seen. I'll just put them here and I'll add them to the sticky post as well. I guess it's a matter of deciding what you're comfortable with. I have to continue feeding my boxer with a raised dish because he has megaesophagus. After this? I probably won't. I'll probably scatter the food on the floor like I do for my daughter's dog. Please make sure you post pictures of your girl when she arrives. Things are slow on the forum, but some of us still poke our heads in frequently.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=...rticles/bibliographie/SDTE/javma.2000.217.pdf
https://moonstruckmeadows.com/Bloat (GDV) Study.htm