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Post by hopefullygrey on Mar 25, 2014 9:51:54 GMT -5
A somewhat silly question, but as I've never owned a Greyhound before, or even a dog. I have no idea what passes for appropriate bowl sizes for greyhounds.
I've done a ton of reading on the bloat and torsion stuff, and elevated bowls etc. I am going to start Bailey on the floor and add books until she's at a comfortable height to stand on my tile floor without doing a balancing act to not splay her feet out. I don't intend to have her fully elevated at 16-18" like the trendypet bowls are pictured as.
That said, I am going to get a few stainless steel bowls with non skid bottoms, but I am just not sure which size to buy.
I am looking at the Durapet line of bowls found here:
www.ourpets.com/products_durapet.html
Given that I've read a female is 3-4 cups a day (1-1/2 to 2 cups at each meal), would a medium slow-feed bowl which holds 2.5 cups be appropriate, or go with the large which holds 5 cups (and thus would only be half full at mealtime).
Same question applies to water- what is a typical daily consumption for greyhounds in quarts or fluid ounces? I am sure this varies in summer and winter, but a generalized idea will help.
A 2 quart bowl measures 8" across, 2.5" deep, a 3 quart is 9.25" across, 3" deep.
Final question- are greys neat or messy eaters- do they push bowls around and knock them over or are they more precise with their muzzles? Naturally every internet picture shows Greys eating neatly from a bowl like a well behaved child at thanksgiving dinner.
Just want to be in the general ballpark when Bailey comes home so that I don't end up with food all over and water flowing across the kitchen floor, but at the same time not having the bowls bolted down and Bailey looking at me thinking "What kind of a dog do you think I am! Really human, really?"
Thanks all,
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 12:46:01 GMT -5
personally, I would go with the larger bowls for a few reasons. when the day comes that you get a male (lol) companion for Bailey, you'll want the lager bowl plus, often, when they come home they seem some what ravaged. not because they haven't been fed well (and trust me, Heather feeds them very well) but because they are so excited. some of us add water to their food to slow them down! as for neat or messy, some of mine of pristine eaters and others, well, let's just say NOT SO MUCH!! I put a towel under the bowl for spills! as for water, too hard for me to tell what is consumed in a day, I have six! Martha p.s. don't forget to post pics as soon as you can - we all love pictures!
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troysmom
Hound Nut
Troy & Leopold
Posts: 1,717
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Post by troysmom on Mar 25, 2014 16:12:37 GMT -5
I'd go with the larger bowl as well. I have the larger bowls but use an elevated feeder for my boys that aren't overly high. Then you don't have to fill the bowl to the top with water, leads to less mess I think. I also found that my Troy liked to push his food around with the nose while he was eating (so cute, loved the clicking noise as it hit the edges). I'd say more room the better, even if you don't completely fill it.
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Post by Heather (& KC) on Mar 25, 2014 18:48:03 GMT -5
Both my hounds have been clean eaters and drinkers thankfully but I don't think Thunder is as well mannered as children at Thanksgiving dinner. He's quite animated at dinner time and literally inhales his food. His bowls are almost 10"in diameter and his 2 cups seem pretty insignificant. At my parent's cottage they are likely 8" and I feel like I'm giving him so much more food. Lol. Honestly he doesn't care. We likely fill his 10" bowl once a day, maybe twice. Our elevated stand is 17" high so no Bambi'ing.
I'll bet you're having fun planning for Bailey's arrival!! ;D
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whovian
Junior Grey Lover
River (a.k.a Iruska Cool Chic) has claimed me as her "friendbeast"
Posts: 171
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Post by whovian on Mar 25, 2014 19:04:49 GMT -5
Hi! I just want to say, congrats on adopting Bailey! She's gorgeous.
I would agree that it is better to go with a larger bowl, at least for the water. River goes through about a litre a day, but is more hesitant to drink it if the water level in the bowl is low. So I am glad I got a big bowl, because it means I don't have to fill it as often. I give her about 2 L a day, but she only actually drinks about half of that (if that makes sense at all). The rest goes to my plants.
I definitely think the elevated bowls thing is important, but I like your "flexible" approach with the books. I believe every dog is a little bit different. River's bowls are elevated, but a lot of the time she takes the kibble out of it and drops it on the floor beside her dishes to eat it. One day I tried putting her bowl on the floor, and she took big mouthfuls of kibble out of it and then set them on the stand to eat! They can be silly, these greys.
Anyway here is the approach that has ultimately worked best for getting River to eat slowly: I don't give her the entire meal at once. It's a novel concept, I know. But believe me, it's what those companies selling you over priced slow eater dog dishes don't want you to know.
Here's what I mean: if she gets 1.5 cups at breakfast, I give her a 3/4 cup, wait 10 or 15 min, and then give her another 3/4 cup. She always eats slower when there is less food in her dish anyway, and by dividing it up, I am further guaranteeing slowness. It works well for us. And I think she looks forward to second breakfasts :-P
Good luck!
Oh! River also vented a lot of frustration when I first brought her home by continually knocking over her water dish with her paw. If I had to do it again, I'd get dishes that were wider on the bottom than at the opening so you can't knock them over with a paw.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using proboards
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Post by GreyPoopon on Mar 25, 2014 19:48:27 GMT -5
I use small food bowls (about 1 quart). They're big enough for a couple of cups of food and water. I feed from the floor (or crate bed).
I have a big ceramic water bowl due to the number of customers. There are also water pails in the crates.
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Tipsy
Grey Puppy
Posts: 91
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Post by Tipsy on Apr 5, 2014 19:43:18 GMT -5
I'm super-fancy when it comes to Booker's food dish. I spent a whole $2 on a salad bowl. Big spender, I know. He had a standard metal dish when we first got him, but something about it spooked him, and he didn't eat for the first day and a half, but the moment we dumped the food into the salad bowl, he wolfed it down. Silly dog. And once again I dished out the big bucks by putting a cardboard box under his food to elevate it. He doesn't seem to care if it's there or not(when we're overnighting somewhere he'll happily eat from the floor), but we've kept it.
As for tidiness... Booker is a very tidy eater. Not a kibble out of place(unless we're the ones who dropped it, and then he's very quick to correct our mistake). However, he's a very sloppy drinker. We've put a towel under his water dish(read: salad bowl #2), since it just goes everywhere. He drinks a TON of water in a day - he would initially drink from the metal bowls, but they turned out to be just too small, and we were refilling multiple times a day.
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Post by hopefullygrey on Apr 7, 2014 10:21:30 GMT -5
I ended up going with 2 stainless steel bowls made by durapet. A medium size slow-feed bowl, and a 3.00qt water bowl. They're both about 9" in diameter and ~2.5-3" deep. They have silicon rings on the underside. I am happy to report that they both seem to be about the right size for Bailey. Neither bowl moves around when she's eating/drinking from them. The slow-feed bowl works as intended, and she seems to have no issue with her snout finding its way around the bowl. Currently she eats a tablespoon or so at a time, pauses to review the status of the bowl, and goes back for more. 1-1/2 cups is about 9-10 pauses. Certainly no gulping.
She is tidy and nothing ends up on the floor, so I am relatively pleased by her eating habits. She also does not seem to have any issue with my tile floor. Eventually I will elevate the bowls but not all the way, probably in the 4-8" range. Enough to make it a little easier for her, but not so much that she's not using her neck at all.
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