Eats from the Busy Ball only

[Summer Magic]

I recently bought Magic a busy ball, the kind you put kibble in to keep them occupied while you're away. She loves the ball and spends lots of time rolling it around the floor to eat the food that come out of it. I have been puting part of her regular breakfast kibble in it so she can play with it while I'm at home too and not eat more than she should at a feeding she's not fat but she could get that way with extra food. The problem is that now she eats the food out of the ball and won't eat out of her bowl. I don't mind filling it up a couple of times. She gets all she's supposed to have but she doesn't eat it all at one time. She sort of grazes through out the morning with the ball and then doesn't want to eat her supper when I put it down. She's a healty weight for her size so I'm not concerned about her not getting enough food. I'm just wondering if I'm catering to her too much by filling the ball a second time and would I be ahead of the game by picking up both the ball and the bowl when she loses interest in the ball and not offer her another full ball to play with during the morning. Her morning food bowl stands untouched until I pick it up and put the kibble in the busy ball then she'll eat it.

[Kendall Aliza]

I am not sure what you should do, but I think that is just the funniest thing. I dont see any harm in it other than you getting annoyed and her training you to make her work for her food i guess. is that right?

[Summer Magic]

Well I guess she does have me trained pretty good. But she doesn't eat at all after around 11 oclock in the morning. The supper dish gets put down at six oclock and goes untouched all nite. So I pick it up and stick the food in the ball in the morning. She only gets one cup of kibble in the morning and one cup at nite. So she is actually eating less than a cup of food a day.

[Chris Smith]

Just wondering why you don't give her entire breakfast (and her dinner) in the ball if she gets only kibble and she likes the ball that much?

I give Nalu the kibble ball to get him to slow down his eating and to have him work a little for his food. But I put the entire meal in at one time and let him play ball until it's done.

Also, how about putting down her dinner and picking it up after 15 min.? (assuming you don't use that ball for dinner too) That may make her realize that, if she is hungry, she needs to eat right then?

Is she getting much exercise during the day? Or many treats? Maybe she is not burning up her calories from breakfast and snacks to be hungry for dinner??

[Summer Magic]

Hi Chris

Magic has several exercise times lasting anywhere from 15 minutes to a half hour during the day inside the house and outside in the yard. I don't do walks with her because I live in a rural area and never know when someone will be hunting in the woods. We hear gunshots often here and I just don't want to take a chance on her or myself getting hurt. I've stopped putting down the bowl at all now. She eats only from the ball both breakfast and supper and is loving it. She doesn't seem to eat as much as she would if it was in the bowl. Which is ok because the ball is available all day long for her to graze with.
She has some aggression issues that require me to give her treats often during the day (freaks at the phone) but the treats are tiny (about the size of a pea) no more than just a taste. The aggression is begining to lessen now, so soon I will be just giving her the command of "good quiet" when the phone rings and I should be able to stop the treats in another month or so. I don't want to do it too soon and have her have a relapse.