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I have a Goldendoodle puppy (Kirby) who is eating all of my Maltese's (Libby) food. She is already underweight and isn't allowed to skip meals, and the doodle is getting too much calories.
I used to put the Maltese's food on the couch where the doodle couldn't reach it, but now he is tall enough and eats it all.
note:
If I confine Libby at all, she refuses to eat.
Libby refuses to eat in/from her kennel, plus Kirby just thinks its a hiding game and will paw/move the kennel around with Libby in it.
Separating them during meal time is tricky because Libby is a finicky eater who isn't 'open bowl' fed, but takes up to 2 hours to finish her bowl. I feel bad putting Kirby away for 2 hours twice a day when its not his fault that Libby is a slow eater even though he is the culprit who steals her food...
I wouldn't be so worried if Libby was a healthy weight.. but she is underweight and the vet doesn't want her to skip meals.
I don't want to resort to switching Libby's diet to a more enticing/appetizing (more expensive and higher maintenance) diet to get her to eat faster. She currently is on a high calorie puppy diet. It actually has more calories that Kirby's food (because large breed puppy food is designed to slow the speed of growth to reduce health issues).
When Kirby bothers her while eating, or is blatantly eating from her bowl, she just looks at him like "help yourself, I don't care" Libby is really submissive but in the future, I could see them becoming resource/food aggressive.
Please help!
I used to put the Maltese's food on the couch where the doodle couldn't reach it, but now he is tall enough and eats it all.
note:
If I confine Libby at all, she refuses to eat.
Libby refuses to eat in/from her kennel, plus Kirby just thinks its a hiding game and will paw/move the kennel around with Libby in it.
Separating them during meal time is tricky because Libby is a finicky eater who isn't 'open bowl' fed, but takes up to 2 hours to finish her bowl. I feel bad putting Kirby away for 2 hours twice a day when its not his fault that Libby is a slow eater even though he is the culprit who steals her food...
I wouldn't be so worried if Libby was a healthy weight.. but she is underweight and the vet doesn't want her to skip meals.
I don't want to resort to switching Libby's diet to a more enticing/appetizing (more expensive and higher maintenance) diet to get her to eat faster. She currently is on a high calorie puppy diet. It actually has more calories that Kirby's food (because large breed puppy food is designed to slow the speed of growth to reduce health issues).
When Kirby bothers her while eating, or is blatantly eating from her bowl, she just looks at him like "help yourself, I don't care" Libby is really submissive but in the future, I could see them becoming resource/food aggressive.
Please help!