Food scare

[NW_MONTANA_BC]

Taffy, my older BC  (13) seems to not want to chew her food. I really did not realize this until the other day she regurgitated her evening meal all over my floor. Then I noticed the whole chunks of food had not even been chewed. She eats so fast also. Today I tried to feed her one piece at a time and still she doesn't chew it. She just swallows them. I give her bully sticks from time to time and she chews the heck out of those but not her food. Last night I gave her a medium size dog biscuit and walked in the other room for a minute and when I came back she was trying to dig in her mouth with her paws. It took me a few seconds to figure out what she was doing. She was chocking to death. It scared me so bad I didn't know what to do. Finally it came out and she could breath again. If a dog could of turned blue she'd be a very dark blue. I grabbed her up and hugged her and thanked God she was still alive. Anyway what can I do to make her chew her food?

[D'Elle]

Get this:  SLOW FEED BOWL

I have a dog who bolted his food so fast that almost every day he choked. After trying three different slow-feed bowls that didn't slow him down much, I finally found the spiral-shaped one in the link above. It slows him down considerably, makes him work for the food a little bit at a time whether it is kibble or home made food, and he has not choked one time since I started using it. It is plastic, which I would prefer not to use, but the advantages of it outweigh the fact that it is plastic.  He will always swallow his food whole but at least this makes him do it more slowly. there is no way to make your dog chew, but if the pieces go down slowly you won't have a problem with it.

Be very careful what you give her in the way of larger biscuits or chews and don't leave her unattended with them. Maybe large raw bones would be better, since there's no way she can swallow that whole.

[urge to herd]

You could also try soaking the kibble, then freezing it in a large kong or something similar. Working on that should slow her down.

With large dog biscuits or cookies, try holding it in your fist with just a bit of it protruding so that she can only gnaw off small pieces. Taffy might not like it, or she might be too enthusiastic which would make it unsafe for you, but it's worth a try.

Good luck! I use a slow feed bowl just to give my boy something to do, and it takes him longer to eat.

Ruth & Gibbs 

[GentleLake]

Dogs don't need to chew their food in the sense that we chew ours, nor are they equipped to do so. If you compare dogs' teeth to ours (and other omnivores and herbivores) you're see that they have no flat molars, which are grinding teeth. In addition their jaws are hinged to simply move up and down vertically and cannot move side to side as ours do in order to chew and grind down food. Lastly, their saliva contains few enzymes that interact with the food in the mouth to begin the digestion process. IOW, the function of "chewing" for dogs is to break food down into small enough pieces to swallow and get into the stomach where their digestion begins. Their teeth and jaws are designed to tear meat off bones and to shear it into pieces small enough to swallow.

Kibble is small enough that most dogs do very little chewing to get it down (thus the myth that hard kibble cleans teeth); as you saw when Taffy regurgitated, most of it goes down whole. I just read that the biggest reason most dogs regurgitate is that they've eaten too fast. Another reason is they've swallowed something too large and it's to prevent blockage; raw fed dogs will sometimes do this if they haven't chomped something into a small enough piece and then swallowed it. The dry cereal based bone probably got stuck more easily than the slippery meat I've seen my dogs hork up with no problem and then chew to a proper size.

 

[GentleLake]

There are various DIY versions of slow feed bowls. For one you can divide kibble into a 12 hole muffin tin so there's not much to swallow at once. Some people scatter dry kibble on the floor or ground so the dog has to slow down. I'm sure an internet search would provide other possibilities.

[Lawgirl]

If you are feeding dry kibble, you can make a snuffle mat.  If you google "make a snuffle mat video" there are heaps of instructional videos out there.  Basically you use a load of fleece or other material, cut it into strips, buy a holey rubber mat and then tie the strips of fabric through the holes so the ends all stick up.   It is not difficult, just time consuming. 

Spread some kibble in between the sticking up ends and your dog will have to nose around in between the strips and sniff out the kibble.  It will take a lot longer and will mean she can't eat as quickly.  It will also work her mind by working her nose.  When the mat gets dirty, you can just throw it all in the wash.

You can also buy ready made snuffle mats, if you don't feel like making one.

 

[NW_MONTANA_BC]

12 hours ago, D'Elle said:

Get this:  SLOW FEED BOWL

I have a dog who bolted his food so fast that almost every day he choked. After trying three different slow-feed bowls that didn't slow him down much, I finally found the spiral-shaped one in the link above. It slows him down considerably, makes him work for the food a little bit at a time whether it is kibble or home made food, and he has not choked one time since I started using it. It is plastic, which I would prefer not to use, but the advantages of it outweigh the fact that it is plastic.  He will always swallow his food whole but at least this makes him do it more slowly. there is no way to make your dog chew, but if the pieces go down slowly you won't have a problem with it.

Be very careful what you give her in the way of larger biscuits or chews and don't leave her unattended with them. Maybe large raw bones would be better, since there's no way she can swallow that whole.

Thanks D'Elle…….I order one today.

[NW_MONTANA_BC]

9 hours ago, GentleLake said:

Dogs don't need to chew their food in the sense that we chew ours, nor are they equipped to do so. If you compare dogs' teeth to ours (and other omnivores and herbivores) you're see that they have no flat molars, which are grinding teeth. In addition their jaws are hinged to simply move up and down vertically and cannot move side to side as ours do in order to chew and grind down food. Lastly, their saliva contains few enzymes that interact with the food in the mouth to begin the digestion process. IOW, the function of "chewing" for dogs is to break food down into small enough pieces to swallow and get into the stomach where their digestion begins. Their teeth and jaws are designed to tear meat off bones and to shear it into pieces small enough to swallow.

Kibble is small enough that most dogs do very little chewing to get it down (thus the myth that hard kibble cleans teeth); as you saw when Taffy regurgitated, most of it goes down whole. I just read that the biggest reason most dogs regurgitate is that they've eaten too fast. Another reason is they've swallowed something too large and it's to prevent blockage; raw fed dogs will sometimes do this if they haven't chomped something into a small enough piece and then swallowed it. The dry cereal based bone probably got stuck more easily than the slippery meat I've seen my dogs hork up with no problem and then chew to a proper size.

 

Well I guess this makes me feel a little better knowing all dogs don't chew their food. I never new this. Thank you

[NW_MONTANA_BC]

9 hours ago, GentleLake said:

There are various DIY versions of slow feed bowls. For one you can divide kibble into a 12 hole muffin tin so there's not much to swallow at once. Some people scatter dry kibble on the floor or ground so the dog has to slow down. I'm sure an internet search would provide other possibilities.

I tried this tonight. It did slow her down.

[NW_MONTANA_BC]

I have to say,  D'Elle's recommendation on the Slow Feed Bowl was excellent! It works better than I had imagined. Now Taffy will chase that Kibble around and around that bowl till she gets every last piece and it takes her much, much longer to eat her food. I'm not sure she likes it but it makes me feel a whole lot better knowing she is not gulping her food down now. I think she is even crewing it a little now. Thank You!!

[urge to herd]

You can also put a old blanket, folded once or twice, on the ground. Take her kibble and scatter it over the different layers so that she has to search for it. Gibbs really likes this one. He gets half of each meal in a kong or kong type device, and I usually fill the kong and then hide it between his living room blanket. The few times I'm in a hurry and just hand him the kong he gives me a WTF look!

Glad that the slow feed thing is working for you!

Ruth & Gibbs