should I be worried?

[dakota12]

I was not sure if this was the correct place for this thread. But here goes my worry. In the last few weeks I have noticed that my 5 month old (dakota) does not chew his food or any of the treats I give him, he swallows everything. Last night I was giving him and cheyenne their evening treats. Which I give them the solid gold jerky treats and some treats that I buy at petco. They are round and have a different variety of flavors in the middle of them, they are not very big but they are a good size. Dakota
started choking and at first I thought he was going to throw it up but after a few seconds he looked like he could not breath and he was gasping for air, I panicked and my first reaction was to stick my finger down his throat but I was afraid I would have caused more damage, in that split moment he threw it up. I started crying, and he looked at me and started wagging his tail. My friend who had stopped by was telling me that he choked for a good 2 minutes before the treat came up. I felt so helpless, and it happened so fast. As I set on the kitchen floor hugging dakota and crying, I got up and went straight over to the bag of treats and I threw them in the trash. When he eats his kibble he does the same thing he dosnt chew he just swollows, I have had to take his bowl away from him to try to get him to slow down. I dont know what to do. He has choked before while eating his kibble but not anything like this time. Is this normal? When he was a puppy he did chew his food, he has been doing this for the last few weeks. Please help any advice would be greatful.

 

[hogan's mom]

Have you called your vet? Maybe his teeth need to be checked. Sometimes when they're teeth bother them they don't chew. That would have scared me too. Good luck.

 

[sashaberry]

We have had similar things happen with Sasha and now we do a couple of things. With her food we soften it with water or gravy so that if she does not chew it they are already soft and when she drinks water they will not swell causing her to vomit. For treats, sounds crazy but we buy really big treats and take them away from her when she is close to done. She has swallowed an entire end of a greenie before and threw it up a few minutes later.
If your dog is eating very quickly (food) feed in intervals, that is what the vet suggested to us. Feed for a few minutes then take bowl up for 10 minutes and repeat. Or out vet also suggested going to wet food, which we did not do.

Hope that helps

 

[JulieM]

Did feeding in intervals work? I'd think it might make the dog more inclined to wolf down the food before you take the bowl away....

You can also try putting big rocks (big enough that he can't swallow them) in the food dish - he'll have to push them around in order to get to his food, which will slow him down.

Also, here's information on a Heimlich for dogs; I've done it quite a few times when my dogs were eating kibble!

http://www.petsmart.com/articles/article_6612.shtml

 

[dakota12]

Thanks for the info. I will be calling my vet today. Which we have been in already 3 times this past week. I have a great vet he laughs and says I am going to become his number one patient. I guess I worry to much sometimes. But I would rather be safe then sorry. I will try the rocks in the bowl. Thanks for the web site on the Heimlich for dogs. I also wanted to ask is feeding can food bad for dogs? Someone once told me that it was not good for the gums or teeth. I feed dry and every now and then I will add a little can food or yogurt. But I have a friend who tells me I should not feed them can food. I also wanted to know what good treats are out there, dakota is very picky eater have tryed a few different ones he seems to really like the yogurt treats from petsmart.


Aidea & Dakota & Cheyenne

 

[VTbxrFan]

Originally posted by dakota12
I also wanted to ask is feeding can food bad for dogs? Someone once told me that it was not good for the gums or teeth. I feed dry and every now and then I will add a little can food or yogurt. But I have a friend who tells me I should not feed them can food.

I personally think this is not true. Even a dog who doesn't eat too quickly really doesn't chew kibble - it's already bite sized, so the belief that it cleans teeth isn't true. I feed a mix of canned and kibble. I like feeding canned food because it is less processed and doesn't have preservatives. I also like the higher meat content in canned food. Kibble has to have a large quantity of grains to process correctly, but a dog's natural diet is mostly meat and little or no grain. Kibble is convenient and affordable, so for me a good quality kibble mixed with a good quality canned food it a nice compromise.

 

[Scrapper's Mom]

I also feed a mixture of canned and kibble. I use the canned food in the morning to add all the supplements and vitamins Scrapper gets and he has really white, clean teeth.

BTW, could your Dakota be not chewing because for some reason he is being over protective and worried about his food?

 

[JazznChase]

I also heard you can put a kong or something large in there so that he doesnt swallow his food as fast! Hope that helps!
Chase likes to swallow treats too-I break them up in small bits!

 

[Roxanna]

My Tyra swallows everything too. I buy extra small kibble for that very same reason. My theory is that some boxers have too much underbite making it difficult to chew but only the vet could determine if that is the case.

 

[JulieM]

I don't know any dog of any breed that really chews kibble....the pieces are just too small. I meant, the point of chewing is to get the food into bits small enough to swallow - kibble is already that size. Maybe some of the toy breeds chew some of the bigger kibbles, but in general they're just not a chewing food.