Vomiting necks and wings straight back up

[OZBoxerLover]

I have a question about Gnarly and his Chicken RMB's. He has been BARFing for a couple of years now and has had no troubles whatsoever.... the occassional vomit with partially digested bones. But now everytime he eats he's necks or wings in the morning they come straight back up (the last week or so). I have been feeding him ground chicken instead and this is fine, tried wings again this morning and they came back up.
Any ideas on why this may be happening?

 

[boxer]

First thoughts that come to mind are perhaps he isn't chewing the wings enough (does he re-eat them?), and that it could be the chicken skin. Quite a few dogs don't tolerate chicken skin well, especially if they're pancreatic. I would presume there's skin in the ground mix too, of course, but as it's ground up he may cope better that way. Do the necks also have skin? And, is the vomiting any time he gets chicken wings/necks, or in the mornings only?

I'd try him on a different RMB (perhaps beef brisket bones) or try skinless chicken only.

 

[OZBoxerLover]

Thanks for the reply
- he doesn't re-eat them, hates the sight of them
- the necks have no skin
- and it's any time, not just morning, that he has the necks

I have tried feeding him one neck at a time and leaving about five minutes in between and he copes a lot better with this.... maybe it's just that he eats it too fast and his stomach can't cope. It's funny that we have never had a problem in the past, oh well.
I gave him brisket bones tonight actually.... great minds think alike

 

[boxer]

Hmm - yes it does seem strange. Perhaps it's just that he's eating too fast - I'm sure he's slower with brisket bones Another thought that comes to mind is food temperature. My dogs have never been too keen on room temperature food, but straight from the fridge can cause them to throw up if they eat quickly. Could that be Gnarly's problem? If so, warming the necks in a little hot water before feeding can help.

 

[OZBoxerLover]

He has always eaten it straight from the fridge but I have been warming it the last couple of days, with boiling water because I had heard that being too cold can cause them to throw up. I'll give him a few more days without and try them again.
Thanks for your help.

 

[FarleyBoxer]

Amanda,

Just wanted to add that Farley occasionally does this too, because he just doesn't chew those pieces very well. I guess it's the body's way of saying that it won't be able to digest those whole pieces. He never truly gets it all the way down, it gets stuck in his throat and then up it comes. But he tries again. Gross, I know! Maybe if you hand-feed them Gnarly will take more time. Although that's not a habit I'd like to start, myself.

 

[BooBoo & Riley]

Amanda, as you watch him eat, does he seem to chew the necks well or does he seem to bite it once or twice and then gulp it down?

With my two, I used to chop up chicken frames into 2" pieces for them, but I noticed that it didn't make them chew it very hard before swallowing.. so now I don't cut up the chicken frame at all, I just throw one at one dog and one to the other in the back yard. It takes them 2-3 minutes to really chew off a piece and eat much more slowly than before. Just a thought that maybe the pieces you are giving have become too small now that he is bigger and gotten used to eating them.

 

[Jan]

Tara tends to throw up when she eats to fast or in too large pieces. The most disgusting is liver. If I don't cut it into little pieces she will swallow it whole and it invaribly it come back up and boy does it look disgusting. She does eat it again though.

Is it possible that Gnarly has developed an allergy to chicken?