[ingodseyes]

Hello, I'm hoping I can get some good feed back on this problem I'm facing.

#1, I've been studying about raw feeding, and at first thought you were all out of your minds....I've been converted by studying not only this site, but others that I randomly selected.

so here is my dilemma, I have 3 dogs all lab mixes, and I'm concerned about the eating 'habits' of one.

Her name is Gracie, she's a two year old Weimaraner mix, and she 'inhales' her food. I have to stay by the bowl, and stick my foot over it, to gadge her intake according to the other two dogs who chew their food. I think she does this, for several reasons (been doing it since she was a pup) 1, I think she has this sense of needing to finish first to go scavange the floor for droppings (still on kibble haven't switched yet). 2, nervous habit?

My fear is that as I switch over to raw, is she going to 'inhale' the chicken backs? Or, will she 'savour the flavor' and the experience of eating in her natural state?

what experiences have some of you had with this issue and how did you 'correct the behavior'?

Thanks
Michael

 

[magicre]

hi, welcome to the 'out of our minds' club. it grows daily : )

i too have what i call a stupid eater.....i well remember the day he swallowed a drumstick whole....he's an 18 lb. pug. i thought i had killed him...

i didn't and he's not quite as stupid as he used to be, although trachea still gives him fits because he has to slow down, g'd forbid...and he doesn't want to, so he swallows it whole and then horks it up a few times....in so doing, he gets to 'eat' the same meal a few times...no harm, no foul.

when we started with chicken backs, he only got a half...your girl, of course, will get a whole one....she might try to swallow it whole and when she does, you'll be in the room, near her, but not hovering....because her system will expel it most likely..and she'll then eat it again and again...

time will slow her down...semi freezing things sometimes helps....feeding larger than her mouth helps....

just remember to cut the excess fat and organs off to keep her poo stable....but only in the beginning...

even now, a year later....today i gave my pug a lamb neck that weighs in at 1.6 lbs....bigger than his head....more than he should eat....he opened that pug mouth of his and tried to get the whole thing in...he couldn't so he flipped it around for a while before he settled down...he's still a fast eater....and a gulper, but not nearly as bad as he was in the beginning.

keep in mind, it's a learning curve for you and for them...

my corgi mix looked at her first chicken back and looked at me as if to ask, really? this is food? you want me to eat this? took a few days..and she's very methodical, but very lazy...so if something has bone in it....she whines and acts very put out.....in the end, hunger wins.

good luck to you.

this was yesterday's meal for the inhaler: beef gullet

and here is the inhaler:

 

[DaneMama]

I have three gulpers in my house. I feed only once a day so I can feed a larger portion. That does the trick. Just make sure whatever you give her is not smaller than her mouth. You may want to start with chicken leg quarters rather than backs because they are larger forcing her to crunch it a few times before swallowing.

 

[ingodseyes]

opcorn: @MagicreThank you for the humor, and insight....whew, I really did laugh at your post, very funny experiences. I once had a pug, very persistant in their desires. Great feedback, thank you..op2:

 

[RawFedDogs]

My fear is that as I switch over to raw, is she going to 'inhale' the chicken backs? Or, will she 'savour the flavor' and the experience of eating in her natural state?

IMO you are spending a lot of time and energy worrying about a problem you probably won't have. Not many dogs will try to swallow a chicken back whole, particularly in the beginning when she doesn't know what she is dealing with.

Another thing to be aware of. Dogs don't chew the same way humans do. We chew our food to a mush before swallowing. Digestion, for humans, begin in the mouth during the chewing operation. Dogs merely crunch and crush their food until it is small enough to fit down their throat and some amazingly large pieces will fit down their throat. Digestion for a dog doesn't begin until the food reaches the stomach.

It's natural for wild preditors to gulp their food fast before something bigger comes along and takes their meal away from them.

 

[Love my lab]

My girl is a total gulper.....has been since the 1st time she ate w/ her litter. She continued her habit into our home even though she was the only dog in the house and did not have to "rush" to eat for fear of not getting any. I even bought a bowl w/ compartments in it to help slow her down...it did a tad but not enough that she didnt develope a bump on her nose from the compartments...my bad...bowl went away and once we switched to raw I held her food and taught her gentle. She slowly has got it through her skull she needs to chew her food. But as RFD said they dont chew like humans....and it took me many meals to realize that 4 or 5 chomps was enough for her to get it down the hatch. There has been a few times she gaged but she learned not to eat like a little piglet. I of course still being very new into this(7th week..yay for us !! ) so I am still cautious to pay attention to her when she eats and am close to her. I also love watching her eat as it truely amazes me the power of her jaw as she eats.

Good luck it will all work out just fine What Reahven has taught me through this is that she is soooo fine w/ her new food its me who has to relax

 

[KC23]

I have a male lab mix who eats SO fast--I never really heard him crunch/chew anything until he actually started eating raw. I only started a few weeks ago, but it's going great. In fact, he's the biggest of my 3 dogs, yet he is sometimes the last one to finish his meal now. He does well with leg quarters and chicken backs. I was worried at first too, but the dogs really enjoy it and handle it with ease.