[whiteleo]

So, I know this isn't a subject you raw feeders want to brooch but.................the longer I feed raw and the more I order from my co-op list and talking to people on that list, I'm finding more and more people who have had issues with dogs choking/dying from either swallowing a piece of bone in meat too large or a piece getting stuck and not being able to get air. These same people are advocates of raw feeding but prefer to grind their dogs food instead. I believe that people have had issues with this same problem, but prefer not to talk about it. What are your thoughts?

 

[EnglishBullTerriers]

Titus will try to swallow too much bone at one time sometimes. He did it just the other day. I just waited till he got it out. I watched him closely and followed him around as he went from one room to the next, trying to get it out. He did without my help. But he also never lost his airway. That was the reason that I wasn't rushing him to a vet or anything. A lot of times, people think that the dog won't make it if he swallows a big piece of bone, they panic and rush off to the vets. (I know that you had to do that once.) But if you give the dog a minute to try to work it out... then if he can't, take him in. You would be supprised at what they can do. Titus ended up putting his back feet on the couch and making a BIG gag sound and it jumped out of his mouth. As soon as it was out, he wanted to eat it again!! (Tarded dog!) Oh well. I think that he had gotten excited about something going on somewhere else in the house and went to bark with food in his mouth.
If you feed them bones that are too big for a gulp, or if your dogs learn to not hurry thru their food, they shouldn't have a problem... Unless they lack the brains (like Titus) ;P
I love that dog to death, but sometimes he just lacks the knowledge to figuret things out by the 3rd time.
Owen has swallowed a whole chicken leg quarter before (I paniced at that time, till I realized that it went down fine) and nothing happened to him. He was just fine with it. We really quickly started working on learning how to eat slower!! :0
I don't like the idea of grinding their food because they won't get the dental care that they need from the whole experience. I almost had one of my friends convinced that she needed to start her dogs on PMR, but she changed her mind again. I am continuing to work on her!

 

[DaneMama]

I can honestly say that I have never had a problem with choking. Akasha the other day swallow a WHOLE turkey neck in one gulp!

Everyone's dogs are different in their eating habits. What bones have you had trouble with?

What I have found is that dogs will choke on irregular shaped bones, and that is why I stay far away from them.

Ultimately, you need to do what you feel is best and what you feel comfortable with. If you grind their food, I would still give them RMB's for recreational chewing for the dental benefits.

 

[RawFedDogs]

I'm finding more and more people who have had issues with dogs choking/dying from either swallowing a piece of bone in meat too large or a piece getting stuck and not being able to get air. ... What are your thoughts?

I think MOST of these cases would have worked themselves out if the owner had not panicked. In my 7+ years of raw feeding and being on a lot of raw feeding discussion boards, some of which have 14,000+ menmbers and close to 200 posts/day, I have heard of 2 first hand experiences of dogs actually dying from bones. That isn't many considering I have probably read over 100,000 posts over the years. It CAN happen but it's rare. There are a lot more likely things that will kill your dogs than a piece of bone.

You hear a lot of stories about a next door neighbor's coworker's brother in law's best friends' brother's cousin's dogs that died from a bone and if you check into it, it ended up being a cooked bone.

I have just read too many posts from too many people who have never had a problem for me to spend time worrying about it.

With that being said, always feed bones that are large enough not to be swallowed whole. My dogs often crunch a chicken quarter 2 or 3 times and swallow it whole without problem. They can swallow a chicken drumstick whole with no problem and often do when they can steal one from one of the cats. :smile:

ETA: Sometimes when my dogs swallow something too big, they will bring it back up, re-chew it and swallow it again.

 

[whiteleo]

Thanks for the replys! In general I've had issues with my female with turkey necks, doesn't seem to matter how large they are. I've thought about cutting them in really small pieces that way it can't possibly get stuck.

I'm not sure if the people I talk to just don't chat on a forum or they don't like to talk about their experiences, but I had made the comment that I couldn't pick up a order on a certain day because my female was at the VCA emergency vet in Seattle because she had inhaled a turkey neck (via open email) no responses. But when in fact I did pick up my order from another person who held it in her freezer for me: she said she lost her boxer from a turkey neck, so now she grinds. There are numerous bull terrier people on the yahoo groups who have similiar stories, so they grind. Maybe it's the breed!