Raw Feeders

[rocco]

I had a incident this morning where Reddells was choking on a ox tail. He was laying on the ground struggling and instinct kicked in and I jammed my arm down his throat and bought it out. I was just glad he had tried to chew some of it to give me something to grab. I am shaking like a leaf right now. :D

Now I am terrified of feeding him raw bones. He pigs his food and tries to get his bones down too fast. He was fed on a premium dry and fresh mince before. But I am a huge raw believer and Rocco did well on it.

I give him chicken frames and necks, lamb flaps, brisket and pork bones. Chicken frames he is OK on it's the harder bones where he is lazy and doesn't chew just wants to swallow.

What is my best action here to go back to the dry food for his safety? Can I teach him to chew his bones and stop pigging? Do I give him larger bones that he has to spend some time on? Or smaller bones that will fit down his throat?

[missmoo]

Hi Rocco,

That must have been scary for you. It is every dog owners nightmare come true.

I would suggest either feeding him bones that are small and he can swallow without chewing that wont cause a choking concern, ideally we want our dogs to chew all their food but some dogs a gulpers. I have a labrador and he is a Hoover so i know how you feel.

The other suggesion would be to feed large bones like big cow leg marrrow bones. These bones ar too big to swallow and must be chewed on. If you are concerned about the fat content then have your local butcher scrape the marrow out. The important thing is for you to keep an eye on your boy when feeding bones and then removing any left over - if there is any!

cheers,

MM

:D

[Shmurps]

Of no help here, but look forward to peoples replies as this worries me too.

[Sandra777]

A single oxtail bone is much too small for a dog his size - a whole tail then a different story sorry.

I wouldn't give a dog anything it can conceivably try to swallow first go. If he chews chicken bodies then stick with them IMO.

Problem being of course that you give them something bigger and they chew pieces off and try to swallow them whole. I've never found a way to solve this reliably but the odd one will be OK if you give them an amount of softer food to take the edge off their greed (hunger?) then give them the bone.

I have had a dog choke and die on a brisket bone (yes he was supervised) so I fully understand how scary it is.

Edited April 18, 2010 by Sandra777

[rocco]

Thanks everyone. So will he be OK just on chicken frames? Dont they need more variety in bones?

He is only 16months so still growing (most of his bone growth done I would suspect). Should I give him the dry to supplement?

Is Eagle Pack good food? I know nothing about premium food since Science Diet was all the rage.

ETA: Sandra, I am so sorry to hear about your dog choke on a bone, that is terribly sad.

Edited April 18, 2010 by rocco

[stormie]

How awful, Rocco. But good work for helping the little man out!

I avoid ox tail bones with Orbit - I find them a bit too small and not a good shape for chewing. I think he'd try to swallow them whole.

I think feeding raw, its one of the risks you take that you are increasing the risk of something going wrong. One of our Golden Retrievers died after eating a raw chicken frame - she mustn't have chewed it enough and it obstructed the path out of her stomach. She vomited aspirated some of her vomit which buggered up her lungs and she wasn't able to breath for herself enough so she was pts. She was just very unfortunate.

I love turkey necks for the big dogs. They're big enough to need a good chew and the actual neck bones are small enough to not really cause a problem even if large bits are swallowed whole.

[huga]

Poor Red :D

I'd just avoid them in future. Chicken frames are good, but I'd try and give him some more variety. Like Stormie said, turkey necks are great and I find salmon awesome for my guys. You just need to find a fish market that will sell salmon frames to you cheaply. My guys get lamb flaps too, but I don't know if they're too small for the big guy.

[westielover]

It's scary when they choke on a bone isn't it - especially when you're pooch is a gulper! ;)

Do you think you might be able to 'teach' him to eat bones - is he okay around bones and not possessive? If so, grab a turkey neck, for example, hold one end and let him chew on the other - but don't let him have it until he has chewed & bitten pieces off and until you cannot hold what's left any longer without him eating your hand!! :D

You can apply the same concept to chicken frames and turkey wings - maybe even a lamb shank or lamb backbone.

At some point he will trigger that meaty bones are more enjoyable to chew on than to gulp!

The idea of feeding bones is to get the dog to exercise their jaw muscles & gnaw on bones to clean their teeth - so in the case of a large dog - the bigger the bone the better I suppose.

Try fish pieces as well - salmon heads/chests with fins - the pieces may be similar in size to ox bones but at least they are 'softer' bones and there will be less chance of Red choking on them.

Hope the above helps.

[Clyde]

Thanks everyone. So will he be OK just on chicken frames? Dont they need more variety in bones?

He is only 16months so still growing (most of his bone growth done I would suspect). Should I give him the dry to supplement?

Is Eagle Pack good food? I know nothing about premium food since Science Diet was all the rage.

.

I feed mine the Eagle Pack (anchovy one), plus smaller chicken bones, chicken mince and sometimes BARF commercial patties (when I remember to defrost them). My dogs don't get any other bones as I've had too many near death incidences with them. They are all wonderfully fit and healthy.

*pouts* I think it's unfair to post without a photo :D

[Skitch]

If you have a big dog, feeding them something as small as on oxtail probably isn't a good idea.. generally they will just gulp it down! I feed both of my dogs raw in gigantic chunks so they really have to work to chew the bones and meat into manageable sizes before swallowing it. I've never had either of them choke but I do sometimes get worried too!

[Tintin Jac]

You poor things. You don't need any more doggy dramas!

I have avoided ox tails because I thought they looked like the perfect shape/size to get stuck in Tintin's throught. Someone mentioned that the whole ones would be OK...don't they still have the vertibrae bits which can break off into swallowable pieces?

He is fine on whole chicken carcasses. I've been avoiding weight bearing bones of larger animals. Necks seem to be fine. Lamb necks and beef necks seem good. Although the beef necks are huge and very fleshy. I usually need to chuck them out b4 he's finished because when he wanders away, the flies arrive en masse...eeeewwww.

Ribs also go down well. But I do worry about the pointy bits...I think I'm just being a worry wort though!

[Caesars mum]

Hi Rocco

hope Red is ok

I feed my guys large chunks of lamb flaps, turkey wings & necks and chicken carcuses.

was he at a kennel with a number of dogs before you got him as this can be a cause for rushing to get their food down. this may settle in time when he realises he doesn't have competion for his food.

[rocco]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will look into some fish heads for him and stick with the chicken. He never had to compete for his food, but I was warned he love his food. He is like Ralph - a pig and I have seen Ralph inhale a chicken wing and survive it. The thing is if I watch him and go over to grab something I think he is about to swallow he gobbles it down faster. Which then risks more chance of him choking. I am cutting bones out of his diet until he grows up a bit to realise food doesn't need to be inhaled.

*pouts* I think it's unfair to post without a photo :D

Here you go ;) .... Red shouting feed me.

[cassie]

Roo tails are good too for big dogs Also you can feed bones frozen together so they have to chew them apart, I've had success with feeding this way before. Otherwise my kids get salmon heads/backs, lamb flaps, chicken carcasses, chicken maryland, pork hocks, turkey wings and turkey necks. Also large chunks of meat without bone (roasts etc) when they're on special, I find they're almost the best thing for teeth cleaning. Plenty of variety there

[cazxxz]

That must have been so scary

I only bought my dog an ox tail once. He started to choke on it, and it had to be yanked from his throat. I won't buy any again. It's the only time Jake has ever choked on a bone, and that was when he was about 18 months old (he's now six years old). So maybe dogs get better with experience.

As others have said, try getting bigger bones. If he just needs the edge taken off his hunger, maybe give him a couple of chicken necks, then a lamb, pork, or beef bone.

[Clyde]

Here you go .... Red shouting feed me.

Perfect

I bought 3 cards form Madeit of yours. I am going to frame them and put them up in the salon ;)

[Tintin Jac]

I bought 3 cards form Madeit of yours. I am going to frame them and put them up in the salon

Clyde, do you have a link?

[Sandra777]

If he just needs the edge taken off his hunger, maybe give him a couple of chicken necks,

A chicken neck is the last thing I'd give him - the absolute perfect size to go straight down the "wrong pipe" - terrible things for any dog big enough to swallow on whole

[Clyde]

I bought 3 cards form Madeit of yours. I am going to frame them and put them up in the salon

Clyde, do you have a link?

I just bought another one.

https://www.madeit.com.au/storecatalog.asp?userid=5462

Huga's collars are also on that site http://www.madeit.com.au/storecatalog.asp?userid=568

Edited April 23, 2010 by Clyde

[Tintin Jac]

Thank you