Our puppy is about 10 wks old. We found him as a newborn and raised him on the homemade formulae found on this website. He started eating raw meat and vegetables from around 5 wks old. We used to give him necks and he loved picking the meat off it, until about 3 wks ago when we couldn't find the bones anywhere. It seems that he swallowed the whole neck within the minutes when we didn't keep an eye on him. We stopped feeding him chicken necks now. My question is: from what age are puppies supposed to chew and swallow the necks? I've noticed that Lucky's chewing has become a lot better, judging by the rawhide products he's devoured!!

Mine were devouring wings and necks at 8-9 wks.

Love his most appropriate name! It does freak you out to see the little guys swallow them whole but, it doesn't seem to cause any problems. Didn't for mine anyway.

Best of luck to Lucky,
Debbie

I wouldn't even risk a dog swallowing any part of a chicken whatsoever. I've had a couple of 'close calls' when I used to chop them (and one time when I didn't, but fed the frame thawed). A chicken neck, for large breeds especially, shouldn't be swallowed whole--it should be attached to the frames, and preferably frozen so the dog has to chew small pieces of it first before swallowing. If you have to feed something like chicken wings freeze them all together as one batch first and give to your dog that way.

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I wouldn't even risk a dog swallowing any part of a chicken whatsoever. I've had a couple of 'close calls' when I used to chop them (and one time when I didn't, but fed the frame thawed). A chicken neck, for large breeds especially, shouldn't be swallowed whole--it should be attached to the frames, and preferably frozen so the dog has to chew small pieces of it first before swallowing. If you have to feed something like chicken wings freeze them all together as one batch first and give to your dog that way.

Okay now, this totally goes against a lot of the "BARF Diet" reading I've done. To my understanding, any edible bone is okay to be swallowed. My Cane Corso has been on raw since he was 8 weeks old or so and some bones he chews up, some he swallows. They all pass with no problem. He's 14 weeks old now.

Also, are you saying to feed the meaty bones frozen? I've read that the meaty bones need to be of room temperature and not frozen. I can't remember why right now, but I'm willing to bet it upsets digestion. All my raw meaty bones are fed thawed or very SLIGHTLY cool from being in the fridge. Even then I let them to room temp.

Have any more info on your statement?

It's not the passing that's the problem. It's the CHOKING. It depends on how the dog eats. Some dogs just swallow, or keep eating and eating. By my close calls I mean the dog stops eating and starts gagging and I had to give them the doggy heimlech in order for them to cough it out. Remember in the wild they'd have to eat their prey whole, not just the neck or the back.

I've never had upset stomachs with frozen BARF. Remmeber by the time the dog had chewed off a small piece, that piece would have already been thawed. I know more sites that recommend giving it frozen for the choking reason alone. Another reason for feeding it frozen is that while the dog is chewing on the food, without having swallowed any of it yet, it stimulates the stomach juices to 'get started' and thus prepared. Hence it is even less traumatic.

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It's not the passing that's the problem. It's the CHOKING. It depends on how the dog eats. Some dogs just swallow, or keep eating and eating. By my close calls I mean the dog stops eating and starts gagging and I had to give them the doggy heimlech in order for them to cough it out. Remember in the wild they'd have to eat their prey whole, not just the neck or the back.

I've never had upset stomachs with frozen BARF. Remmeber by the time the dog had chewed off a small piece, that piece would have already been thawed. I know more sites that recommend giving it frozen for the choking reason alone. Another reason for feeding it frozen is that while the dog is chewing on the food, without having swallowed any of it yet, it stimulates the stomach juices to 'get started' and thus prepared. Hence it is even less traumatic.

What about the food being frozen triggers the animal to chew? One tip I read about making sure a dog chews is just to make sure its too big to swallow. Not necessarily having it be the whole bird, but a hole chicken quarter is most likely not gonna get swallowed hole. It will need to be chewed. I give my dog turkey wings and I usually leave the part that looks like the leg whole and then the other 2 parts cut up. He does great.

Thats kinda scary that you had to give the doggy heimlich (sp?) to your pup. Glad it came out on the good side.

i think most people worry about this unnecessarily. if a dog inhales something too big for him to digest as is, he'll throw it back up and chew it up the next time. as for choking, dogs have died choking on kibble! nothing in this world is ever safe.

a pup raised on rmbs usually has no problem eating or digesting whole chicken necks.

FWIW, I seem to be able to find more warnings on feeding frozen and breaking pieces than feeding whole. Breaking pieces causes sharp edges, and weakens the bone, making it more likely to splinter. My dogs have gotten upset stomachs from eating frozen food, and have never had a problem with any kind of bone. I wouldn't worry about a larger pup eating the bones-my chihuahua can conquer a chicken wing in about 3 minutes <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />. My shepherd has eaten an entire chicken, (whole, not pieces) in about 5 minutes, so I doubt he's carefully chewing every piece. A certain amount of gulping is natural for a dog; however, if yours is the exception, and does choke because he's inhaling, not eating, then by all means, take precautions and grind the bones.

Feeding frozen simply forces the dog to slow down his eating. The slower the dog eats, the less chance he has of choking, and he has to break smaller pieces in order to eat the meat (he doesn't necessarily 'chew' it). Since I feed RMBs with 'soft' kind of bones (no weight-bearing bones), I don't worry about it breaking and the dog swallowing that, as long as it passes through. As for the stomach juices thing, I'm still trying to remember where it was I read that, simply the body anticipates the coming food as the dog is worrying over the meat.

All in all feeding frozen has the same effect as giving your dog bigger pieces of food. I normally don't worry about giving thighs thawed, it's the chicken bones/frames that I'm careful about. The second time I had a choking incident I unwittingly gave a thawed chicken frame to my GSD pup, and he kept swallowing it without 'breaking' the chicken, so that the whole thing was crammed inside his throat and he started running around pawing at his face. Drool everywhere. We got it out, he grabbed it half a second later and began to eat, and I never fed it thawed again. It is basically pieces of meat small enough that it can get lodged in the dog's throat, so while I won't worry about a Chihuahua eating a chicken neck, I would a shepherd.

Grinding is worse, IMHO.

Remember we're all individuals, as are our dogs. What works for some people might not necessarily work for another. I know I've seen this similar topic on the GermanShepherds forum, and people have recommended giving it frozen...do a search up on it. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />