so despite the ~freezing temperatures in our kitchen the last week, the still-mostly-frozen bag of chicken that no one found themselves cooking finally reached the end of it's rope last night. my wife didn't think it'd be a good idea for us to eat it (me, i'd have had no problems cooking it up, but i'm like that). so i asked if she was going to just throw it out, and she said yep.

so i decided to see how the two girls would react to raw. they were chicken leg quarters. i gave them one each. i know that there's a bit too much bone on them, but it's what i had on hand.

they both sat at perfect attention for it, i put it in their bowls, and made them wait a few seconds before releasing them. they went at it, chewing and crunching. destiny had some minor growling issues when my wife went near her, so i reached my hand in with a piece of hot dog a few times and she pretty quickly got used to it (this is the first time she's ever shown food aggression).

anyway, they'd been working on most of the thigh for a few minutes.. then this bastard siamese cat we have that likes to eat from the dog's bowls comes up. ruby growls, then wolfs down the entire drumstick whole.

thankfully she stayed at her own bowl (the two dogs are about 10' apart when eating), but i was ready to correct her if she went in destiny's direction - the last thing i want is a dog fight. destiny finished her drumstick in short order, and they both had quite a look of satisfaction on their faces.

anyway, my main concern is ruby eating the drumstick whole. i'm pretty sure it wasn't crunched up at all when it went down her throat. will she pass it alright? is the worst i have to worry about some boney poops?

i'm confident if they were left alone, she'd have chewed it up properly before swallowing.

Jamie,
My 11 month old did the same thing about a month ago when he thought I was leaving and he wanted to come but still had a chicken leg in his bowl I was not leaving just wiping down my front door from hand prints ( my 2 & 4 year old girls) so anyway he swallowed the whole thing (leg) and I was worried but thought a leg is not that big and will break down in the stomack.He was fine I did not work him that night just let him lay around.The next day he was fine and eat again ,this time with out swallowing his food whole.I hope that gives you a little relief.

I agree that dogs are good at digesting wolfed-down stuff.

I would either feed them separately, or, as you were doing, police them 100% when they have high-value food like raw meat. I don't want my dogs to be afraid of losing their food; I believe that it can trigger food aggression. I want them to feel secure that if I gave it, they keep it, and I won't let another dog take it (and I won't take it back, either). Just what works for me.

It's great to see a dog eat what a dog was born to eat, isn't it?

thanks guys.

yeah, there's something satisfying about watching them rip into a piece of dead animal that's closer to how it was originally. :p my brother in law is going to talk to his friends who hunt, and when they butcher the game they kill, see if we can score like the heads and hoofs and everything they don't use that's not digestive system parts. my wife thinks it's disgusting to let 'em gnaw on an entire head, but i've seen other people on this board with photos of it happening and their dogs seem to love it.

with regards policing them eating, i try to do this. they're more or less trained that if they walk away from it i put it up, so keeping them away from each other by several feet is pretty much all it takes. i've slacked off on this the last couple weeks because destiny just wasn't eating. not tonight though! it's just these stupid cats. like a cat is gonna take off with an entire chicken leg!

I wouldn't worry about the dogs swallowing RMB whole. My 4 mo old pup has been swollowing whole chicken necks with barely a bite on the way down since he was 10 weeks old. Gave me the shivers to watch the first couple of times. My female when she was a pup did chew a bit more, but has always been a gulper, but not like this pup is. He can be scarey to watch eat. I just make sure that I give him the narrower/smaller sized necks & give the bigger ones to my 3 yr old female. My female eats whole chicken leg qtrs for meals & pretty much chomps on the drumstick portion 2-3 times maybe before swollowing it. I have learned to just hang out & keep an eye on them, just in case...but have never had any problems. My dogs have only been fed a raw diet. They seem to know what they are doing.

 Quote: jamie fraser

like a cat is gonna take off with an entire chicken leg!

Don't underestimate the little varmints. You haven't met Pivo, my Schutzkatz. He growls through the window at people walking up to the front door. He sits on my desk and swats the GSD. He can crunch through a whole raw chicken neck in no time flat. He knows how to open child-locked cabinet doors just enough to reach in with his paw and grab anything within reach. He has no fear, and refuses to take "OFF!!!" for an answer. I have no doubt he would and could steal an entire chicken leg, given the chance. And believe it or not, he's a very affectionate critter.

LOL.....nothing like a bastard siamese cat to mess everything up!!! Sorry, but this has really given me a laugh. Most siamese cats that I have been around are quite arrogant and in this case very brave, ah yes, very brave!

Might be better to keep them separated when feeding raw. As Connie said it is regarded as a high-value food item for all the dogs I know. Most of the time it only takes them about 2 minutes to eat.

well to be honest the "bastard" in this cat is getting much better now her owner (my wife's sister) doesn't live with us any more. she's another one terrible with animals. she'd kick the cat out at random intervals, come home and not even look at her, stuff like that. now she's gone and the cat's figured it out, it's started bonding with three of us now (probably spreading out her odds, which is smart), and she's all but quit that annoying habit of pissing on stuff (which we've now figured out was probably just out of spite).

and when the dogs come near, she swats at them, and hisses/spits with the sound of a nailgun going off. but she's tiny, and it really doesn't seem likely she'd steal a chicken bone.

my dogs on the other hand seemed extra extra annoying this morning while i was getting out of bed. i haven't crates for them, and they weren't misbehaving, just kept going from one side to the other trying to get one of us to wake up. it could be coincidence, but i was feeding twice a day to try and get destiny to eat more, and maybe they're expecting chicken for breakfast too...

OK, now you've got me curious. This evening at feeding time I'm going to "accidentally" leave a chicken leg out and see if the Schutzkatz can make off with it. He's not very big, either - just 10 pounds, but all raw-fed muscle.

I'll let ya'll know

scutzkatz very funny