Cleo is now 6 m/o and over 70lbs. I have been feeding her raw since we got her at 10 weeks old. Much of what I have learned about feeding raw has been from this site and the members of this forum. She is healthy, growing up beautifully and happy

When Cleo first joined our family, I posted about her gulping her food. Several of you suggested I feed larger parts. Iv'e tried that but unfortunately, that hasn't really worked. On the few occasions I tried to feed Cleo 1/2 of a chicken (Whole chicken in the 4-5 lb range) and a chicken carcass, she bit off half of the chicken and then began to retch and vomit. It scared me half to death

For the past month or so, I've been holding the food for her (RMB stuff like 1/2 chickens, carcasses, duck/turkey necks, drumsticks, lamb shanks, etc). She'll chew off decent size she can swallow without trouble. At first, she ate REALLY fast. Now, she has slowed down a bit. I'm trying to "train" her to chew more and just gulp as much as she can.

My question is: Is it possible to train her to eat in a way that I can just leave a carcass or 1/2 chicken and she won't choke herself. If so, is there anything more I should be doing? Has anyone successfully trained a dog to slow down and chew while eating?

Thanks all.

Hi Eric,

I am by no means a raw food expert, but I thought I read somewhere you could grind the bones in a meat grinder. Unfortunately, more work for you. Maybe you could grind them and put the ground food in one of those bowls made to force them to eat slower? I have the same prblem with my AB puppy, 7 mo. old. The only RMB I can give her are chicken necks and I do hold it in my hand as well and tell her to chew. If I let go, she swallows it whole. The bigger pieces are worse, more for her to swallow. I am sure someone on the forum will have a better solution.

Thought I would throw out there that it is not that uncommon for either one of my dogs, but especially my male, to gulp down larger chunks than I think he should. His body tells him that he screwed up, and then he wretches it back up to try again. It can be scary, but he is coming up on four years old, and has never had a problem, internally or at the end.

One thing that I did, and trust me it helped in MY situation (use your own discretion and comfort level) was to freeze the meal. Leg quarters are a staple here, and he (95-98 lbs) gets usually at least three of them a day, with other stuff mixed in. I’ll freeze them all together in one gallon size bag, and then peel them all out of the bag at once (think chickencicle ) as needed. He takes the whole thing to his room (crate) and starts chomping. The legs are all frozen solid together, and he can’t swallow it whole. After gnawing for a while, he will usually swallow the largish chunk at the end, but having it all frozen makes him work at it.

Also, feeding the largest size possible will help to slow him down. Think whole chicken or small turkey, or a half rack of ribs.

Grinding can work, but it is a PITA and there is no way I would do that daily for a dog of his size. Also I know that when feeding my dogs ground, they eat it faster, not slower. AND (as if I don’t have enough opinions ) I feel that it is important for the dog to bite into something and CHEW!! Good for teeth, jaw muscles, and doggy instinct. I know I would not want to eat oatmeal every day…

These animals are designed to eat and digest meat and bone, and you dog has been eating raw long enough to have all of the necessary digestive enzymes. I think it is usually us humans that have the problems watching it happen…

Dante had a tendency to wolf down backs too fast so I started spreading them open real wide, cracking the spine and serving it up flatter. He now actually chews it. I don't feed turkey necks as often as backs but I'll put the neck in a thick ziplock bag, cover that with a shop towel and hammer it out so it's at least twice as long and flat. Again, he'll take more time with it that way and get the benefits of chomping and chewing.

If she is good at regurgitating the chunks back up and re-chewing then there shouldn't be a problem. I have some that will swallow huge chunks of food every time without a problem, I also have one who has started choking on it (I've done the doggy heimlich on him twice now), so now I chop his meat and bone into bits with a meat cleaver rather than watch him every second he is eating.
If your dog just retches she's fine, if she starts staggering she needs a heimich.
http://www.spca.org/site/DocServer/PIC-Heimlich_Maneuver_for_Dogs-English.pdf?docID=2605
I can't say if she will learn to eat more slowely or not, time will tell.

thanks to all of you

I will certainly try the "Chickenscile" idea. I've given Cleo frozen lamb shanks in the past, and she does well with them. I also pound turkey necks for her or, use poultry shears to cut them into bite size pieces when my wife has to feed her (she doesn't have the grip strength to hold them as I do when I feed her).

Debbie, thanks for the doggie Heimlich info; sounds really scary. Hope I never have to do it on Cleo

She does seem to be eating a little slower day by day. I will keep y'all updated. Please keep the ideas coming if you think of any other suggestions.

Mahalo again