On Sat, 6 Nov 2010 03:45:00 +0000 (UTC), andal wrote:

On Fri, 05 Nov 2010 22:35:53 -0400, Char wrote:

I haven't seen any advice other than a good grade grinder that can
handle bones to turn the cheaper chicken into a part of the diet here.

That's not true.

I told you just the opposite, to give a much larger
piece of meat at once. It forces the dog to slow down while they chew,
and they do learn. Grinding up meat will reinforce his gulping, not cure
it.


I have seen and had dogs that would swallow any food of any size and had
dogs that chew/crunch smallest pieces of kibble. My 6m old pup gulps
grounded meat yet will not swallow small piece of chicken wing with bone
in it, as soon as he got it in his mouth he knows what what to do. I
believe it is very individual thing.

I've had the same experience, and I think it's an individual thing
too. My 17 month-old Borzoi was raised on raw, albet ground raw, and
she takes the longest to finish her RMBs. I had a greyhound, gone now
for 5 1/2 years, that would chew each piece of kibble individually.

I think I suggested feeding ground raw to Cash, but as a solution to
gulping rather than a cure. If he gulps ground raw he's not going to
choke on a bone. However, feeding ground does tend to reinforce the
gulping. My rescue Borzoi, age 5 or 6, has no molars left, just her
canines and the little teeth in front, or most of them (can't recall
what they're called). She is unable to eat RMBs, so she gets them in
a coarse grind, and since the dogs were near-starved in her former
'home', she does tend to gulp anything in her path. She does try to
chew and she gets chunks of boneless meat, not too big to choke her if
she happens to inhale them.

It's true that dogs' teeth don't have flat surfaces to grind food the
way humans' do. They do however sort of grind the bones, and maybe
grind isn't the right word for it. But it's the reason that the right
RMBs will clean the tartar off the molars (I keep telling my
greyhounds to chomp on both sides of their mouths, not just one). The
other day I fed chicken leg quarters and my 10 year-old had the whole
thing hanging out of his mouth while he munched away, and little by
little (amid great crunching sounds) it disappeared into his mouth and
down the old gullet a little at a time. It reminded me of rabbits
eating lettuce. I'll admit that I got a little freaked out by the
size of the bone fragment that fell out of his mouth, but I'm pretty
new to raw feeding.

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote
andal wrote:
Char wrote:

I haven't seen any advice other than a good grade grinder that can
handle bones to turn the cheaper chicken into a part of the diet here.

That's not true.
I told you just the opposite, to give a much larger
piece of meat at once. It forces the dog to slow down while they chew,
and they do learn. Grinding up meat will reinforce his gulping, not cure
it.

I have seen and had dogs that would swallow any food of any size and had
dogs that chew/crunch smallest pieces of kibble. My 6m old pup gulps
grounded meat yet will not swallow small piece of chicken wing with bone
in it, as soon as he got it in his mouth he knows what what to do. I
believe it is very individual thing.

Correct. Sammy for example is no issue except he seems not able to handle
bigger pieces at all. He doesn't have a very strong jaw structure and it
*may* be a touch of arthritis as well. Hard to tell. He gets chicken wings
and thighs.

I've had the same experience, and I think it's an individual thing
too. My 17 month-old Borzoi was raised on raw, albet ground raw, and
she takes the longest to finish her RMBs. I had a greyhound, gone now
for 5 1/2 years, that would chew each piece of kibble individually.

LOL! Sammy is like that.

I think I suggested feeding ground raw to Cash, but as a solution to
gulping rather than a cure. If he gulps ground raw he's not going to
choke on a bone. However, feeding ground does tend to reinforce the
gulping. My rescue Borzoi, age 5 or 6, has no molars left, just her
canines and the little teeth in front, or most of them (can't recall
what they're called). She is unable to eat RMBs, so she gets them in
a coarse grind, and since the dogs were near-starved in her former
'home', she does tend to gulp anything in her path. She does try to
chew and she gets chunks of boneless meat, not too big to choke her if
she happens to inhale them.

Yes, that was you and it's the one that is workable here, once I find a
grinder able to handle that. I've had my eyes out on our local freecycle
for one.

It's true that dogs' teeth don't have flat surfaces to grind food the
way humans' do. They do however sort of grind the bones, and maybe
grind isn't the right word for it. But it's the reason that the right
RMBs will clean the tartar off the molars (I keep telling my
greyhounds to chomp on both sides of their mouths, not just one). The
other day I fed chicken leg quarters and my 10 year-old had the whole
thing hanging out of his mouth while he munched away, and little by
little (amid great crunching sounds) it disappeared into his mouth and
down the old gullet a little at a time. It reminded me of rabbits
eating lettuce. I'll admit that I got a little freaked out by the
size of the bone fragment that fell out of his mouth, but I'm pretty
new to raw feeding.

LOL! Yes, I don't know the right word either for what they do. I think I
used the term 'chew' but maybe 'chomp' is better.

Either way, Sammy can be raw fed with no issues. Cash can be raw fed with
just about anything but RMB chicken (unless I grind it a bit, need not be a
super fine grind). Finances keep me from fully converting Cash unless this
is solved, so both are about 3/4 raw fed and 1/4 kibble.

Thank you all for your input. Decided to switch from Science Diet and
resume Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Fish/Sweetpotato (no meat),
supplement with Omega-3 and veggies - discontinued use of Prednisone
and will stock up on Benedryl for emergencies. Hopefully, over time
Dakota will stop shedding and itching.

Best Regards To All

Sam

In article ,
sighthounds & siberians wrote:

Yeah, I didn't say that well at all. A friend of ours killed himself
last Sunday and my thinking processes haven't been all that clear this
week.

Wow. My hugs and prayers go out to you. Losing someone is never easy
under any circumstances. Be good to yourself, whatever else you do, be
good to yourself.

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