I'm working in Utah all week this week, and I get a message from hubby at 4:15pm today....

'....Storm choked on the chicken I gave him and I don't know what to do! Is Dr. Miller still around? Where do I take him??...'

I call hubby back, and he says, 'I'm at Dr. Miller's office, she was in. I'll call you back.'

OK...
1 - I can't do anything from Utah so I have to choice but to remain calm.
2 - Hubby is usually a drama queen, so I 'should' remain calm until I find out what happened.
3 - Storm is with Dr. Miller, and I completely trust her. Storm is in good hands.

I don't mean to discredit hubby because I would probably freak out too if I was there , but would still have no choice to remain calm and think clearly because hubby would still be freaking out.

Anyway, hubby calls back and puts Dr. Miller on the phone.

As it turns out, the wing tip of the chicken got lodged in the back of Storm's throat and appears to have cut him toward the back of his mouth. Dr. M was able to dislodge it, and check to make sure there were no other obstructions. Hubby needs to watch storm through the night to make sure he poops OK and doesn't vomit, or start to act strange (which would then indicate other problems which would mean a phone call to Dr. M). Storm has had a BM already since which was normal, but made sure hubby knew to watch him through the night and tomorrow morning to make sure all is still OK. Storm is acting his usual self so far, trying to instigate play with Ginger, so hopefully that's it.

Come to find out, hubby took a chicken wing and broke it up into the drummette, the wing and the wing tip....NO!!!! And if I was there, I would have told him NEVER to give a small piece like that because they could think to swallow it without chewing...

Now, hubby doesn't want to feed raw anymore unless is dehydrated, freeze dried, or pre-packaged ground up raw. Dr. M does know we (used to) feed raw, and has gotten a 'tsk-tsk' and a teeny tiny lecture about why we should be careful, but not because of the choking part but the bacteria of not being careful of feeding raw, but now that this has happened....hubby wants no more bones...totally understandable, but still bummed.

So...I know we all know...but I hope this serves as a reminder....

Thank GAWD this didn't turn out to be worse than it was!

....and just to put a positive note in this....Storm weighed in today at 92.4 lbs...yay for that Storm!

Kudos to you for being able to stay calm. I would of freaked out too. I'm glad to hear he's ok. Please keep us posted.

So glad he's okay!

So glad my big boy is OK! Whap JD for me when you get home! It has nothing to do with the raw feeding/bones, it was his lack of better judgement on what to feed. However my JD is to where he is against raw too. I started Rogue on raw and he asked me to please stop as he doesn't feel comfortable. I did feed Koda raw for about 8 months and JD never said anything but I believe that's more just because he didn't want to voice his opinion. When we went to the vet they said how all these dogs died from salmonella from the grayhound races or something that she treated and other stories and he is terrified. I get it though and decided to respect his decision- only OK 'raw' now is marrow bones.

However to his note of prepackaged raw, I have heard WAY more issues with recalls and salmonella infections with the prepared ones rather than from the butcher.

I won't comment on the raw stuff, I feed my dogs raw and wouldn't change it for the world.

Just glad Storm is OK and we should all remember to keep an eye on the dogs when they're eating- no matter what it is!

Glad you stayed calm! I would have freaked out! Glad Storm is ok. Hopefully you'll be home soon so you can hug Storm and lecture your husband!

I'm so glad Storm is ok too! And why do the hubbies always freak out? And about stuff they know the least about? Happens here too... hehe

hollywoodhuskies wrote:

I'm so glad Storm is ok too! And why do the hubbies always freak out? And about stuff they know the least about? Happens here too... hehe

Well, I don't blame him. It is a valid concern. When you hear constantly from vets (who most people see as all knowing with pets) how your dog is going to die, you can't blame someone for being paranoid. Obvious further research debunks a vet's worries, but he is one of those people who prefer someone with a degree.

JD was against raw when I wanted to start and in fact, he used go upstairs when I first started Ginger on chicken wings. But I ALWAYS watched her and NEVER gave her anything smaller than a wing or drummette. JD finally was OK with feeding raw and even though I've reminded him, it went in one ear and out the other...hence the small piece of wing tip.

Anyway, I would still LOVE to feed raw, and it may be that we feed raw but no chicken bones...

I hate to read and run but I need to head out the door like now...but I just had to say I'm so glad to hear Storm is okay! Sounds like the raw feeding is best left to you and NOT JD.

Will reply more later!

Huskyluv wrote:

I hate to read and run but I need to head out the door like now...but I just had to say I'm so glad to hear Storm is okay! Sounds like the raw feeding is best left to you and NOT JD.

I kind of stated that in so many words, but I think he's now scared of feeding raw chicken, period. I absolutely understand where he's coming from because he was the one there that had to witness him gacking, coughing, pawing at his face. And if I had to witness either G or S chocking, I would shy away from feeding raw, but that would be shy againg chicken bones...I would still want to feed raw chicken meat, and would still want to feed raw marrow bones when I find a good price, but would have reservations on chicken bones.

I think I'll still be able to convince JD to be OK with raw chicken meat, but not the bone.

I saw the comment on FB and jumped over in hopes of finding the story. I was thinking much worst so I'm glad to hear storm is ok and thank god u live so close to the vet! I'm sure u and jd will work out the raw stuff when u get home. Sorry u had to deal with this while u were away.

Oh my! Now I'm not sure I want to stay raw....my husband knows nothing about it and is constantly making mistakes that I flip out about because I know what COULD happen.....will further explore high quality foods.

Aww.. this should NOT be a reason not to feed raw. Chicken bones are perfectly safe when fed appropriately!

Other then this accident, I always thought that chicken bones were unsafe after they were cooked. I don't feed raw, but I don't think anyone that wants to should be afraid to because of an accident. Heck, I can choke on an ice cube lol

Koda wrote:

Aww.. this should NOT be a reason not to feed raw. Chicken bones are perfectly safe when fed appropriately!

Agreed!

henielsen wrote:

Other then this accident, I always thought that chicken bones were unsafe after they were cooked. I don't feed raw, but I don't think anyone that wants to should be afraid to because of an accident. Heck, I can choke on an ice cube lol

exactly!

I do have to ask, why feed chicken wings and drumsticks? Most people I have seen only feed these 2 things to puppies due to the fact they are smaller and I personally never fed Koda them when I fed him full raw as an adult.

Don't take offence Claudia but the general rule of thumb is to not feel them anything they can shove down their throats in one bite. Chicken wings are very small and anyone feeding them should use extreme caution unless it's a smaller dog or puppy (who are smaller ) Cheyenne is the only one who gets wings but that's because that's as much raw as I can get in her tummy.

My others, too, would inhale a wing in a few seconds... no questions asked! It's much safer to stick with larger pieces of bone-in raw meat such as chicken legs or quarters.



Add: I guess we're sharing a brain today, Heather! lol

arooroomom wrote:

Don't take offence Claudia but the general rule of thumb is to not feel them anything they can shove down their throats in one bite. Chicken wings are very small and anyone feeding them should use extreme caution unless it's a smaller dog or puppy (who are smaller ) Cheyenne is the only one who gets wings but that's because that's as much raw as I can get in her tummy.

My others, too, would inhale a wing in a few seconds... no questions asked! It's much safer to stick with larger pieces of bone-in raw meat such as chicken legs or quarters.

None taken I usually do feed drumsticks or thigh but there was a sale on wings and I would have fed the entire wing and not cut it up...but hubby cut it up even though I had told him not to feed small pieces! He realizes it was his mistake that caused an emergency vet visit but is still shaken up about having to go through that whole ordeal.

I would never feed wings or really even drumsticks TBH, especially with Storm, he is such a big boy. Chicken thighs and necks are what I usually touched chicken-wise, though I wasn't extremely enthusiastic about boned chicken for obvious reasons. Have you thought of doing beef? The bones are so much harder and Koda LOVES eating ribs or ox tail(not to mention with ox tail, the bone isn't incredibly hard).

And wings are already so small, Rogue can choke on a wing.. why would he cut it up? I don't get it at all, Did he not hold the wing or anything? Even with Rogue, I had to hold the chicken wing or a bone easily could've broken off and got stuck in her throat. But truly, I would look into seeing if you can do some ribs or something occassionally and then thighs or necks of chicken.

Heatherlee wrote:

I would never feed wings or really even drumsticks TBH, especially with Storm, he is such a big boy. Chicken thighs and necks are what I usually touched chicken-wise, though I wasn't extremely enthusiastic about boned chicken for obvious reasons. Have you thought of doing beef? The bones are so much harder and Koda LOVES eating ribs or ox tail(not to mention with ox tail, the bone isn't incredibly hard).

And wings are already so small, Rogue can choke on a wing.. why would he cut it up? I don't get it at all, Did he not hold the wing or anything? Even with Rogue, I had to hold the chicken wing or a bone easily could've broken off and got stuck in her throat. But truly, I would look into seeing if you can do some ribs or something occassionally and then thighs or necks of chicken.

I don't know why HE cut it up...I wouldn't have done that. Beef would be 3x as much and we don't usually find beef on sale for a good price. Ginger doesn't do well on raw beef, and Storm can handle raw beef up to a certain amount. Which is why we keep raw to chicken or turkey. Turkey rarely goes on sale unless it the holidays.

What have you fed beef wise? I have to ask because Koda will get the nastiest poos ever from the beef that is precut up(boneless) that you use for stew and stuff, but ribs and oxtail he is A-OK. Not quite sure why.

...now i'll get a 'lecture' from the vet and staff in the form of info sheet on homecooked diet for pets...

Claudia, don't let it get you down. If raw was so bad i'd have 5 dead dogs right now lol Sometimes this stuff happens. It could happen with any form of food... raw or kibble! At least JD was there and Storm is OK