Hi

We are considering moving Arya to raw diet we currently feed Orijen, the problem is she inhales her kibble. Would it be wise to keep to meat without bones or would chicken quarters and such be okay for a 4 month old pup.

Do you guys chop the meat into smaller pieces or just feed the whole piece

Cheers
Col

Hmmm, there will be others with a lot more experiene than me with feeding raw, but here are a couple thoughts / observations I've made since transitioning to a raw diet for Brewer:

1) The bone in meats forced Brewer to focus more on what he was eating. In turn, giving him mental stimulation and slowing is food intake. Not to mention, cleaner teeth!

2) Some of the raw meat we feed him is pretty large (turkey legs, chicken quarters, etc), but we do not cut them up. Similar to the first note, the larger pieces of flesh and / or bone provide Brewer with a much more natural feeding experience. Forcing him to rip, tear, break, crush, etc...

Given you are just beginning with the raw diet and you have a 4 month old pup, it would probably be smart to start off cutting into smaller chunks and progress from there. Another option is to feed by hand every once and a while.

Good luck!

Personally, I think it's okay. Stark would inhale his kibble when we first got him - you'd think he hadn't eaten in days!! When we switched to raw, we were feeding Stark bone-in chicken. He was just about 4 months and he did perfectly fine with it. He realized there was a bone there, and he took his time chewing it. If you're still unsure, you can always hold on to the piece of chicken - that's another way to make sure your pup takes her time eating and you can have a little more control over the situation as well.

Hope this helped!

Hold any food that's big enough for her to choke on. Make sure she chews it. Elara eats way too fast and almost killed herself when she was about 5 months old. We gave her a piece of pork with no bone in it and she swallowed it without chewing and it got stuck in her throat. I tried to get it out with no luck while she was making this aweful sound and thank goodness Steve picked her up and gave her a good thrust down and it made the pork slide down into her stomach or where ever. I was in tears as Elara was looking at me begging for more!

She does chew things better that have bones in them, but since that episode I either cut up meat into small pieces she can't choke on or hold the meat/bone as she eats it. I've just been feeding commercially prepared ground raw food now. I got a bunch of the Instinct raw and like it, but I got it cheap so will probably switch to Blue Ridge Beef instead.

I would not cut up the raw food. Whole, bone-in pieces will force your dog to chew thereby slowing them down.

My chihuahua, Glory, wolfs her kibble down in just a few seconds. When she has a raw meal she has to take her time and chew. Raw meals last so much longer and also provide teeth cleaning benefits and additional stimulation that they don't get when they swallow their kibble in a few short gulps.

With puppies and sometimes older dogs who haven't had raw before, it can be a good idea to start out by holding the raw meat so that they can't just swallow it whole. Once you know your pup will take their time and chew you can skip the hand held meals and just give them their food normally.

SaraB wrote:

Hold any food that's big enough for her to choke on. Make sure she chews it. Elara eats way too fast and almost killed herself when she was about 5 months old. We gave her a piece of pork with no bone in it and she swallowed it without chewing and it got stuck in her throat. I tried to get it out with no luck while she was making this aweful sound and thank goodness Steve picked her up and gave her a good thrust down and it made the pork slide down into her stomach or where ever. I was in tears as Elara was looking at me begging for more!

She does chew things better that have bones in them, but since that episode I either cut up meat into small pieces she can't choke on or hold the meat/bone as she eats it. I've just been feeding commercially prepared ground raw food now. I got a bunch of the Instinct raw and like it, but I got it cheap so will probably switch to Blue Ridge Beef instead.

THis happened with Cato too - Pork shoulder.

I started with turkey necks (toms) . Whole ones. They are huge, and they HAVE to chew them. Ever since, Cato got the point. No more inhaling.

Thanks for all the replies everyone

Elara will chew big things like turkey necks, but still will inhale smaller pieces like chicken necks. She NEVER learns!