choking

well Willie tends to eat his food FAST and the other night he started choking and had to cough a few times before he got the food up. He always tends to cough while he's eating because he swallows too much too fast without chewing and it is starting to worry me that he eats like that. Is there a chance he could seriously choke and how can I get him to stop. The night he choked for a few seconds I would let him take a bite then put my hand over the bowl until he had swallowed it and did that over and over till he was done. I don't think I wanna do that every morning and night so is there any other way?



-Erin

Yes, I think there is a chance that Willie could seriously choke. You're talking about dry food, I think? If so, have you tried putting on something different, like a dinner plate...so it's spread out? He would have to eat slower that way.

Oh, yes dry food Thanks that's a good idea I'll try it!

You might also try putting a large object in his food dish to force him to navigate around it. That has helped me in the past. I am curouis why he eats so fast. Have you recently changed his feeding routine like from free feeding to twice per day? Do you feed the entire food for the day at once? Have you recently changed foods?

I am curouis why he eats so fast. Have you recently changed his feeding routine like from free feeding to twice per day? Do you feed the entire food for the day at once? Have you recently changed foods?

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Nope he has always eaten twice a day, when i wake up and again around 6. We have not changed foods (although I hope to) He has ate tis fast for a while but I got worried when I saw him have a little bit of a choking as opposed to the cough up food quickly and swallow back down that he did before. I feed him in the same room as his brother but they are across the room from each other and I have done that since we got him, plus he eats his brother's food not the other way around That could be bothering him or it's just what he does. He really likes to eat which we are worried abut since he gets on the counter and table and eats stuff. He even goes in the sink and learned to open the cabinet the trash is in and tip it over and then eat it's contents Well the dog liked this skill but we are worried he'll eat something he shouldn't. I'll try out what you guys have said and see which one works best for Willie.

Yeah, I've heard about the golf ball in the food dish thing so they have to work a little bit to get a piece and then don't woof it down so fast. Kitters used to do that but when we swithced her to the Nutro Dry (which is a slightly larger kibble) she stopped doing that so much. The pieces are a little bigger which makes her have to chew it atleast once to get it down, so she has been a ton better! Good luck, I know how scarey it can be when they do that!

Another trick is to lift the dish off the ground a bit - put it on a telephone directory or a little tray-table. Then he has to reach for it and it doesn't go down so fast because of the different angle.

The pieces are a little bigger which makes her have to chew it atleast once to get it down, so she has been a ton better!

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I forgot how big a difference the shape of the food makes! Definately try something that he has to chew rather than inhale. I used to feed a Science Diet that was triangular and Nutro which is bigger. Now they eat Core and Evo but I think they got used to chewing their food.