Holly swallowed a drumstick whole

[juliefurry]

So I decided to clean out our freezer and found some chicken drumsticks. I figured these may be a little easier for Holly to eat instead of the chicken leg quarters. So I threw them in bags and threw a baggie in the fridge for today. Well when I went to feed her I wasn't too concerned about her swallowing her food but she managed to swallow a chicken drumstick WHOLE:yikes: . This was about 2 hours ago and she's acting normal now and I made sure that I held the other drumsticks so she'd have to chew. Should I not feed her the drumsticks anymore, or just supervise? I'm getting her some leg quarters this weekend from the trainer (she's getting a fresh shipment in and she's gonna help me package them up for the girls) but should I just hold off on raw or can Holly finish off the rest of the chicken drumsticks while I wait for this weekend? Also Holly is roughly 30 lbs and I had read that puppies need 10% of their body weight and was estimating that to be around 3 lbs of raw. Is this correct? If not than I'm going to be feeding her way too much today.

 

[whatszmatter]

my puppy tried swallowing one hole the first time she got them, horked it back up and decided that it would best to chew them from then on, and never another problem. I would supervise maybe, and leg quarters are good,c ause they can't swallow them whole and learn to chew and crush and grind more.

 

[RedyreRottweilers]

I would not worry about it, altho I would observe her elimination for the next 48 hours or so. If she behaves, eats, and eliminates normally, don't worry.

OMG please dont' feed her 10% of her body weight. My ROTTWEILERS don't eat that much. I split 5 lbs per day between THREE 100 lb(or nearly) dogs. LOL

My young girl was eating about 3 lbs per day in her rapid growth phase, but eats significantly less now.

I would imagine a 30 lb dog would stay fit on about ONE pound or less per day depending on the dog.

You can do several things about the gulping.

1) hold the drumstick for her and encourage her to chew and crunch it.
2) grind it
3) use bigger pieces like quarters as Whatz suggested.

 

[DanL]

Gunnar did that his 1st time too. Scared the crap out of me, here I am thinking I've just talked my wife into this diet, and he's going to choke to death the 1st day. He yelped and got it down. The next time he was a little more patient.

Julie, you may want to freeze them again, they have to work on them much more that way and will be less inclined to swallow them whole.

10% is a guideline. How old is she now? You can do a % based on their estimated adult weight which might be a little more reasonable. I always thought that 10% was a lot, especially when I was looking at a 50lb 5 month old pup. I used 2-3% of his projected adult weight of 85-90lbs. Once he got to where his weight leveled off at around 85lbs at a year old I started going more by feel and condition than a set percent, but we've been averaging 2-3lbs per day since then.

 

[juliefurry]

Gunnar did that his 1st time too. Scared the crap out of me, here I am thinking I've just talked my wife into this diet, and he's going to choke to death the 1st day. He yelped and got it down. The next time he was a little more patient.

Julie, you may want to freeze them again, they have to work on them much more that way and will be less inclined to swallow them whole.

10% is a guideline. How old is she now? You can do a % based on their estimated adult weight which might be a little more reasonable. I always thought that 10% was a lot, especially when I was looking at a 50lb 5 month old pup. I used 2-3% of his projected adult weight of 85-90lbs. Once he got to where his weight leveled off at around 85lbs at a year old I started going more by feel and condition than a set percent, but we've been averaging 2-3lbs per day since then.

The rest of the chicken drumsticks are frozen so I think I will keep them a little frozen when I feed them to her tomorrow. Holly is 5 months old, tomorrow. I don't really know her projected adult weight though. Her mother is 108 and her dad was 115 but she seems quite small for her age (30 lbs@5 months when usually the norm is around 45-50 lbs or so). My vet seems to think she'll probably top off around 75-80 at the most though so I have been going based off 80 lbs at adult weight. I got so scared at first too I thought for sure she'd choke to death right before my eyes. She didn't yelp just swallowed, sat down for a second, and then continuted eating. I had to open her crate and hold her chicken for her because she was trying to do that with all the pieces after she figured out that she could do it.

 

[Wiggle Butt]

It's 10% of their weight at 8 weeks or 2-3% of their estimated adult weight

It will digest. It will be fine. Feed bigger pieces that she can't swallow whole. Once it's down, it's okay, but there is a choking risk for pieces that small.

 

[juliefurry]

It's 10% of their weight at 8 weeks or 2-3% of their estimated adult weight

It will digest. It will be fine. Feed bigger pieces that she can't swallow whole. Once it's down, it's okay, but there is a choking risk for pieces that small.

Ok, I didn't know her 8 week weight so I will have to go off her estimated adult weight. Should I use the lesser of the two weights or feed her according to the higher weight amount? I didn't think a drumstick would be that small and that easy for her to swallow though. Oh well I know better now. I will probably feed her the rest and just hold them so she'll have to actually chew. She's been fine all day today though no problems with anything. I'll keep an eye on her for a couple days though to make sure.

 

[sam]

Wow. I've never heard of anyone feeding drumsticks for RMB's. That's an awfully big bone for a pup esp if your dog is the swallow it whole type. Why don't you try some backs, necks or wings? I prefer necks because the shape they are and the configuration of the bones is such that if they did gulp it all down, there would be no large or sharp peices but they are long enough that dogs tend to enjoy chewing them up.
I feed a 46 pound dog about a pound per day. That leaves me room to add egg, organ, yogurt without going over what she needs calorie wise.

 

[juliefurry]

Wow. I've never heard of anyone feeding drumsticks for RMB's. That's an awfully big bone for a pup esp if your dog is the swallow it whole type. Why don't you try some backs, necks or wings? I prefer necks because the shape they are and the configuration of the bones is such that if they did gulp it all down, there would be no large or sharp peices but they are long enough that dogs tend to enjoy chewing them up.
I feed a 46 pound dog about a pound per day. That leaves me room to add egg, organ, yogurt without going over what she needs calorie wise.

I usually fed my lab chicken leg quarters. I just figured they were in there we aren't going to be using them so rather than throw them away I'd give them to Holly. I am picking different bones up this weekend for the RMB's. I wanted it to be a little big to prevent her from swallowing (as she has an awfully large mouth:lol-sign: ). She had never had raw before so I didn't know she would swallow it. Our lab never had a problem with doing that with her raw. I don't think the chicken drumsticks are that big, 4 drumsticks make up roughly a lb where one of the chicken leg quarters weighed the same. I can't find the necks or wings at the local butcher (and they won't special order ) but my trainer orders stuff and has it shipped to her facility. I should ask her if she gets that stuff in. I am going there on Saturday to pick some stuff up and will see what she has. I'm really new to this stuff and I mostly rely on what my trainer tells me. She said the drumsticks would be ok for her as long as I watched her, which I was watching but I just expected her to cough it back up and chew it.

 

[DanL]

Yes, the bigger bones are actually better. Wings and necks aren't as good for larger pups as they will bolt them down whole. I think this was an isolated instance- as you can see many of us have had dogs do this the 1st time they were fed a drumstick.

 

[elegy]

Wow. I've never heard of anyone feeding drumsticks for RMB's. That's an awfully big bone for a pup esp if your dog is the swallow it whole type. Why don't you try some backs, necks or wings? I prefer necks because the shape they are and the configuration of the bones is such that if they did gulp it all down, there would be no large or sharp peices but they are long enough that dogs tend to enjoy chewing them up.

see, i feel exactly the opposite. i generally only feed chicken backs, necks, and wings if they're attacked to larger parts of the bird. small = more risk for choking in my mind. that and all those parts are pretty boney. too bony for regular feeding without supplementing with more "meaty meat".

 

[sam]

see, i feel exactly the opposite. i generally only feed chicken backs, necks, and wings if they're attacked to larger parts of the bird. small = more risk for choking in my mind. that and all those parts are pretty boney. too bony for regular feeding without supplementing with more "meaty meat".

My dogs get more "meaty meat" in a day with RMBs and usually get some organ meat in a meal with necks or backs.

When your dogs eat a larger consumable bone, do they chew it into tiny pices so there aren't any ragged, sharp pieces?

My dogs eating necks goes something like this "chomp, chomp, slurp. Chomp, chomp, slurp." So they are chewing them but the bones are round and tiny and covered with a layer of meat and slimy skin so I feel safer about it. Even if they did swallow them whole I doubt necks would cause a problem.

 

[elegy]

my dogs are both really good chewers- i'm very lucky in that respect. mushroom'll occasionally yarf up bone pieces, but it's pretty rare. he's puked up whole turkey vertebrae before. that was special. otherwise, they seem to chew things well enough that it all passes through without concern.

 

[juliefurry]

Well we are getting some neck bones in this weekend and might try her on those. I have some better probiotics coming in the mail for her as well. I'm definetely done feeding her the drumsticks though after this morning. I have some books coming that Mark ordered me for Christmas so I will be reading up a lot as well.