[Shelley M]

Hi all, I am a new raw feeder (thanks to reading many many posts on this forum!) and so far my experience has been good…..with one exception……I am the owner of a “gulper” :-\

She is a 13wk old black mouth cur mix. LOVES food of any kind. Currently I am feeding a pre-mixed raw with the addition of RMB (the plan is to eventually switch to PMR and off pre mixed but for now this is what is comfortable for me…..one step at a time LOL)

My question is…exactly how much does she need to chew up the RMBs ? I have given her chicken necks a few times and she bites off chunks and swallows them (I try to hold on to slow her down but it’s not helping much). Even the larger turkey necks are still not chewed up , just bitten off and down the hatch). Are the bones digestible enough to be ok or…..???

Of course I am still in the “omg is this going to send us to the ER” stage so maybe I’m just being paranoid….

[Cyndi]

I know some people here have mentioned using vice grips to attach to one end of an RMB to try to get them to slow down. Maybe someone else will chime in and help. I’ve never had a gulper. My dog is a very slow eater and she chews up everything. Turkey necks take her a long time to eat but she does chew up every last piece.

Good Luck!

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Shelley –

You might find this thread helpful: /forums/topic/eating-raw-meaty-bones/

There’s some videos there of one of my dogs eating RMBs so you can get an idea of what’s normal.

[Shelley M]

Thank you!!! And I was actually thinking of getting some kind of tool to hang onto the bone with…..since my pup does this with all the edible RMBs we have tried so far.

PS, my other dog, a 1yr JRT/chi…..is the complete opposite. Crunches everything up nicely . He did however throw up some nasty chunks today so I am going to ease up on the RMBs for a day or two

[Cyndi]

My dog threw up some pieces of bone a few times during the first few weeks of starting her on raw too. I think it’s just their digestive system getting used to the change.

[Susan]

Hi Shelley, have you tried getting the chicken or turkey necks & getting a big I dont know what its called butchers use them, mallets or cleavers it’s like a big knife but the blade is wider then a knife, you lay the cleaver on the neck on a chopping board & bang the cleaver with ur hand to crush the necks & break the neck bones up a bit also cut the necks into smaller pieces so if she swollows them you have tenderised the necks a bit..

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