Choking.

Tonight Mona had a semi-serious but very scary choking incident.  She'd just wolfed down a 9 ounce chunk of pork in rapid time (she was incredibly hungry), and hobbled away from her feeding towel in a very unusual posture, with her sides sucked in, her back arched, and her neck stiff.  She sounded like she was going to puke, so I interpreted her odd behavior as the reaction of her eating too quickly and guided her back to the towel (to save my carpet, of course!).  But she didn't puke, and stayed hunched over in that stiff position, quiet as can be.  I rubbed her back and noticed her throat was bulging... Feeling her throat, I could feel the giant chunk of pork lodged there, and realized what was actually happening.  And I was helpless.  I watched her strain, and thankfully she eventually horked it back up.  She shook it off and was fine.

But the guilt I feel is something I can't shake off.  I feel like a failure as a [raw feeding] pet owner.  My dog was choking, yet I couldn't identify the symptoms.  I imagined choking would involve loud horking noises, violent wretching, etc.  Maybe that's what a more serious choking incident would looks/sounds like.  But I realize now it might not always be so dramatic.  When I finally realized what was happening, I didn't know what to do.  I feel terrible about it.  I've done all this research on feeding my dog the best possible diet for her, yet I don't know basic pet safety tips.  Obviously, I'll be researching what to do when a dog chokes, to be better prepared should this happen again.

...For the record, I believe this accident was probably my fault.  I knew Mona was really hungry, and I'd forgotten to thaw her food.  In a rush, I served her pork half-frozen.  Well, my incredibly hungry dog was too hungry to take the time to work on a half-frozen piece of pork.  So she swallowed it whole.  While she has eaten half-frozen food before, the pieces have been larger, and she has not been quite so hungry.  It was a poor choice of food to give her tonight, I think.

A lesson in the importance of bone.

I learned a valuable lesson this week in the importance of bone-in meals.  Mona's main source of bone is chicken.  Specifically, leg quarter pieces that she eats about 3 days a week.  We were low on chicken but had lots of venison and pork, and since I was pretty busy this week I kept putting off buying more chicken.  This meant she ate a lot of venison and pork, probably 4 or 5 days straight.  So, Sunday she woke up at 4am (and again at 8am) with watery stools.  Immediately realizing my mistake, I gave her a bone-in chicken thigh that afternoon.  I'm not sure how long it takes for the bone to "kick in", but the watery mess continued ALL. DAY. LONG.  She was asking to go outside constantly, and even had an accident that evening.  I like to think that, since she couldn't hold it, she at least knew to aim for the linoleum and not the carpet.  :)  Again this morning, she woke up at 3am again at 6, with no improvement.  

Mona will eat another bony chicken meal today, probably tomorrow too, and hopefully that will help get us back on track.  And I will never again slack on buying chicken if it is time for a bony meal!!

Is she hungry?

How can you tell if your dog is hungry?  I want to be sure I know the signs, because the thought of Mona being hungry bothers me.

When we started raw two weeks ago, we fed 2.5% of her body weight, or 8 ounces.  About a week into it, I thought Mona was looking thinner, although the scales said she hadn't lost any weight.  To be on the safe side, I bumped her meals up to at least 10 ounces, sometimes more like 12.  A week later, and the scales still read 20 pounds.  So far, she doesn't appear to be losing weight.

However, her behavior is causing me to rethink how much she should be eating.  She has had several pig ears since we got her.  In these past few months, she has not paid much attention to them.  In fact, I'm not sure she'd ever chewed on a single one.  She's just not a chewer.  But last night, she ate an entire pig ear over the course of about 15 minutes.  An impressive feat, considering I've never seen her chew on any one chew toy for more than two or three minutes.  I thought it was a little unusual, but brushed it off.  Tonight, she's eating another one.  She's already eaten about half of it, and I expect the other half will be gone in a few minutes.

As a side note:  I realize that, being raw fed now, Mona probably shouldn't have these pig ears.  I suppose it's because she never chewed on them, but I just never thought about getting rid of them.  And seeing how much she's enjoying them now, it makes me wonder... Is it really that bad to let her have a pig ear every now and again?

Anyway, she's gone from hardly ever chewing anything to demolishing two pig ears in as many days.  Is this because she's desperate for something to eat?  So this entire post is mostly just to say... What are signs that your dog is not getting enough to eat?  Aside from the dog losing weight, or I suppose even hearing her stomach growl, what other signs of hunger should I look for?