Soaking food, how long?

[NerdyDogOwner]

I just wanted to know how long you guys soak your food before giving it to your dog?

Lately I have been preparing it a few hours before, but leaving it in the refrigerator. The result is the food is very expanded and soft. Is this optimal? Or should their be some crunch?

[nomrbddgs]

Unless they are very young puppies, just starting on solids, I don't soak mine. I pour water in and give it to them right away. Room temp water. The crunching does clean their teeth to some degree and I don't believe soft food does them any good. (Unless they have no teeth) Actually, I believe that soft food stays on their teeth longer and actually can cause a buildup.

[Shaye's Mom]

I don't soak the food I give my b's - actually never even occurred to me. the only moisture in their food is the pumpkin, or cottage cheese, or yogurt that occasionally gets added to their evening meal if they are having loose stool problems. They drink water along with their food and all during the day, and I think they get enough that way.

[Janneke]

No soaking here either. I only put water over the food when I forget to get their dinner out of the fridge on time and it's still too cold to eat (raw diet)

[Basenjimamma]

+1 with Janneke, we add water to thaw, if we forgot to take food out as well.

If I have a picky foster I add hot water to their kibble, only to make a little gravy, thus more enticing..just a little before I serve it.

[wizard]

I don't soak either. Once in awhile as an added treat I might add a teaspoonful of the water from cooking vegetables or from the meat gravy but not on a regular basis.

[tanza]

As Arlene said only with puppies did I soak and even then not much. For baby puppies I would grind up the kibble in a blender to a powder and mix with milk replacement at first then with water.

With all others, I just fed the kibble…

[AJs Human]

My experience is the crunching is good for their teeth and jaws. AJ likes to chew his food, plus whatever bones I give him.

[renaultf1]

When Liyah came home at 11 weeks, her breeder told me it was fine to feed without watering the food. She's been on hard kibble since then. Around 6 months, she went thru a phase where she would gulp her food and then get sick, so I put some large rocks in her dinner bowl with her food and slowed her down. She was fine once I did that.

[Shaye's Mom]

@renaultf1:

I put some large rocks in her dinner bowl with her food and slowed her down. She was fine once I did that.

Which brings another question I have to mind - when outside, Shaye tries to chew on egg size rocks! I take them from her, but she keeps trying to find more - I'm afraid she'll break her teeth and can't imagine why she does this in the first place? Anyone else ever have that problem or is Shaye just wierder than usual do you think?

[thunderbird8588]

My parents Papillon used to pick up the pebbles they had around the lawn, he didnt chew them but would toss them in the air or carry them around, eventualy they had to get rid of them all. Not sure how you can stop this other than keep taking them off her, i too would worry about her breaking her teeth.

[NerdyDogOwner]

Well, after reading how many of you don't soak I decided to give Gizmo the food dry. I guess soaking is for when they are only a few weeks old.

Anyways, I just had the biggest scare with Gizmo to date. And I thought his allergic reaction was bad!

Gizmo sucks in food like a vacuum. Barely even chews. The result? He almost died today….just 5 minutes ago.

He choked on the food and it must of gotten stuck. He was trying to chough up the food, but no air was comming out, he started to panic and run around making a faint weezing sound. His neck was pulled all the way into his body the more he desperattly tried to gag. His eyes where HUGE all of a sudden!
I had to pound him hard in the back, when that did no good I and to the helmick maneuver on him. He screamed in pain/shock of me doing this, and was REAL scarred of me after, but at least he is breathing....dear god I was shaking all over, and my heart is still racing.

Now I feel bad, because he is scarred of me "beating" him so badly. Hope it passes.

He has been eating like this since I got him, and it has worried me from the start. But I expected him to eventually learn that "sucking" in food is not necessary.

[thunderbird8588]

OMG i didn't know you could even do the Heimlich manouver on animals. You must have been so scared, thank goodness you managed to save him. This little Dog is going to give you Grey hair before youre time.
I hope Gizmo is feeling better, i'm sure he will have forgotten all about it soon.

[Basenjimamma]

Poor Gizmo, he just likes to live on the edge, doesn't he.. Our dachshund does that as well, with raw meat and bones..inhales them whole, idiot..Our newbie, Moses, inhales his food as well, he is on kibble still, so I am thinking about what to do for that..

There are food bowls for dogs that inhale their food, at least here in the states ( let me know and I will send you one, if you want), here are some sites..
http://www.dogpausebowl.com/
http://www.eatslowerpetdishes.com/
http://www.planetbluedog.com/products/bowls-for-dogs-cats-that-eat-too-fast

or just google and see what you find. I know some people even put large rocks, big enough so they can't be swallowed, in the bottom of the bowl, that way the dog has to slow down a little bit as well.

[NerdyDogOwner]

I don't know if you can either…I just had to do something. I sure wasn't gonna just stand there and watch my best friend die on me! Thank god it payed off.

[NerdyDogOwner]

@Basenjimamma:

Poor Gizmo, he just likes to live on the edge, doesn't he.. Our dachshund does that as well, with raw meat and bones..inhales them whole, idiot..Our newbie, Moses, inhales his food as well, he is on kibble still, so I am thinking about what to do for that..

There are food bowls for dogs that inhale their food, at least here in the states ( let me know and I will send you one, if you want), here are some sites..
http://www.dogpausebowl.com/
http://www.eatslowerpetdishes.com/
http://www.planetbluedog.com/products/bowls-for-dogs-cats-that-eat-too-fast

or just google and see what you find. I know some people even put large rocks, big enough so they can't be swallowed, in the bottom of the bowl, that way the dog has to slow down a little bit as well.

Hm, looks interesting. I see what they pretty much do is just divide up the food into smaller portions slowing down the time it takes to finnish. But I don't see how it can stop the dog from sucking the food down.

The thing is, this is what I have been doing for 3 days now since I started with dry food. I have been feeding him small amounts from my hand.
It was this that he choked on. He sucked down a very small amount, maybe 5-7 small food pieces.

I think I will go back to soaking the food, at least a little bit so they are just a bit soggy on the outside. At least that way they are "lubricated" and go down easier.

[Shaye's Mom]

@NerdyDogOwner:

I think I will go back to soaking the food, at least a little bit so they are just a bit soggy on the outside. At least that way they are "lubricated" and go down easier.

In your case, I can see where soaking the food is a good idea - maybe giving him crunchy treats now and then so the benefit to his teeth will still be there. :eek:

[ComicDom1]

We have directions for the doggie heimlich as well as dog cpr on our fridge at home. We printed them from a website. When I get home later tonight I will look at them and post the links.

It could be just the information you need to save your dog's life.

Miranda

[agilebasenji]

I use food dispensing toys for my dogs (think buster cube). Or you can just dump the food all over the floor and he can forage. (This works best with only one dog.)

[lvoss]

Another method I have heard of to help slow down dogs who literally inhale their food is to put a large ball in the dish so they dog has to roll the ball out of the way to eat forcing them to slow down.