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I have noticed my 3 month old puppy does not chew the dry kibble, just scarfs it down. This was confirmed after a couple episodes of carsickness. He threw up almost a full meal of kibble - it was wet and mushy but I could still see the shape of the kibble. And this was 5 hours after the meal. Shouldn't it be mostly or totally digested after 5 hours?
I am now mixing a bit of canned food with the kibble and adding water or broth to the mix. How well do puppies digest dry kibble?
I've always believed it's a good thing to add at least a little bit of water to the dry kibble. My dog, who is coming into his senior years, practically inhales his food; so I try to moisturize it to some extent before giving it to him. I've never had a carsick dog; and never had a dog throw up his meal several hours after eating it.
Putting some canned food in shouldn't hurt the puppy. You might want to ask the vet if the puppy throws up again.
I don't feed kibble, but every dog I've ever owned has chewed. Dogs don't chew as thoroughly as humans do, but they do chew, usually enough to crack the kibble into a couple of smaller pieces.
Way back in the days when I used to feed kibble, young pups got their kibble soaked before it was given to them. Warm meat broth usually, but water would do. Not just moistened, but soaked until the kibble swelled and softened.
Also, adding that young pups should have small meals several times a day. It's not good for them to have their stomachs stretched and it is not good for them to have their blood sugar fluctuating in big swings.
3 months old pups should have water added to explode the dry dog food so they don't over eat. + as you can see from his throwing it up after 5 hours hes Not Digesting it. His body cant break it down. Its going right thru him hes not getting any benefit. Give him a couple of months then slowly back off the water. Watch to make sure hes breaking it down. You should be able to tell by watching his stools.
I do know that my vet said adult dogs sometimes don't always chew up thier kibble....I have a small rescue with no teeth. I serve him wet food and small kibble together and no problems in him digesting the kibble. I do watch his feces carefully tho' to make sure.
Dogs' teeth aren't made for chewing kibble. As well, it takes time for a dog's digestive system to work, so yes, it is entirely possible that the kibble is still whole a couple of hours after eating.
It is worth noting that even a high quality kibble is more difficult for a dog to digest than a less-processed meal, e.g. dehydrated, canned, freeze-dried, or raw.
Edited to update link.
Last edited by twelvepaw; 05-14-2016 at 08:07 AM..
There are also larger spaces between their teeth and they lack molars which are used to grind their food.
This is a very strange statement. Any adult dog I've ever known has had molars. I can see the premolars and molars in my dog's mouth right now (okay, he's under protest about actually letting me see them, but they're there). The molars aren't typically as flat as a human's molars - they do have some points - but they also have partially flat, broader surfaces and can crush and chew hard foods.
I also see adult dogs chewing their food all the time. They can, and do, chew. The incisors and canines are designed for gripping and tearing, the molars are for chewing. True, they can't manipulate their jaws to go sideways, but dogs chew with an up-and-down motion as opposed to sideways.
This is a very strange statement. Any adult dog I've ever known has had molars. I can see the premolars and molars in my dog's mouth right now (okay, he's under protest about actually letting me see them, but they're there). The molars aren't typically as flat as a human's molars - they do have some points - but they also have partially flat, broader surfaces and can crush and chew hard foods.
I also see adult dogs chewing their food all the time. They can, and do, chew. The incisors and canines are designed for gripping and tearing, the molars are for chewing. True, they can't manipulate their jaws to go sideways, but dogs chew with an up-and-down motion as opposed to sideways.
Good grief, yes you are correct- good catch. I try to post reputable links, but in this case Dogs Naturally was off-base and I didn't read carefully enough. I updated that post to remove that link.
Puppies don't have molars. Adult dogs do.
That said, adult dogs use their molars differently than we do- using them to crush large items e.g. bones or large biscuits rather than to grind or chew into tiny pieces in the sense that we do.
Thanks for the links. They are helpful. I never would have thought that it takes so long to digest the food.
As I said, I now mix the kibble with water or broth plus a spoonful of canned.. It just seems odd that the puppy food bags don't even mention adding liquid, nor did anything else I read about feeding puppies say to do this. He eats 3 times a day, and poops and pees just fine. He also gets little bits of my leftovers (peas, green beans, meat, chicken, potato, etc), raw carrot to chew on, and small pieces of plain chicken jerky which he does chew.
Quote:
Originally Posted by twelvepaw
Dogs' teeth aren't made for chewing kibble. As well, it takes time for a dog's digestive system to work, so yes, it is entirely possible that the kibble is still whole a couple of hours after eating.
It is worth noting that even a high quality kibble is more difficult for a dog to digest than a less-processed meal, e.g. dehydrated, canned, freeze-dried, or raw.
Edited to update link.
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