How is your dog eating?
I know many of you here have dogs. I have an odd question. Where is your dogs tongue when she/ he is eating? Or getting a treat? My 15 1/2 year old had many problems since April. Started with odd chewing and drooling when eating. Vet didn’t find anything obviously wrong. Antibiotics at least took care of the drooling. Then in July he collapsed on a walk. The heart was somewhat enlarged. Got on medication for that. Started coughing more, and also throwing up at times what looked like large amounts of saliva with some food bits. One night a few weeks ago, the coughing was so bad, my husband took him to the emergency clinic in the middle of the night. Couple of days later, he met with specialists. Had the internist do ultrasound, and after a cardiologist gave the ok, she did a scan. Neither she or the radiologist found anything obvious, but he does have a megaesophagus. Also had a small abscess on a tooth. Forgot to say that he is at times wobbly when getting up. Since the cardiologist said the heart is alright, our usual vet pulled the one bad tooth 2 weeks ago. While he was under, he did a cat scan with contrast. One area on the left side of the brain lit up. At this age, I am not going to drag him to more specialist to do radiation. So it’s just to have him comfortable. He is doing well so far, except for the eating part. He was never good at eating wet food. Now we are hand feeding him that. He is still picking up kibble by himself at times, but the drool starts and he gets frustrated. When I give him wet food in bite size pieces, he opens his mouth a bit. The tongue always looks halfway retracted inside his mouth. Often a bunch of the food just falls out. If I give something to my other dog, her tongue seems to be at least at her front teeth. Well, the ones she still has. She is even older and has dementia. So I don’t just want to compare to her. Google isn’t much help, everything tongue trouble with dogs just leads me to the ones that are constantly hanging out. Between the two of our dogs, I think we could get our own parking space at the vet’s office. So I thought I would ask here. Maybe it’s perfectly normal for dogs to have the tongue in like that without a problem. Otherwise there should be something to be found on Google. Unless I am using the wrong search terms. Our Vets are great answering my many emails, but they are also awfully busy. I really appreciate them fitting us in whenever needed, but don’t want to waste their time if this is not what’s causing the trouble. Can’t say I have ever paid close attention on how my dogs are eating, but trying to troubleshoot. Things like a meatball go in well, but he currently prefers the shredded kind of wet food. And this makes a big mess. I don’t mind the cleaning up, but he gets frustrated too quickly and walks off. Sorry this is so long.
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Comments (11)I have lived at my current home for 28 years. In that time, I have had the extreme pleasure of having 3 German Shorthaired Pointers, a west Highland White Terrier, and our current extended family - a toy and a standard Poodle as my friends and companions. All the dogs were loved to the Nth degree and never mistreated in any way. That said, one of the first commands these dogs were taught is "NO". They are made to understand that when their behavior is unacceptable, the "NO" command means STOP IMMEDIATELY and that if they do not stop, I am immediately ready to make them stop. Each of these dogs was trained as a puppy to stay OUT of the gardens. I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but, if your dog(s) will not obey your command, the dog is training you to be subordinate in the pack. Your dog must know exactly who is boss and that it is not him/her. I can raise my hand as though I was going to hit my dogs, or pull back my foot as though I was going to kick them and they will not respond by flinching or cowering because they are never abused. While training the dogs I use a 4 ft piece of dowel rod as an aid. I do not strike the dogs, I only use it to tap the dogs for attention or to move their position. Often, I only tap the ground for attention. The dogs recognize the training aid as a symbol of dominance - even though I never strike them. When I pick it up, the dogs are immediately attentive. Tapping the stick on the ground or carpet has about the same effect as an alpha dog growling at a subordinate. Our dog's main fault is they think everyone is their friend come over to play. If you came to my home, they would want to nudge you to solicit pets. If I tell them no & they forget or ignore the command, I simply pick up the stick without saying anything. The dogs immediately are reminded they are subordinate and give up their aberrant behavior. This is not cruel, nor does it cause your dog to shun or hate you. Our dogs are extremely loving, seeking our constant companionship, and have no fear of being "punished". A stern word puts them in a submissive posture and anxious to please, unlike many other dogs I've seen that are obviously afraid of being struck. From this you can gather that my advice is to establish yourself as pack leader and never give a command you are not immediately in position to insure the dog will comply with. Al...See Moredog eating wood chips at dog park
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2 years agoI’m sorry you’re having these issues. I have no suggestions or advice, just responding to your original request. Here are some screen grabs from my puppy getting a piece of steak. She thanks you!
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