# Puppy Choked on Food - What do you do?



## patriciap (Jul 30, 2010)

My little Lola is a greedy eater and always inhales her food like it's gonna be her last meal. Well, yesterday she inhaled it so fast that I think a kibble went down the wrong tube and she started choking! I had no idea what to do and totally panicked! She was roaming around gagging and choking and I tried to grab and push on her chest a little (she's tiny - less than 3 lbs). Finally, it came up and she was okay, but I want to be prepared in case it happens again. Can someone tell me what I am supposed to do when she's choking?


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## Reiko89 (Jul 2, 2010)

I found this EHow Article...

http://www.ehow.com/how_2304816_give-heimlich-maneuver-dogs.html

But if she's coughing at all, then she should be able to breathe a little and you can just tap on her chest a bit to help her cough hard enough to expell the kibble... If she really cannot breathe then do the techniques on the guide. 

Just a suggestion, they have a LOT of different items to keep dogs from eating so fast, such items as the Brake Fast Bowl: http://www.ohmydogsupplies.com/brake-fast.html that causes the dog to slow down eating because it has to eat around the posts... If your dog is even too small for the smallest size bowl, you could buy a couple of golf or ping pong balls to put in the food bowl, so she has to stop eating to move them out of the way for more food, same concept, but customizable for the bowl you already have.


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## patriciap (Jul 30, 2010)

That's a great suggestion... thank you. I have these meditation balls that I never use. I'll but them in her bowl tonight. Thank you so much. The experience totally freaked me out. I would just die if anything happened to her.


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## pandakins (Dec 9, 2009)

Crea used to inhale her food too. I started to hand feed her each meal slowly and she was eating at a normal pace in under a week.  When my dogs choke on their food, I massage their throat or firmly pat their back a few times and it seems to do the trick!


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## patriciap (Jul 30, 2010)

Thank you for the advice. Little Lola thanks you, too!


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