# Not Chewing Food.



## Kylie- (Mar 14, 2011)

Hi there,

I had a question regarding dogs swallowing food whole. My Shih Tzu prefers to not chew his food most of the time. The kibbles are quite small, but I would like to receive some feedback on whether or not it's safe for him to do this. He has no problems with his teeth, nor does he eat it in an aggressive way, he's probably just a lazy bugger, ha. Any replies would be much appreciated!


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## Sybille (Oct 5, 2011)

Kylie- said:


> Hi there,
> 
> I had a question regarding dogs swallowing food whole. My Shih Tzu prefers to not chew his food most of the time. The kibbles are quite small, but I would like to receive some feedback on whether or not it's safe for him to do this. He has no problems with his teeth, nor does he eat it in an aggressive way, he's probably just a lazy bugger, ha. Any replies would be much appreciated!


If it is a question of swallowing too fast you might try to place some really, big, big stones (far too big to swallow) clean rocks / stones in the bowl 'forcing' the dog to eat around them.


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## RedyreRottweilers (Dec 17, 2006)

Dogs are not designed to chew food. They are designed to chew off hunks of meat and bone and swallow them. They have no chewing/grinding teeth. Most dogs swallow kibble whole.


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## Sibe (Nov 21, 2010)

Dogs jaws aren't designed to move sideways like ours, so they can't really chew. Kibble goes down whole. Is he gulping and inhaling it so you're worried about choking? If he's eating nicely he's fine, dogs just can't chew very well


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## Little Wise Owl (Nov 12, 2011)

My dogs (and cats) don't chew their kibble either. It's nothing really to worry about unless he's inhaling the food very quickly and almost choking. As stated above, dogs aren't designed to chew their food into tiny pieces to swallow. They simply chew/bite off chunks which are able to be swallowed comfortably.


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