Understand 5 reasons why dogs don’t chew their food

At times, you may notice your dog chewing anything and everything. Whatever gets in the way makes it to its mouth. Given that, you may wonder why dogs don’t chew their food.

But there are times when your dog won’t chew where it needs to, i.e., when taking their meals. And that is a worrying situation for most pet owners.

If you’re a worried dog parent, read on to find out why your dog doesn’t chew food and how you can address the situation.

Instinct

If you’ve adopted a dog from the wild, one that lived in the streets, or one from a shelter, you might notice that your dog doesn’t chew. Instead, the dog seems to inhale its food.

In the wild, dogs eat their food as quickly as they can. They have to gulp the food down and worry about protecting themselves. If they move in a pack, they share the hunted food. Naturally, the quicker they gulp it down, the more they get.

Biological reasons

Canines have pointed teeth, and their throats can expand to gulp a large piece of food. Plus, unlike human beings, they are not naturally inclined toward savoring and tasting food. Their primary urge is to fill up their empty bellies.

Due to these biological reasons, dogs sometimes may not chew their food. They may gulp it down.

This doesn’t mean dogs shouldn’t chew their food at all. Ideally, their chew and didn’t chew ratio should be 7:3 in ten food intakes. It’s okay to skip chewing occasionally, but if it’s repeated practice, there may be an underlying problem.

Your dog doesn’t like the food

Although your dog is not interested in savoring each bit of what it eats, dogs do have a taste for food and treats. If you serve them food they don’t like, they’ll only eat it to fill their bellies and won’t take time to chew.

They want to get done with it as quickly as possible. You can address this by changing your dog’s diet.

Your dog may not also be enjoying the meal because of a sense of insecurity. If you have too many dogs at your place, your dog may feel that it’ll have to fight for its food. Due to this feeling, it’ll refuse to chew and eat as much as possible.

Similarly, a steel or glass dog bowl can keep your dog from chewing. Your dog’s mouth collides with the bowl and makes a startling noise. And this worries and startles your dog, thus impacting its eating experience.

You can use plastic dog bowls to solve this problem. Also, give your dog a single layer of food every time you provide them with food. As a result, you may have to increase the count of meals and decrease the quantity given per meal.

Food is too easy to swallow

Dogs go by their instincts by default if there is no need to chew. If you give them small pieces of raw dog food or giblets, dogs will grab the pieces with their sharp teeth or tongue and swallow them whole.

But if you serve your dog with large pieces of raw dog food, you force them to chew. They’ll have to tear the meat into smaller bites and then chew.

So, giving your dog bigger pieces of raw or even cooked food is best.

Dental problems

When you do not care well for your dog’s teeth or if your dog explores every new thing with its teeth, it may develop dental problems. Owing to these dental problems, the dog may have trouble chewing.

When dogs refuse to chew due to their dental problems, there are usually several other accompanying symptoms. You may notice excessive saliva, bad breath, drowsiness, or an overall decline in health. We recommend taking your dog to the vet in this case.

Final words on why dogs don’t chew

Summing up, swallowing food whole and refusing to chew is normal behavior in dogs.

But if it prolongs or happens to be accompanied by other alarming symptoms and behavioral changes, you should tackle it immediately and effectively by talking with your vet.

Arslan Hassan is an electrical engineer passionate about writing, designing, and anything tech related. His educational background in the technical field has given him the edge to write on many topics.