Choking - Greedy Piggies

[Pippy & Daisy]

Wasn't quite sure which forum this would fit best in but I've popped it in here since it didn't really fit anywhere else!

Anyway, my two girls have a bad habit of scoffing down food way too fast and often end up having a bit of a cough. It usually happens when they're having a big meal but sometimes it even happens with hay! I'm not worried about it as a health problem as I'm positive it's just because they're greedy eaters, but I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to stop them eating so quickly? The sound still scares me sometimes! Would cutting the food smaller help? Or giving them smaller meals more often rather than two biggish ones a day? Or should I just ignore it?

 

[Wiebke]

I would recommend to chop up the food smaller, to serve smaller meals more often and to sprinkle the veg across the floor, so they cannot stuff themselves quite as quickly and as much and are forced to forage more.

 

[AuntyC]

Sometimes I have had foster piggies do this, often I think having had to grab food in overcrowded conditions if they came from that situation originally. Weibke's tips above will help, mine got out of the habit once they knew the food supply here is reliable! The other scary noise I hate is when a piggy foot knocks against correx - it sounds like a little sneeze!

 

[AbiS]

My Toby is a very dainty little eater but Barney eats and drinks as if he doesn't know where his next meal is coming from. He regularly coughs although he seems to have grown out of eating coughing and now just does drinking coughing!

 

[Pippy & Daisy]

Thanks everyone, especially @Wiebke! Another quick question - tonight when they were eating their dinner I noticed Pippy coughing/choking a few times but it sounded different than usual and now I'm worried it might be illness. Is it normal for the sound to differ a bit? I've only heard it tonight when they were eating dinner and I can hear them throughout the day so I know she hasn't been doing it all day and it must've only started just then when they were eating. She isn't wheezing or anything and doesn't seem to have anything else wrong with her. Daisy is usually the more greedy one who coughs so my guess would just be that Pippy's sound is a bit different than Daisy's? Since they've finished eating she hasn't done it again (although they've only just finished) so I know it's most likely nothing, but I thought I'd check in case. The sound was I guess a bit more of a cough sound than a choke, whereas I usually hear it as how it sounds when a person chokes. But I suppose it would make sense that they'd have different sounds?

 

[Wiebke]

It is most likely due to greedy scoffing if it is just related to coughing during dinner; the sound can vary bit, depending on how things are going down.

 

[Pippy & Daisy]

Thanks again Wiebke - I feel like a crazy person worrying nonstop about them haha. She hasn't done it again and it's been about 10 minutes since they've finished so I think I'm safe to relax. I can handle pretty much anything they throw at me but choking just scares me every time!

 

[theoretikos]

My Quinn had a habit of scoffing but has finally grown out of it. Hopefully your girls will start to eat slower!

 

[Pippy & Daisy]

Thanks @theoretikos! I hope so too lol, it'd certainly save me a lot of stress. They're way too spoilt but still scoff every meal like it's their last!