Can animals choke to death on food, as humans can?

Question

Just never seen or heard of an animal that has choked to death...

Answer 1

Yes they can, rarely happens though!

This brings up another question...if at cat is swallowing a mouse and chokes to death, who killed who?

Answer 2

You should really ask a vet but i heard (on the discovery channel i think) that the only reason why humans can choke to death is that our voice box is set so low in out throat so that we can speak. Most other animals have two separate tracts for food and air but we had to make a trade off to allow speech. So while food can get stuck in the animal's throat, it cannot prevent it from breathing. Of course, if food goes down the respitory tract then it can choke to death. Makes sense. Ask a vet though.

Answer 3

Yes many aminals choke to death
you can read this article where an alpacas choked to death

We had an incidence of choking yesterday in one of our alpacas who has never had the problem before (she's over a year old). It went on for quite some time. Today she seems to be having some slight difficulty with swallowing, and though she's eating it's not with her usual enthusiasm. We're thinking she may have a sore throat from her choking incident which is causing her to slow down on her eating; is there something we should do or shall we give it a day to see if she feels better? Or should we be concerned that perhaps there was a problem in her throat to begin with, which caused her to choke? I'm wondering if anyone has experienced something similar. Any thoughts or suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks!

P.S. I should add that we've had animals choke before (there are a few little piggies that inhale their food - we put medium sized rocks and/or golf balls in their feed to slow them down) but they always seem to clear it with no complications. This one seems a bit different.

Answer 4

Yes, my Cocker Spaniel choked to death on his dogfood. It was a mix of canned and dry food. It had bunched up in his throat. If I ever get another dog I will be extra careful and watch the dog carefully every time it eats. The vet said that once the dog starts choking on food it's nearly impossible to save them. I can't tell you how horrible it is to see this happen right in front of you. I still have nightmares of the whole scene two months later. So anybody that says that it cannot happen is simple wrong. It's a fact that it can and does happen. Watch your animals as you do your kids.

Answer 5

It can happen but it is rare. This is why: people have a different throat structure than animals do, because we can talk as well as eat and breathe through our mouth. So we have a smaller space in our throats and it is easier for a human to choke on food.

Also, any animal trying to swallow a foreign object can choke on it. But if you watch films of wild wolves (for example) they gulp their food down and they are used to doing that. That is how we get the phrase 'wolfing' your food, if a person eats too fast.

Answer 6

We should all have a four-inch wide esophagus? Then people would gulp down more food and in larger portions at once. We would still choke on food, no matter how wide the throat or what mechanism was used. And this is why you don't believe in God?

Answer 7

Choking would be possible for any animal whose air passages had a common point of entry as the passage way for food.

Choking occurs when a foreign object, usually a piece of food, becomes lodged in one's airways.

Answer 8

Yes they can. My Lhasa Apso practically choked to death after someone fed her a large morsel of steak. It got stuck in her throat and she started to go limp.

I lied her on my laps, gave a thrust then a bit of the steak appeared and i'm afraid next thing to do was go fishing for it!. She started to breathe again the minute the steak was dislodged.

Answer 9

Yes

Answer 10

When I was a kid my dog choked to death on a bone.

Answer 11

yes a bird has once choked to death on my hands!! it wus soo devastating...
and i ve seen more animals choke and DIE..haha