How long does it take for a dog to digest food?

How long does it take for a dog to digest food? It is a matter of concern for many dog owners who have seen their dogs struggling through digestion issues. Precaution is of essence here when dealing with the diet of your dogs. Unfortunately, most of the dog owners only consider about the digestion system of their dogs, when the god runs into some serious digestive problem.


Understanding the eating dynamics related to the swallowing process of the dogs:


Large chunks of food could be eaten by dogs which comes natural to them. Their teeth are designed for easily gripping and shredding different types of food items, especially meat, and their jaws are also naturally designed for opening up wide in order to intake some large pieces of meat with ease. If we consider the small teeth which are found at the front side of their mouth, then those are the ones for the purpose of scraping meat from the bones.


The holding and tearing of the meat is taken care by the canine teeth, which also caters for the molars grind and the incisors cut. The dogs actually do not chew food as the humans would do. The digestion process begins in the mouth of the dog where the saliva found in the dog’s mouth makes the food lubricated, prior to sending it into the esophagus, which is actually a tube which connects the stomach to the mouth.

Understanding the eating dynamics related to the swallowing process of the dogs

The food once in the esophagus a broken down into smaller pieces and is then mixed in the stomach. Once that is done then the food penetrates into the small intestines in the form of chyme. It must be noted here that the stomach of the dogs are found to be quite acidic and they are known to have a pH level of 1 – 2. This in comparison to the stomach of humans is 4 to 5. It is this level of the acidic level in the dogs which allows them to eat bones and meat with ease and still do not become ill due to any form of harmful bacteria.


Knowing about the digestion process of dogs:


The chyme reaches into the small intestines and from here, it gets the supplementary digestion through the enzymes accumulated by the liver and pancreas. The fats and the carbs are digested well and then the nutrients are immersed into the bloodstream of the dog. Whatever is then left behind passes inside the large intestines.


The defecating process of dogs:


The working of the large intestine is such that there feces are produced and remains stored until the dog goes on to defecate. In comparison to the human digestion system, the digestive tract of the dog is known to be smaller. It is for this reason, the food is able to pass much quickly through the digestion system of the dog in comparison to the humans. This could be anywhere between 4 to 6 hours for the time when food enters the mouth of the dog and until the waste is defecated from its body. This timing of 4 to 6 hours is for the raw food material types and in case of dry food, this timing could be anywhere between 10 to 12 hours. On top of that, there are a lot of other factors as well which determines that in what time, a dog would able o digest its food. Then there are also those dogs which have a relatively active bowel system as compared to the other dogs from different breeds.

The defecating process of dogs

Some of the other factors that may affect digestion include the diet type. This means that a food product with excessive fiber would be the fastest to pass through the digestive system of the dog.

On top of that, there is also the water consumption factor involved, where excess water intake makes digestion much quicker. Therefore, we have seen above in detail that a number of factors are involved to determine that how long does it take for a dog to digest food. If you care about the digestion of your pet dog then make note of all the key factors which influences the digestive system of the dog.

Similar Posts