Giving bones to dogs - Is it safe ???

Fire_Fox

Dogs and cats eat raw bones in the wild but they do not eat cooked bones. Many younger or more open minded vets recommend raw bones for teeth cleaning, if you Google you will see this recommended on veterinary practice websites. The safest raw bones are supposed to be poultry necks (round vertebrae) and chicken carcasses (the ribs and back with some of the meat still on) - you will find it very difficult to splinter those as they are quite soft!

Necks can be purchased frozen online, chicken wings in supermarkets, carcasses online or you can DIY. Just buy a whole chicken from the supermarket, remove the legs whole and roughly remove the breast meat, set those aside for human consumption. Use poultry shears to chop the raw carcass up a little and feed to your dog so that if they try to bolt or swallow whole you have a hold of one end. If your dog is small, you may find bones from larger animals (cow, pig, sheep) are too large and too hard for his teeth and jaw.

suki1964

I feed my cocker raw chicken wings and carcassus and raw lamb rib bones for two reasons - one - teeth and two - anal glands ( if I dont give him at least three wings a week his glands block)

I used to give him marrow bones but his teeth wore down so quick I stopped

Many a vet will have heart failure if you mention you feed raw - let alone bones although there are some who will confess to feeding the same.

scheming_gypsy

Both of mine only eat raw food. They have chicken carcasses, turkey wings, turkey necks, lamb ribs... pretty much anything. Feeding bones to dogs is perfectly fine but you "shouldn't" feed cooked bones; raw bones are soft whereas cooked are brittle and will splinter. That isn't saying that a dog won't have a problem with a raw bone or with a cooked bone, but that cooked bones have a higher risk of any issues.

inamegajam

I always get a bag of Bonedust from the local abattoir, its basically all the fresh leftover bones which are ground up to a pulp. Separate into meatballs type portions, size depends on size of dog ( eg GSD= tennis ball size ), then freeze. to feed thaw one out & brown off in a pan just like mince & add to the mixer. Cost is about £3 for a bag that will last for weeks as I only give 1 or 2 a week.
Dogs go crazy for it with all that bone + marrow and bits of meat and no risk of sharp bits.:beer:

sarah*a

Mine get frozen raw bones too - keeps them quiet for hours I also give mine whole raw pigs trotters and chicken wings.

Last dental check they had the vet told me they had great teeth. The 5 year old had no plaque or gum disease at all and the 12 year old only has minimal plaque compared to what would be expected in a dog his age and no gum disease. He put it down to the bones

lisawood78

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

Both of mine only eat raw food. They have chicken carcasses, turkey wings, turkey necks, lamb ribs... pretty much anything. Feeding bones to dogs is perfectly fine but you "shouldn't" feed cooked bones; raw bones are soft whereas cooked are brittle and will splinter. That isn't saying that a dog won't have a problem with a raw bone or with a cooked bone, but that cooked bones have a higher risk of any issues.

I could have written this post.
My 3 (giant Breed) are raw fed, never had a problem.
I never ever feed cooked bones, but they have all manner of raw bones, carcasses, just as scheming_gypy does.
Raw - good, cook - bad. As a general rule.

gettingready

Zara does not like raw chicken but she loves pig's trotters (whole) or spare ribs.

Unfortunately so does Fred, one of my 6 cats so...

I get a pack of chicken wings for the cats, they get one each (Fred gets 2-3 as he is greedy LOL) and at the same time Zara gets her pig's trotter and can have it in peace.....

zaksmum

inamegajam wrote: »

I always get a bag of Bonedust from the local abattoir, its basically all the fresh leftover bones which are ground up to a pulp. Separate into meatballs type portions, size depends on size of dog ( eg GSD= tennis ball size ), then freeze. to feed thaw one out & brown off in a pan just like mince & add to the mixer. Cost is about £3 for a bag that will last for weeks as I only give 1 or 2 a week.
Dogs go crazy for it with all that bone + marrow and bits of meat and no risk of sharp bits.:beer:

I haven't heard of this before. Might it be possible to get some from the butcher?

ladymarmalade1970

We have picked up bones from our local Morrison's butcher. They are very good value. We also give them turkey legs as a treat. All raw. Keeps them occupied for ages.

suki1964

ladymarmalade1970 wrote: »

We have picked up bones from our local Morrison's butcher. They are very good value. We also give them turkey legs as a treat. All raw. Keeps them occupied for ages.

Go easy on the turkey - its really a very rich food for dogs and can cause tummy upset. At least make sure there is no skin on it before you give it to them