Bones for my dog...

wilykit

Hi everyone,

I have an EBT, and today I got given 2 bags of bones from the butchers.

Do I need to cook them or anything before giving them to him, and can they be frozen??

Thanks

dazb75

Yes, they can be frozen. But I don't know how long you can keep them for.

No, don't cook them. Cooking will make the bones splinter when chewed and these pieces could stick in your dog's throat.

jetta_wales

I cook them briefly if it's a rack of ribs as there's a lot of meat too and they're not fully used to a raw diet. 3 bigs racks of ribs and a huge bone for £1 in a butchers in our market butchers very happy doggies.

Caroline_a

I am another vote for the raw bones, rather than cooked. Mine actually have their bones frozen - the pup loves them like that as they help with soothing his teething, and the GSD loved them at the same age and now prefers them frozen!

Now that I feed raw I have a dog freezer which I keep their bones as well as their fresh meat/chicken carcasses etc.

suki1964

Dont feed cooked bones to the dogs and untill you are confident that the dog knows what its doing - supervise them with the bones

I do feed part raw but one time when my lad was a pup he tried to swallow a whole chicken wing. Luckily I was there and managed to pull it from his throat - he was choking and struggling. After that I held on to the end to make sure he did crunch it all up

Nowdays I still stand and watch

Fire_Fox

Please don't partially cook as Jetta suggests, this can increase the bacterial load substantially: bear in mind with ideal conditions bacteria can replicate every twenty minutes! I'm sure we all know someone who has suffered food poisoning from eating semi-cooked barbecued meat. Any bones that are not fed the same day should be frozen as this stops micro-organisms growing: whilst dogs digestive systems are adapted to eating raw meat it's common sense to feed as fresh as possible. Another way to keep your dog safe is to give a course of probiotics (friendly bacteria) regularly, especially beneficial if they have had an upset stomach or antibiotics.

rising_from_the_ashes

Agree with no cooking at all.

I usually get a few at a time (butchers have to pay to have bones collected so usually very happy to "get rid" of them - donation into their charity box.

They go into the freezer and are just like new once out and thawed.

jetta_wales

Funny that then as I eat partially cooked beef all the time, hardly heat it before it's on my plate

scheming_gypsy

The one problem i have with frozen is that one of my dogs will get blister / cold burns on her bottom lip... I take them out of the freezer in the morning and serve cold in the evening.

wilkies5

Hi there
No-one has mentioned yet whether your move into feeding bones is a new thing? In other words, your dog hasn't been fed dry diet alone and you're going to suddenly change to BARF !!
This could have serious ...and mess... consequences as your dog adapts to his new diet.

Good luck!

jetta_wales

wilkies5 wrote: »

Hi there
No-one has mentioned yet whether your move into feeding bones is a new thing? In other words, your dog hasn't been fed dry diet alone and you're going to suddenly change to BARF !!
This could have serious ...and mess... consequences as your dog adapts to his new diet.

Good luck!

Runny bums!