Thanks MF. I see what you are saying....bones are part of the actual meal together with meat,etc. I do not feed Cooper a raw diet so the "bone" is more of a chewing thing ... in the past I had offered him Nylabones, which he enjoyed, but a real bone was much more to his liking, specially the marrow. What I will do in the future is give him the bone so he eats the marrow and then remove the bone itself. Or maybe I will just not offer him a real bone at all. I am wondering now why did I start giving him real bones????? Again, thanks.
Oh, now that's an idea! Will have to check out my pet shop to see if they carry this. Thanks, Sophie. We learn so much on this Forum. It has helped me so much and keeps many of us out of trouble!!!
I give Coco the occasional raw bone when one crops up - eg they had lamb bones (Don't know what part...) in the supermrket the other week - he loved them. The duck we bought came with giblets - Coco got the neck raw (I cooked the offal & chopped up for training). Occasionally I'll buy some chicken legs/wings for him. He is not usually raw-fed - these are treats.
Sue, I ill have to look for lamb bones.....I know supermarkets carry lamb legs with meat on them....the whole leg....but have never seen lamb bones bare. A lot to check up on when I go to the market in a couple of days!! Thanks for your info.
Well, it's not easy given the variety of advice there is out on the web (and the amount of scaremongering, too)! Without this forum to check things out with I really don't know what I'd do. We regularly give Pongo frozen rib bones as a HUGE treat. Lamb bones, because for some reason pig-meat of any form doesn't agree with him. I confess we also occasionally give him big cow bones to chew, when our butcher gives them to us; but we don't leave him alone with them, and if he's getting too "enthusiastic" we take them away for a while. My OH doesn't like giving him chicken bones because he worries they are too splintery. I've tried to tell him they're OK but nope. (I think actually he wants to keep them for himself to make good stock.) Still, Pongo doesn't complain, he gets chicken scraps instead; and he absolutely loves his lamb bones.
Rosie, as I mentioned to Sue, I will have to look for these lamb bones....I have never seen them....yes, the whole leg of lamb with meat on it to roast in the oven....but not bare bone. I, also, am wary about chicken bones just because of the shards but so many members on the Forum give their pups the whole chicken leg, for example....raw. So it must be OK. Would like to also look for ribs with meat on them to give to Cooper as a big treat. This opens a whole new "food" thing for him!!!Thanks,Rosie.
Do you go to a butcher? Nearly every butcher will have lamb bones available (not necessarily on display) because they will be offcuts from the meat joints. Just ask! They might even be free - or at least they won't cost much. Even the supermarket butcher's counter will have them if they prepare their own meat in-store.... but a high street butcher is a better bet if you have one. (You may find that some butchers will say they are not allowed to sell bones for animal consumption - this is crazy but there you go, there's some odd legislation in some countries. In which case, of course, you can say you would like the bones to make stock and soups.) Let us know how you get on!
Very OK! Pongo has just finished one and is in a state of bliss. (I freeze them and he treats them like ice-lollies.)