Hi everyone when isit you can give puppies a raw meaty bone to chew on/or chicken wings etc. I was going to pick some from the frozen bit in pets @ home but he turnt round and told me no as I'd be letting Marley damage his teeth, as he hasn't got all his adult teeth through. Is he too young at 18 weeks. From what I've read on internet it's ok so confused
I’m interested in this also, so hopefully someone will know..... if it’s any help, buddy’s favourite thing along with his kong is an antler, which must be the same as a bone in terms of density, and he’s done no damage. In fact jo Lauren’s stated that it’s actually less harmful for a pup than an adult due to a harder bite and a cracked adult tooth is worse, which makes sense.
So... Bones... Firstly, never feed cooked bones of any type, ever. That includes air-dried bones and those bones you get in pet shops which they stuff with weird coloured stuff.... Second: The two hazards we want to be careful of with bones are - 1) dogs biting off chunks which can cause blockages or pierce the stomach (if sharp); and 2) dogs breaking or fracturing teeth, due to being power-chewers on the bones. Bones like deer antlers are very hard - but probably due to this, they aren't really going to be eaten by the puppy. By that I mean, if you keep an eye on it, you'll see that the puppy is gradually shaving it down but is not biting off chunks of it and swallowing it. The pup will have weak jaws compared to an adult dog and little puppy needle teeth, so simply can't chew with enough force to do damage. (Even if they do damage teeth, they are 'only' puppy teeth and not the adult teeth...). Similar to the deer antler idea, is a very large weight-bearing bone like a knuckle bone - if you wanted to give a pup a bone, this would probably be the safest for the same reason. Choose a bone the size of the pup's head - the bigger, the safer. Remember they are just gnawing on it and should not be breaking off chunks of it. Bones like chicken wings etc are 'intended' for the pup to actually eat the bone. That is why they are the opposite end of things - they are soft-ish small bones, chosen so a pup starting on BARF can easily break up the bone itself and swallow it. To some degree, you do need to choose what sort of risk you are comfortable with. This may depend to some extent on the individual dog you have. My personal experience has been that of giving my adult power-chewer a deer antler (when deer antlers first came out and were a relatively new thing!) and hearing a large CRACK as she was eating it, which subsequently turned out to be a slab fracture to a back molar. Our vet at the time advised leaving and monitoring it but that it would probably need treatment in the future at some point. About 3 years went by and she was chewing on a Kong one evening, when 3 parts of that tooth fell out her mouth(!). She was totally unfazed by this!! We went to our current vet, who said the tooth should have been removed at the time and not left by previous vet. And that dogs often don't appear to be in pain from dental decay when humans would be in agony - but if not treated, infection can spread to the bone and become systemic. Anyway, she then needed about 2 hours of dental surgery to remove a molar with a very deep root... resulting in a HUGE vet bill due to the amount of time under GA. (Luckily we had insurance.) So: My personal take on things, is not to give hard bones to adult dogs (dogs with adult teeth). That means knuckle bones and deer antlers or similar. However: For little pups who can't chew with sufficient force to do any damage and who have their puppy teeth anyway, these things can keep them busy for hours. Other bones, which are intended to be edible - chicken wings etc: This depends on where you stand. Obviously many dogs are fine eating these, because that's where the BARF model of raw feeding comes in. Personally, I have too much knowledge of dogs getting blockages from swallowing too large a chunk of bone, or dogs having stomachs pierced by bone etc, to be able to feed these in good conscience to my dogs. If you do a quick google on something like 'do bones cause blockages in dogs?' or 'do bones pierce dogs' stomachs?' etc etc etc, then there are way too many accounts of vets having to deal with this kind of thing and photos of x-rays showing bones in places they shouldn't be... for me to be ok feeding them to my dogs. It may be natural for dogs to eat them, but hey - it is also probably 'natural' for dogs to die at age 4yo without veterinary care and the average life expectancy of prehistoric man was 30yo (or something!) so choosing to do things just because they are 'natural and what we used to do/eat' needs a bit more scientific weight to it for me - but I appreciate that others feel very confident feeding bones and have done for years with no issues with any of their dogs. If you feed a raw complete mince, it should have ground bone in it anyway - so as far as the nutritional content of the bone goes, they are getting that anyway from their complete mince - just without the risk... Hope that helps! Bones are actually quite a complicated subject.
Thank you jo Laurens for such a detailed response it's really good having such guidance. I always used to think chicken bones were a no go anyway till I read different now (aslong as their raw). So aslong as it ones same sort of size of his head etc, it would be ok for him while he has his puppy teeth.
Yes, that's right. But you might find that (since they are quite messy!) you prefer to stick to deer antlers!
I don't give deer antlers to puppies - there is a lot of merit in the argument that adult dogs are more likely to damage teeth on hard things, but it does depend on the puppy. I bought a deer antler, gave it to Charlie, and removed it pronto. He wasn't 'shaving' bits off it, he was full on attacking it. Sure, maybe he didn't have the strength to break his teeth....but I wasn't risking it! It's not "just puppy teeth". You certainly shouldn't leave a broken puppy tooth - it might fall out before an abscess forms...or it might not. Any broken tooth requires surgery and attention, even puppy teeth. So just why risk it? There are lots of alternatives for puppies to chew.
Yes, I agree, if your puppy is breaking off chunks of anything then it isn't suitable for that particular puppy... However: Pups can look like they are chewing very hard and putting a lot of effort into chewing, whilst they are not actually breaking anything off, or doing any damage to teeth. Appearances can be deceptive: If you have weak jaw muscles and little teeth, you can expend a great deal of effort and not get anywhere....
