hi,everyone, I'm not clear what recreational bones are and why I shouldn't feed them to my pup? help.ruth.
Hi Ruth, Some raw bones, such as from any poultry, rabbit, and non weight-bearing bones from larger mammals are fine for dogs to eat. The problem with larger bones, such as leg bones, or those smoked bones you can buy in pet shops, is that they are very hard and can easily shatter a dog's teeth, or at least cause premature wearing. Some people will say "Oh, my dog has been having them for years and never had a problem", but I don't think it's worth the risk. In fact, one of the forum members has a dog who broke a tooth on one of these bones in the last couple of weeks, which needed surgery to remove. So, my rule of thumb is: Good bones: anything small and raw Bad bones: anything weight-bearing, smoked or otherwise cured (most of the stuff from pet stores)
Don’t give any weight bearing bones. @snowbunny is right. I learned the hard way. Tatze broke a big back tooth a couple of weeks ago on a smoked bone - it broke to the end of the root. The operation was difficult - the tooth had three deep roots. She’s recovering but it’s slow and she’s still on soft food for at least another week
This is probably a stupid question but my excuse is I'm not really a meat eater myself. Anyway as part of Ripple's raw diet I buy stewing lamb in the supermarket, just recently OH has watched Ripple eat this and says that the bones are too hard for him, and then having a huge panic that he will choke. I always assumed the bones in these packs were neck bones that were fine for Ripple, but now I'm having my doubts as well. Are these ok or should I stop buying stewing lamb?
Thank you @snowbunny , I'll just have to feed it when OH is not around . He was on the point of whipping it away from Ripple the other day until I pointed out this would be just as likely to make him try and swallow it whole .
I’m ultra careful with bones (having had a Labrador who cracked a tooth in half on a bone) and I’m very comfortable feeding raw lamb neck
I'd add to this that some pet shops sell antlers for dogs. These are also very hard and should be avoided.
Yeah, I guess you could feed them frozen...or maybe semi frozen. Myself, I would not, for a few reasons. I don’t know that all dogs find frozen things very pleasant to eat. Some may do, but both my dogs have visibly not enjoyed eating frozen things that they had to bite through. Dogs have very thin enamel on their teeth (much much thinner than ours) and their teeth are probably more sensitive. And definitely a lot more easily fractured due to the combination of thin enamel and high jaw strength. I wouldn’t make the job more difficult, unpleasant (for some dogs) and risky by freezing bones. Like I said, I’m really cautious about my dog’s teeth. They only have one set If I want to feed my dog a cold thing (eg on a hot day) I make it a frozen filled Kong that’s licked out, not bitten through.
Not surprisingly Finn loves bones. I gave him a few over about 6 months and every time they caused constipation and picking up the chalky result was very difficult, it all fell apart as it hit the ground! I decided on balance bones weren't worth the aggro and now stick to pigs ears.
Bailey loves a nice meaty non weight bearing bone - I am lucky that I have an old fashioned butcher near me that I can pop into and get the odd non-weight bearing bone for the boy. Luckily they do seem to agree with Bailey's tummy and as we feed him raw anyway it is part and parcel of his diet.
