Hi Our 10.5 week old puppy is teething big time and really struggling to keep interest in anything we give her (kongs, puppy nylabones, frozen tea-towels, carrots etc). Are we able to give her natural chews/ rib bones? Or are these too tough for her teeth? She keeps wanting to pick up hard things in the garden and were taking the hint that what she has isn't hard enough on her sore gums, but don't want to damage her teeth. Thanks
10.5 weeks would be very young for her to have started teething. Have you see any teeth or blood? It's more likely just normal puppy behaviour, of investigating the world with her mouth. Distract, swap, train a "drop it", and she'll grow out of it eventually As for your question, I started feeding raw chicken wings and drumsticks to my puppy younger than yours is. They would keep her occupied for a while. It depends what you mean by "natural chews". Rib bones from pigs and cows are pretty hard, so I might be inclined to wait until she has her adult teeth to feed these, but some of our full-on raw feeders might have better insight.
Thanks for your reply The vet seemed to think it was starting as she is quite developed for her age. They were in the womb a week longer and so are a bit ahead. She really does want to chew everything at the moment and seems to prefer harder things. Thanks for the advice re bones. I don't really know much about raw but we are thinking about giving meaty bones. I was under the impression chicken wasn't safe to give as they splinter- is this not the case? Thanks
Hey, raw chicken is fine. Cooked bones of any sort are a "no" because of splintering. You're also best to avoid any weight-bearing bones from larger animals, as they are too hard and can shatter teeth. With all of my puppies when they were teething, they'd leave bloody marks on thing they chewed, I would hear the occasional crunch as they ate a tooth and I'd smell blood on their breath. You can also see the holes where their teeth fall out, so you should be able to tell if she's teething or not. Even 11.5 weeks would be very young
Hi we gave Bailey frozen raw chicken wings when he was teething, but then he was about 4/5 months old, before then he had raw chicken wings which he loved. We swapped to raw feeding when he was just short of 12 months old and to be honest have not looked back with his eating. While we were learning how to feed raw we gave him the ready to eat nuggets which were a mix of meat, bone and veg. Now we buy frozen dog mince which is a mix of meat and tripe, he has this with whatever veg we have for our meals (we both love different vegetables so he has a very mixed diet - but he loves Brussel Sprouts) and a couple of times a week he has a meaty bone to chew away on. With kibble Bailey really was not keen - he would take it or leave it always wanting our food - with raw it is gone very quickly and the dish is licked clean too. When Bailey was teething like @snowbunny we saw gaps where the teeth had come out and saw blood on his chews/toys beforehand. I only found three teeth which I have saved in my Bailey box and I think he was around 7 months or maybe a bit older before all his adult teeth were in place.
