Feeding dogs bones?

[pa beagler]

This is probably a dum question but is it safe to feed your dogs bones? If so what kind do any of you guys do it and what kind do you give them. I don't mean milk bones but real animal bones like beef, pork ect. Have you had any problems like the bones getting lodged in the throat or splintering and causing problems? Thanks in advance.

[pa beagler]

BTT

[frank caplinger]

I have given mine bones in the past.I went to the meat section of Krogers and got them.

[Northwind Kennel]

You can give them bones as long as there NOT cooked. The people who feed a raw diet do. Even chicken bones as long as their not cooked. I give mine the biggest nylabones you can get. Their not the cheapest but they last a long time and the dogs never seem to get tired of them.

[Boomerx]

I don't think it's worth taking a chance by feeding bones. If you have a couple (or more) kenneled together, it'll cause fights. In my 40 plus years of keeping hounds, I've only had problems maybe 3 times with bones or bone splinters stuck in the hounds throat, but that's 3 times too many, considering that I'd only feed bones a few times a year. Last year I had a bitch that I knew was running out of gas in a trial. I wormed her, changed her feed etc., then found a piece of bone had lodged over her back teeth, making her mouth stay open just a bit, but she couldn't breathe properly or chew her food right. The gums were infected, so it had been there for weeks. No more bones for my hounds. Terry McBride

[SilverZuk]

Yes, you can feed them raw.
Read about Bones and Raw Food (BARF) diet for dogs.
It is all raw meats and fresh vegetables.

Dogs will survive if the eat cooked bones, but it is not good for their intestines.
If you dog eats cooked bones, you will notice pieces of bone in their waste. The bone not digest and they don't get much from it. The pieces of bone are like little pieces of glass and can injur their bowels.

If you feed raw bones, you will seldomly see any piece of bone in their waste because they can digest the whole thing.

With that said, I believe I have witnessed my dogs eat about everything over the years.
Sun dried frogs and chipmunk in the road, deer carcasses, gut piles, rabbit guts, rabbit heads, green rancid meat on a deer carcass, aluminum foil. plastic, etc.
Obviously those I listed were accidental, or they ran accross it while out running.
I have never had one get sick from what they ate.

My neighbors dog has eaten several rabbits, and numerous rabbit heads.
If you shoot a rabbit, and he gets it where you can't get to him - it is eaten. He eats them head first, so some you recover without a head.
I am worried it will hurt him, but he ate 2 rabbit heads, and a half of a rabbit this season and is still going strong.
Just have to keep him wormed.

[pa beagler]

Thanks for all the info guys. I never gave my dogs bones but have thought about doing it. I guess my next question would be is there any benifits to feeding raw bones. I mean will it help them in any way that dog food does not, like keeping teeth clean or any nutritional value?

[paducahky1]

i feed a dog of mine bones several years ago , what happened was one of the chicken bones did splinter and lodged in his intestine
they had to do surgury, cost a lot of mony , but didnt want to lose my pup, not meaning to start a debate , it just happend to me !

[summs]

Chicken bones along with other bird bones are hollow, causing them to splinter real easy. If you are going to feed bones try to stay away from these. Maybe instead of feeding the actual bone, go to the store and talk with the meat dept. Ask them if you can have the "bone dust" from the meat saw. This is really not a dust, it is very soft and moist. I worked in a meat dept. and fed this "bone dust", more so in the winter. Great protein, but you can over-do it.

[SilverZuk]

I give my dogs a lot of raw deer bones during deer season when I am butchering deer.
My dogs get meat scraps most nights of the week, so I don't think they needed the bones because they are healthy, but they sure do like getting them.

[Nor' Easter]

A butcher recently told me that pork bones can carry a disease that can infect dogs and not to feed them to dogs. He said get the large cow leg bones if I could. I give mine a cow backbone knuckel every now and then, it takes him a long time to wear it down, when it gets too small i throw it away. My cousin owns a pub and said he could give us all kinds of cooked meat,pasta etc., but I only have one dog now. we have a few litters comming and might take him up on the food, can't see much of a problem with that.I think lots of people could save feed cost this way if they asked for it, specially if you have alot of dogs. I would think that some bone in a diet would be beneficial, that bone dust sounds good. Grinding bone should help with tartar but too much may wear the teeth down. A tennis ball is one of the worse things for weaing down dogs teeth. On another note, for years I found the toy most liked by pups, or older dogs that play, is a 500ml and larger plastic pop bottle, with or without some water in it. I used to watch my dogs chase each other, playing a "Tag" like game when one dog was being charged by the other he would drop it and now be the chaser not the chasee". I had 10' x 20' fenced kennals with obstacles, even pieces of pipe they could run through.Gave them alot of exercise.

[show dog]

I have been feeding my dogs raw chicken for over 3 years. They are unbelievably healthy. I feed raw backs. Feeding legs or the larger bones causes problems with digestion in a small dog like a beagle. Larger dogs can eat the whole carcass. I also give raw beef bones (marrow) to help in teeth cleaning. I recommend this diet (BARF) to many of my boarding dogs after I see the expense of feeding kibble and the health problems and waste associated with kibble (mountains of poop). I cannot afford to feed kibble and am very happy with feeding human grade fresh whole meats and vegetables to my dogs instead of the floor sweepings, grains, waste meats and so on that is in kibble. My opinion and experience of 16 years with dogs. I am off to the butcher to get my meat int he next hour. $25 of chicken backs feeds my 2 beagles for about 6 weeks. Beat that with quality kibble.

Carolyn Milne