bones

[INU]

Just want to make sure one more time...

I know you are not supposed to give dogs cooked chicken. How about smoked/cooked pork/beef bones?

 

I don't feel too comfortable about giving raw bones - germs to humans and cats. But I'd like to give them some cooked bones if it's safe.

 

Thanks

[border_collie_crazy]

i dont think so, I gave my dogs a smoked pork bone once, I have honestly never seen something so dangerous, that thing splitered and broke off on dangerous chunks like crazy one little bite and a small sharp chunk came off. I took that thing away mighty quike, never again will I gove a dog a smoked bone lol

[HKM's Mom]

You can lightly boil the beef knuckle bones if you don't feel safe giving them raw because of human and cat germs risks.

[SeattleSteve]

I never give Shake bones. He seems to choke on them no matter what.

 

[Sally]

Smoked equals cooked as far as I'm concerned. We feed softer bones like lamb breast in chunks, they're gone pretty quickly. I never knew there was a risk to cats with raw bones, can you guys shed some light there for me? I also wonder about bones that have been dug up after a long time, they look to me like they equal a cooked state.

Sally

[Olivia]

Sally

 

I would not allow any dogs to eat/chew on a bone that had been buried. Clostridium bacteria live in the soil and a nice juicy buried bone is the perfect multiplying place. There have been a couple of documented cases of dogs dying horrible deaths from eating bones (rawhide too) that had been buried and then dug up again and were contaminated. To me the risk is too great. No bones allowed outside for my guys.

 

Olivia

[trailrider]

My dogs get raw beef bones regularly. They end up all over the lawn, and dirty, but they still like to nibble and take turns.Dogs have a strong acidic stomach and can handle more "germs" than we ever could.

[Keegan's Mom]

Keegan's stomach is a little sensitive. So for his teeth and just because he likes to chew them...I give him shin bones that I buy at the local pet store. They are approximately 8-10 inches long and are white labeled "shin bones". He loves them. He breaks them down a little bit but we buy him a new one about every six months and throw the oldest one away and leave 2 in the house.

[sea4th]

Nothing but raw bones here. For recreational bones, I give them raw beef marrow bones. The dogs do a good job of cleaning them, and when they're done chewing, the bones are around a long time as toys.

 

Vicki

[Jordi44]

We used to give our dogs steak bones, ham bones, etc. all the time without problem. Then, I worked for a vet for 8 years, and my dogs will NEVER have any kind of real bone. If you ever see just one dog have a gastric torsion (twisted stomach) from having chewed a bone, you'll never give yours one either. I don't know how it causes it, but I held several dogs, most that later died, that their owners had given them a bone as a treat, and they torsioned. I'll never forget a beautiful Great Dane that his owner had given him a ham bone - thought he was being nice. The dog torsioned. I held him and helped treat him all day - and he died in surgery late in the afternoon. The owner, vet, and myself were all crying. Just my opinion, but with so many other chew treats that seem to be safer on the market, why risk it. My guys love rawhide - and I've heard not to give those, too. I don't give them regularly - just one bone for each occasionally - and usually, after the initial hysterical chewing, we have ends lying around for weeks or months and the dogs are happy.

[border_collie_crazy]

I should probibly add that I do feed RAW my dogs get Raw bones every day. the smoked bone was a recreational bone from a pet store..

[sea4th]

I don't know how it causes it, but I held several dogs, most that later died, that their owners had given them a bone as a treat, and they torsioned

I know that gastric torsion can be caused by a lot of things and many breeds are inclined toward it as well as certain bloodlines of breeds in addition to individual dogs that are inclined toward torsion---anything can set them off. I heard a lot of dangers with rawhides as well, so I don't think they are all that safe either. Personally, I would prefer to give my dogs something other than a rawhide. And when push comes to shove, there are dangers with everything, even kibble.

 

In the instances described, I'd want to know were the bones cooked, raw, smoked or what. There are certain types of bones I just don't give to my dogs, steak bones and ham bones being right there at the top of the list-----and never ever cooked or smoked bones.

 

Personally, I don't like to give hard marrow bones that often either because they can wear down the front teeth, but my dogs do get softer raw bones as a regular part of their diet. We do have old marrow bones that have longed been cleaned by the dogs themselves. I might buy them once every couple of years, but not on a regular basis.

 

I think it requires common sense on the part of the owner. And I'd need a lot more information, personally, before I'd solely blame the bones for bloat. There are dogs that are inclined toward bloat that will bloat on kibble as well and it's a time sensitive condition, i.e., if you don't catch it soon enough, no matter what the cause for bloat, you've got a dead dog on your hands.

 

I can propose that everyone should keep away from the prescription early kidney diet based on what I experienced with my Pete dog, who was put on it because of some elevated numbers in his blood work. While on that diet, they never did go back within normal range and he rapidly went down hill on that diet, until as a last ditch effort, I took him completely off and put him on 100% raw, with raw bones as well. Six weeks after the switch in diet, he was herding sheep again.

 

It convinced me that there are other ways. Would I tell people to stay away from the early kidney prescription diet. Of course not, but for me, it could also have resulted in a dead dog. You have to examine what's right for each individual and make your determinations from there. I'm not into scare tactics, neither giving them nor listening to them. You have to gather your own facts and make determinations from there.

 

Vicki

 

BTW, since the diet switch, his numbers have been looking OK

[Jordi44]

Yup, I've heard the bad on rawhides, too. But I've never had a problem with them - but let me clarify - my dogs probably get 4 or 5 tops per year - so at that level, I'm not too worried. And yes, anything, including life in general, is fatal - but I guess each one of us has to pick what is best for us and those in our care. I saw experiences with bones - probably mostly raw or the "sterile" ones from stores - that caused problems. Bones aren't necessary parts of a diet, although dogs, wolves, etc. have been chowing down on them throughout history. So I choose not to give them. That's my choice. Rawhides aren't any better, I'm sure - certainly no nutritional value, but it's something I feel relatively safe giving my dogs as a treat a few times a year. Pick your poison - anything you name, can cause a dog to choke, have an allergic reaction, any weird thing you can think of, it's probably happened somewhere. Everyone knows you shouldn't feed chicken bones - I had a family of foxes last year that were living quite well on my chickens and a couple of ducks until they moved on (think my BC scared them once too often). So are wild canines any different than our domestic companions - or are we just not there to see the numbers that have problems? You decide. I'm not recommending chicken bones - I'm just agreeing that you have to find what works for you and go with that.

[INU]

Great info.

I wanted to give her something to chew rather than regular rawhide (she gets often) or toys for her birthday tomorrow.

 

I might just get raw bones with little meat since it's a once a year thing. I am thinking about getting raw beef.

 

Thank you

[Spike's Bitch]

Spike's birthday is the day after tomorrow!

 

Gonna make him a liver cake and have a party in the park.... Tell Jazz many happy returns from both of us!

 

Liz & Spike xxx

[INU]

Thanks Liz!

I was going to make a liver pie myself too. BF is going to hate the smell!

 

How old is Spike going to be?

[Spike's Bitch]

He'll be two. He's so grown-up these days... having nine-month-old Max around really highlighted that. Whenever I said 'Max, NO!' Spike would bite his nose, and when I answered the door once and lost my grip on Max and he ran off down the road, Spike dashed after him and herded him back into the house. My hero!

 

Liz and her Big Boy xxx

[Betsy]

INU & Spike's Bitch ~

 

Riley's b-day is on Monday, July 5th, and he'll be two as well! So many July puppies!

 

He's getting a new frisbee (he chewed holes in his current one) and probably a raw bone.

 

Happy birthday to one and all!

 

Betsy

[Roadie]

I give my dogs smoked bones from the petshop or rawhide, but only if I'm home. I'm afraid they may choke in them when I'm not around to help them. However, my BC doesn't really care for anything chewable. My retriever/shepherd mix will eat anything, including cucumber, apple and even raw onion if that happens to fall on the floor.

The BC will chew for one or two minutes and then he will get a ball and try to have me to throw it away. My other dog knows that, so she is the first to steal the remains. That's not really a problem, because the BC doesn't care.

 

I've read that you should never give pork to a dog, because of the risk of Aujeszki's disease. Beef, lamb or chicken is better.

 

I am thinking about brushing the teeth of the BC because the tartar is building up. But I'd rather give him something he'd like to chew on, only I don't know what. Maybe I'll try raw beef bones.

 

And I can do that tomorrow, because it's the birthday of my retriever/shepherd mix. She will be six tomorrow, born on the first of July! I can still remember how I took her home when she was a little puppy, all black and cute. Of course that's not exactly six years ago. It's difficult for me to realize it's almost been six years since we got her. Although, on the other hand, I can't imagine a life without her. She's already grey now.

[sea4th]

I've read that you should never give pork to a dog, because of the risk of Aujeszki's disease

Maybe it depends on the source of the pork? At one time I would not have fed pork either, but fresh pork neck bones are now a popular dinner time fare for the dogs around here. I buy them by the case. No problems.

 

BTW, handsome girl in your photos Roadie.

 

Vicki

[Roadie]

Originally posted by sea4th:

Maybe it depends on the source of the pork? At one time I would not have fed pork either, but fresh pork neck bones are now a popular dinner time fare for the dogs around here. I buy them by the case. No problems.

Maybe there's a difference between pork from Europe and the USA? However, since there are enough alternatives, I don't take any risk.

 

BTW, handsome girl in your photos Roadie.

Thanks. She is a very sweet dog and I've learned a lot from her. I always thought BC's were very smart, but if I look back on how quick she was in learning, I have the feeling she is a lot smarter than my BC. For example with flyball, it was within weeks that she learned how to operate the machine and run the obstacles. My BC is too occupied with other things, looks around too much, is already going for an outrun, so it took a lot longer to teach him to run well. Or maybe that's just my memory that it didn't take as long with her. She is much more focussed on me than my BC. But that is probably a result of her being my only dog at the time, while the BC has to share my attention with her.

[Jordi44]

OK, can everyone stand one more bone story? I had a German Shepherd/Springer Spaniel cross when I was still at home. Someone had given him a round bone from a steak or something and somehow, he managed to get it around his lower jaw, behind the lower canine teeth. In other words, it was quite stuck. My mom spent at least an hour trying to saw through it with a small hack saw. She managed to get one side clear through, was almost through on the other side, when he refused to let her continue. We ended up having to take him to the vet and having them cut it off the rest of the way. No physical harm, but my mom was sure disgusted having to pay the vet bill after she'd done most of the work already (disgusted at dog, not vet).

 

I've also heard of dogs getting diarrhea and colitis from pig ears and things like that, too. Guess you just have to be careful until you know what is safe for each dog. My gang will chew on the Booda's or something like that - the things made from cornstarch. Only had those once or twice - they don't last long for the cost of them. I've also made homemade dog biscuits - if you get them good and dry, they can be pretty hard and take a little chewing. I'm sure everyone in the house (4-footed at least) would be standing in line for those liver pies!

[Lucy Goosey]

My dogs get raw beef bones, which are stored in the freezer. I prefer to give them the shank bones rather than the knuckle bones, in long enough segments that they cannot become lodged in the palate. I do not give rawhide, pig ears, hooves, snouts, or any of that stuff. The only artificial chews they get are Kongs and the hard Nylabones. Just a hint; the hard Nylabones are made from the same material as the Galileo bones, and are about half the price.

[sea4th]

yeh, now that you mention it, I too had a dog who had a short marrow bone slip over her jaw. I was able to work it off though. I knew there was another reason I was leery of marrow bones.

 

I guess what it all boils down to, you just have to monitor your dog and use common sense.

 

Vicki

[Sally]

Olivia, thanks, it is something to think about. The ones I am more worried about though have been dug up by Tia and belonged to a dearly departed friend who buried them over two years ago. I've swept the yard clean of them now but I have no idea how many more there could be. Luckily we're home most of the time but I do note that Tia will bury fresh bones on occasion. I'm starting to think I need surveillance here!

Sally